Reliving Marty Robbins' legacy, NASCAR's very own Grammy-award-winning singer-turned-racecar driver

Over the years, NASCAR has seen several colorful personalities in the sport, one of them being stock car racing's own Grammy award-winning singer Marty Robbins. Starting his career in the Xfinity Series in 1966, Robbins was the epitome of the kind of driver who drove in the sport singlehandedly, without a big team's support.

Robbins' first choice for a career was not even racing in the first place. The Glendale, Arizona-born driver was known for his Country music, with songs such as 'El Paso' and 'Ruby Ann' resonating with fans of the music genre to date. Marty Robbin's achievements in music and entertainment rivaled many full-time singers of his time and even today.

Recipient of the 1960 Artist of the Decade award as well as two Grammy awards, the musician-turned NASCAR driver was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Marty Robbins' driving career did not manage to kick off as well as his music career, which he accepted doing just to pay his bills. In popular folklore among the great old souls of the sport, Robbins "sang to live but lived to race." Robbins' best result in NASCAR came during the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup race in Michigan, where he managed to finish in a career-best P5 finish.

Bowing out of the sport after a crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1982, Marty Robbins remains the only one of his kind in the sport to date.

Marty Robbins once cheated to try and win a NASCAR race

As referenced by Aaron Rosser from atlanta.sbnation.com, Marty Robbins also pleaded guilty to cheating during a NASCAR race during his career as a driver. During the sports' visit to Talladega Superspeedway in the 1972 season, Robbins managed to remove the restrictor plate from the engine of his car.

What resulted in a much faster car than his rivals, Marty Robbins was seen running as high as P4 during the event, before he decided to retire citing a lack of experience. The governing body was destined to hand him the Rookie of the Year Award, before he admitted his foul play.

Corey LaJoie recently reminded fans of the old days of NASCAR when a country singer could also get behind the wheel of a racecar with his throwback liveried Chevy during the 2022 throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway.