The Scoop
HOW MARK MARTIN (AND OTHERS) CHOSE THEIR CAR NUMBER
Posted on: Monday March 30, 2026
Mark Martin shown here at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin in the early 1980’s. Mark sported No. 2 in his short track days. (Pete Vercauteren photo)
WHAT’S IN A NUMBER (or letter)?
The history of car numbers on race cars dates back to the early 1900’s. Long before electronic transponder scoring or MyRacePass, the sole purpose of car numbers was so drivers could be properly identified and scored by track personnel lap-by-lap in motorsports contests.
When the sport’s popularity began to soar from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, in some regions/divisions there were so many cars that a) triple digit numbers emerged and b) to avoid duplicate numbers, often letters were tagged along to help scorers identify specific drivers.
Behind every driver’s car number, there is a story. And these stories truly run the gamut. We asked more than two dozen racers on both dirt and asphalt representing multiple divisions how they came up with their respective car number(s) or even a letter. Check out what their answers are:
#2 – Mark Martin, Batesville, AR ASA/ARTGO late model, NASCAR
“I thought number 1 sounded arrogant, so I picked 2 instead.”
# 65G – Frank “The Tank” Gasperini, Iron Mountain, MI IMCA Northern sportmod
“Well, it originated from my grandfather Frank Gasperini. He used to race super modifieds back in the day and 65 was his number. When I got my first race car, I was going to be 65 but Uncle Larry already was – so what better way to honor my Grandpa but to add a “G” for Gasperini at the end. So that’s where we’re at in 2026.”
#40 – Aaron Karcz, Pulaski, WI IMCA stock car
“My Godfather (Brian Karcz) used to race. When he passed away, I decided to go ahead and use his number 40.”
#10 – Andy Monday, Appleton, WI pavement super late model
“The Rooster Ricky Rudd was my favorite driver growing up. # 6 Jim Pagel was my childhood hero. But his number was retired in super late model competition at WIR. So 10 it is.”
#72 – J.J. Vander Loop, Freedom, WI pavement super late model, IMCA northern sportmod
“My number in go karting was 79 because that was my Grandpa Jerry Muenster’s number. But, someone had 79 when I was racing in the sport truck class. So, I ran a random number generator 0-99 and I got 72.”
Paul Diefenthaler tied Trey Van Straten with 12 street stock feature wins in ’25. (danlewisphoto.net)
#35 – Paul Diefenthaler, Manitowoc, WI Dirt Unified Street Stock
“My car number came from my daughter Brooke’s birthday. March 5. (3-5).”
#35 – Ben Schmidt, Plymouth, WI MSA sprint car
“When we used to go to the sprint car races in ’98 and ’99, I would always bet the young kids that I would beat the old guys. That time I was 18 and the new kind on the block was Tyler Walker. He was the same age I was. So when I started racing in 2000, my number naturally was 35 to represent the new kid. That number sticks with me to this day.”
X – Chris Budzban, De Pere, WI IMCA northern sportmod
“Before I started racing, I was playing and designing paint schemes for a PC game called rFactor. I had Dave Hooker design a late model scheme for me, and he drew up the original X. I liked how it looked with my nickname “Budzo” underneath it. It just carried over when I bought my first sportmod after the 2009 racing season.”
#89 – Brad “JJ” Mueller, Random Lake, WI pavement super late model, dirt late model
“My dad’s number was 99 on everything and then when they went to Winston Cup, they couldn’t get 99 because Phil Parsons had it. So, they switched to 89 which I liked better because there’s not very many 89’s for some reason. When I raced karts back in the 1980’s, I was always 99 and when I bought my first hobby stock 89 was the number I had in 1987.”
UW Whitewater Economics major Grant Griesbach poses by his super late model at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.
#GT17 – Grant Griesbach, Pewaukee, WI pavement super late model, Midwest Truck
“Growing up I picked my number when I was 5 years old. Matt Kenseth was my favorite driver and he was always in the Dewalt 17. The GT part is my initials. I thought it was something unique that not a lot of other people do. I’ve always felt the big, white GT17 always stuck out and created somewhat of a brand, and easy-to-see.”
#50 – Kyle Frederick, Oconto Falls, WI IMCA stock car
“I was at an N.E.W. Dirt meeting maybe two months before the start of the season. They had a list of all the drivers and their car numbers for the upcoming season. Back then, they didn’t allow two cars to have the same number and I was pretty new to the racing scene, and didn’t really know who had what number or which ones were available. After finding out my first seven or eight choices were taken, I picked 50 because it was right in the middle. I’ve stuck with it ever since.”
#08 – Johnny Whitman, Suamico, WI IMCA modified
“I started out with number 24 because Jeff Gordon was my favorite driver. When we would go travel for karting, we had to always wind up changing our numbers up, and I ended up with number 8 at one point. Then, my dad and I were racing karts down in Tennessee. Our number down there was 08. We won two out of three money races, and wound up 2nd in the other class. So, we just stuck with 08 ever since.”
#01 – Dan Michonski, Leopolis, WI IMCA stock car
“I took one of the numbers my grandfather Ben “Shorty” Michonski Sr. used. Three of the numbers he used are now used in the family. #33 Nate Michonski, #1 myself, #101 Elliott Michonski. I think Elliott’s reason though for picking #101 is it combined his Grandpa Ben’s #10 & my own #1.”
