Gotta keep the boys cool.
NASCAR race cars don't have air conditioning for obvious reasons: The teams don't want anything using the car's power and slowing it down. That means anything that's not necessary to make the car go faster usually isn't a big priority. (Not to mention the car doesn't have a driver's side window, so an AC probably wouldn't be very effective anyway).
But it can get pretty hot inside those cars. With the heat from the engine and the brakes, drivers are sitting in temperatures that can reach up to 140 degrees on hot days. And they're wearing a firesuit and helmet to keep them safe, so there's not a lot of air flow on the driver even though they're going 200 miles an hour.
These days, drivers often wear cool shirts to help keep their body temperature down. These suits pump cold water through a series of tubes on the shirt to help a driver cool off - but if they malfunction like Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst's did this past year, they end up just pumping hot water and making things worse.
And drivers often have hoses running into the helmet that can pump cool(er) air in, so that they're at least getting some air flow during a race.
But apparently during his career, Mark Martin was also focused on keeping another part of his body cool: His balls.
In a post on Twitter, the retired NASCAR Cup Series driver revealed that he had a hose that ran from the A-post on his car basically his driver's side window) to his balls to direct air onto his manhood during a race. And Martin said he ran that hose every race until he retired back in 2013:
https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1872367311375712681
Brilliant.
Now if you'll remember, Martin famously drove the #6 Viagra car for Roush Racing back in the early 2000s, so maybe he was just trying to make sure he protected what was important for his sponsor. But hey, it can't be comfortable sitting in a 140+ degree car in a pool of your own ball sweat. Once all that water heats up and starts boiling your balls you're going to wish you had the Mark Martin Nut Chiller in your car too.
Mark Martin is a NASCAR legend - and not just for his ball chiller. During his incredible 31-year career, Martin won 40 Cup Series races, and is widely regarded as the best driver to never win a Cup Series championship. But aside from being a legend on the track, he's also one of the coolest dudes in the sport off the track.
Well known for his love of rap music, which you might not expect by looking at him, Martin was even featured on a song by rapper Gucci Mane earlier this year.
https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1824427496973930740
And he's also nominated for Cracker of the Year by former NFL wide receiver and CTESPN founder Antonio Brown, which might be a bigger honor than winning a NASCAR championship.
https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1872326331184333142
What a legend. And now we can go into 2025 knowing exactly how he kept his balls cool all those years.
