Inside Mark Martin, there lives a go-go daddy indeed

Save one small detail, all five men sitting up on stage were dressed exactly the same. They all wore white, long-sleeved, button-down collar shirts adorned with their respective sponsor logos, which is something of a uniform for public appearances at Hendrick Motorsports. They all wore dark pants. And they all wore black leather shoes buffed to a high sheen -- except for one. Mark Martin showed up in sneakers.

OK, so maybe they were black sneakers that Martin wore to the Hendrick stop on the NASCAR media tour a few weeks ago, and maybe they were made by a company that his organization has a marketing partnership with, and maybe they were pretty dang stylish nonetheless. But still, you know the old saying, that you can tell a lot about a man from his shoes. And Martin's screamed one thing -- this is a 51-year-old man who has no intentions of acting his age.

When thinking of drivers who represent a certain Web-hosting business with a provocative marketing strategy, it's Danica Patrick who immediately comes to mind. The IndyCar star, who will make her first start on the Nationwide tour Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, has essentially become the face of a corporation that backs green and orange race cars and makes television commercials featuring women -- and, in one unfortunate case, men -- stuffed into tiny outfits. She's edgy by association, and to be sure, racing open-wheel cars at 220 mph, and just being a female bent on competing in the testosterone-driven world of motorsports, certainly qualifies as living on the edge.

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And then there's Martin, whose previous primary car sponsor was a breakfast cereal company, and on the surface appears terribly miscast. No matter how you spin it, some are just never going to accept a rather straight-laced quinquagenarian as pitchman for a company that takes pride in making spots "too hot" for TV. The relationships that work the best are always those between a sponsor and a driver who appeals directly to the company's target audience -- think Dale Earnhardt Jr. and beer drinkers, or Kasey Kahne and soccer moms, or Patrick and overgrown frat boys who like to see women ripping off their shirts. Martin and GoDaddy.com seem about as natural a combination as Tony Stewart and the New York City Marathon, organizers of which are unlikely to be knocking on Smoke's door anytime soon.

That's the perception, at least. But when you strip away the overt sexuality of the television ads, and you cut through all the stereotypes, and you get right down to the image Martin's car sponsor is trying to portray, a strange thing happens. You find the edgiest damn guy in the entire GoDaddy stable, someone edgier than ever Patrick herself. You find somebody who does things nobody his age is supposed to do. You find somebody who likes things nobody with his background is supposed to like. You find somebody who, when everyone else is wearing loafers or oxfords, shows up in sneakers.

You find a go-go daddy indeed. (Continued)