#11 – Ed Howard, Kaukauna, WI pavement super stock
“I was born on 12/11/1965 in Kalamazoo, MI. My Dad was a drummer by trade. He dabbled in drag racing. But as it turned out, my Mom was the hotshoe. She was #11. When I asked why, she said “Your Dad was #1 so she just added another #1 to it. My parents families didn’t really race, but they were fans. My Mom’s parents lived four blocks from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I remember as a kid Grandpa had a poster of Pancho Carter on the wall in his work shop. Nothing else car related – just that poster. I asked him about it and he said “Because us Wisconsin boys are fast! Pancho is my guy.” He was also #11. Growing up, I’ve put #11 on everything I’ve raced.”
West De Pere freshman Brooklyn Kelnhofer poses next to her Wisconsin sport truck at a pre-season car show in 2025.
#14 – Brooklyn Kelnhofer, De Pere, WI Wisconsin sport truck
“When I started racing, I was 14 years old. That’s the main reason for running 14 but also my club volleyball number was 14 and my roll call number for dance was 14 as well.”
#59M – Jamison MacDonald, Suamico, WI IMCA stock car
“59M came from Jerry Leary’s race car. He was one of the drivers I always watched when I was younger at the race tracks. When I first started racing, that’s the number I decided to stick with. Once we got the IMCA stock car, we decided to put the “M” after it.”
#3 (and 11) – Brandon Reichenberger, Appleton, WI. super late model/Midwest Truck Series“I started out running number 11 when I started out in late models. My Dad Mike ran No. 1 at the time and it made sense to just add another 1 to my door for simplicity reasons. Plus, our cars looked similar.
In 2016, when I moved up to super late models, we purchased our car from Rick Sweere. Rick had owned Tim Rothe’s number 3. There were a few companies that he had sponsoring the Bud car that came to our team as part of the deal. He asked if I would have any problem switching to number 3 and I said no problem at all. Most people don’t even remember that I was number 11 earlier in my career.”
#58 – Marcus Yarie, Wausau, WI IMCA modified, IMCA stock car
“I got my car number from A.J. Diemel when we raced Ed Bertram’s sportmod. A.J. helped get the car fast when I was able to race it, and after I got my own car I looked up to him and chose his number for my own car.”
Manitowoc’s Cody Schroeder’s 2026 IMCA modified. (Cody Schroeder photo)
#20 – Cody Schroeder, Manitowoc, WI, IMCA modified
“My number came about when I was 10 years old. I didn’t know what number to be so I was number 10 for one year because of my age at that time. That off-season, I wanted to change my number, but didn’t know which one to pick. So, on my winter break, I wrote numbers 1-99 on individual sheets of cut up paper, put them all in a bowl and pulled out the 20. I’ve been number 20 ever since!”
#75 – Lance Arneson, Abrams, WI IMCA modified
“I just thought the number 75 would look cool on the car.”
#838 – Jason Eisel, Sugar Camp, WI Dirt Unified Street Stock
“When I started racing, my buddy Herb that was already racing had his car number 898. Another guy that got a car at the same time that I did his car number was 868 and mine was 838. We were going for a 3-6-9 with the center numbers.”
Clint Maueg’s 2026 IMCA sport compact. (Clint Malueg photo)
#22 – Clint Malueg, Bonduel, WI IMCA sport compact
“I got into the racing scene later in life. I started helping out Mike Babino Jr. on his limited late model/sportsman car in 2001 when I was 29 years old. I also began to follow NASCAR on TV and fell in love with the sport. Ward Burton’s #22 car just drew me in with his Dodge Caterpillar car. I’ve been a fan of whoever drives that Cup car number ever since and the past several years its been Joey Logano. It’s not a story that seems like the typical answer, but it is what it is.”
#69 – T.J. Smith, Greenville, WI, MSA sprint/grand national
“Growing up, my dad and my uncle were both gearheads. They loved to out do each other of sorts constantly, like most brothers do. So, inevitably they were inseparable. My Uncle Jimmy was always over and helping dad or they were showing off a new snowmobile, a Harley-Davidson motorcyle, boat or other motorized toy. I remember Uncle Jimmy put a 69 on a dirt bike for me to ride around on (they were those cheap, mailbox numbers). He would always tap me on the shoulder and say “that’s your lucky number.” Uncle Jimmy died in 2000 from a brain aneurysm at Meadowview Kartway in Hilbert. When I started racing go karts, Dad asked me what number I wanted to be. It was a no-brainer – 69.”
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s Todd Kluever poses next to his Badger midget at Eagle River Speedway August 5.
#55K – Todd Kluever, Sun Prairie, WI Badger midget
“When I started racing flat track motorcycles, your number was assigned to you. It was whatever the last two digits of your AMA (American Motorcycle Association) caard. My number happened to be 50. When you went from amateur to semi-pro in flat-track motorcycles, you could request what number you wanted. When you went pro, you also had a letter in your number. The letter was assigned by district. My number 50 was already takenI liked the number 5 so I just asked for 55 as I couldn’t have 50. So, 55L is what I became. Later in my flat track career, I went from semi-pro to expert. You could keep your number, but had to change your letter to what represented expert license in your district so I switched to 55K.
L and K respectively represented I was from district 16 which was Wisconsin. I didn’t choose either of those letters even though the “K” fit well. I honestly have had the opportunity to drive some other pretty cool numbers over the years. Gerry Gunderman’s #40 super late model, and later the #67 with the star on the door. I got to driver Scotty Ollerman’s #0 car. Also driving the Roush Racing 50 truck was cool, as was Jerry Woods 73 truck.”
#3 – Brett Swedberg, Shawano, WI, WISSOTA-style dirt late model
“Butch (Laska) always was a fan of Dale Earnhardt. So, I’ve had that number 3 since I started racing go karts when I was 9-years-old.”