Mars, The Humble Iceman

June 8th, 2010

What you see is what you get with Jimmy Mars. And the “what” is one of the most talented dirt-late-model racers in the country. He is a quiet and humble man…that is until he climbs in his familiar Mars Racing No. 28 and pulls his helmet on. Then the Iceman takes over.

“Nicknames are a funny thing,” said Mars. “When I climb in the car, I am there to do one thing — win. If being totally focused on that task and working with my team to make sure we have got it right and then never giving up from the green flag to the checkered flag means I am ‘Iceman,’ then I guess that is what I am. I just like to win and try to do that every time I get in the car.”

For 25 years, the soft-spoken Menomonie, Wis., native has been tearing up race tracks not only close to home in the Upper Midwest, but throughout the country. He has beaten the best of the best and seems to be only getting better. And he does it his way. He sets a schedule of races at the beginning of the season and he and the team hit the road. Mars doesn’t chase points. He chases victories.

In 2009, Mars captured an amazing 19 victories in 46 starts. It was a record-breaking year for Mars, who became the first dirt-late-model driver to win three $50,000-to-win races in one season.

He took home the big money in the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis.; the North/South 100 at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.; and the Dirt Track World Championship at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. He scored a cool $30,000 victory in the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. He amassed 36 top-five finishes and 37 top-10 runs before the snow began flying back home in Wisconsin.

This success came one season after he won 16 races in 2008.

Success has been his pattern in the past; the races taped for Speed were where Mars shined, appearing in eight 2009 televised races and winning two with seven top-five finishes. By all indications, 2010 is going to be more of the same.

“2009 was one of those seasons you dream you could have,” Mars said. “You plan every pre-season to have that kind of a year and when it happens, you are like, ‘Wow, can this please just continue?’ Last year it did. To win the big races we did, have success on the TV shows as well as at our home-state tracks was just about as good as it gets for a race-car driver.”

The 38 year old was born into a family whose roots were deeply planted in the family farm. Although his father was partial owner in a street stock at nearby Red Cedar Speedway, Mars didn’t become interested in the sport until friends of the family took him to the track regularly and he became a huge fan.

Jimmy and his brother Chris decided they wanted to try their hand on the track. The two industrious young men did extra chores on the family farm, “farmed” themselves out to neighbors, taking on any task to raise cash and any kind of fabricating jobs available. The pair was able to secure small sponsorships from local businesses until they had the necessary funds to field a street stock in 1985 when Jimmy was 13.

From that point on, Chris turned the wrenches and Jimmy turned the wheel. Jimmy has never raced a car that was not built and prepared by Chris.

Mars’s first big victory came in 1992 at the Silver 1000 at Minnesota’s Proctor Speedway. He followed that with victories in the Red Clay Classic at Wisconsin’s ABC Raceway ,and the WISSOTA 100 and the USA Outlaw Nationals, both at Cedar Lake Speedway.

In 1997, the biggest victory of his career by his own admission came in the prestigious 100-lap Dream at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. The $100,000 prize is one of the most coveted in dirt-late-model racing.

Mars tried his hand at asphalt racing in 1999 and won the NASCAR RE/MAX Challenge Series rookie-of-the-year title.

Throughout his illustrious career, Mars has won many of the biggest races a dirt-late-model racer can win. He was the National 100 winner at East Alabama Motor Speedway. He won the Ultimate 14 at Challenger Raceway in Pennsylvania and the UMP Summer Nationals at Illinois’s Fairbury American Legion Speedway. Mars took top honors twice in the Topless 100 at Batesville Speedway in Arkansas and was a winner in the Jambalaya 100 at Pike County Speedway in Mississippi.

He is the 1996, 1997, 2004 and 2007 Punky Manor Classic winner at the Red Cedar Speedway and the 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2004 winner of the Red Clay Classic at ABC Raceway.

But as stellar as his behind-the-wheel accomplishments are, the business Jimmy and Chris have built is equally as impressive. Knowing the difficulty in making a living as a driver only and that farming was their family’s first love, the pair understood that getting a college education was critical to building a secure future for their families.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with degrees in engineering, the duo started MasterSbilt by Mars and have evolved the company into one of the premier car preparation companies in the industry.

“We take the MasterSbilt dirt-late-model chassis and prepare them to the specifications of our customers,” Mars explained. “We will bolt on and set up every component they need to take it to the track, including a motor if that is what the customer wants. It has worked very well for us over the years. Yes, there has been an impact with the state of the economy, but we have a loyal customer base that has stayed with us plus sent referrals that continue to help build the company.”

It is clear that his exceptional talent behind the wheel coupled with an in-depth knowledge of how to build and set up a race car have catapulted Mars to the top of his profession. But he isn’t content to rest on his laurels. Knowing there is strength in numbers, Mars went to probably one of his toughest competitors, Brian Birkhofer, to talk chassis development and design.

The result of those talks is a collaborative chassis design called MB Customs. Given the on-track success of Mars and Birkhofer, it is clearly a match made in dirt-late-model heaven. The chassis is built for the exclusive use of Mars and Birkhofer.

Mars is far from done making trips to the winner’s circle.