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By TOM GILLISPIE

One's sure; the other isn't. Geoffrey Bodine is running part-time at best, but he knows he's an all-time great. Mark Martin, meanwhile, is still among Winston Cup's elite -- he won the Coca-Cola 600 in May at Charlotte -- but is he good enough?

Bodine figures he was voted one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers ever, and he did win the 1986 Daytona 500. Bobby Allison and Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt were great, he figures, but so was (is) he. To Bodine, he belongs.

But would Martin stack up against David Pearson or Cale Yarborough. What about Fred Lorenzen, Darrell Waltrip in his prime or Curtis Turner? Would he pass muster against Tim Flock or Junior Johnson or Fireball Roberts?

Martin knows he's one of the best of the current crop. His 33 Winston Cup victories put him one ahead of the great Fireball, and his series-record 45 Busch Grand National wins are 14 more than hall-of-famer Jack Ingram. He has four IROC championships, tying the late Dale Earnhardt (a member of the National Motorsports Press Association's Hall of Fame). But Martin can't match Benny Parsons, a hall-of-famer with just 21 career victories but a 1973 Winston Cup championship and a victory in the 1975 Daytona 500. He's never won NASCAR's biggest race, like Buddy Baker, the winner at Daytona in 1980, a 19-time winner overall and a hall-of-famer.

"I don't know. I haven't ever really, really gone over the top," said Martin. "I've never won a Winston Cup championship. I've never won a Daytona 500. But I've won four IROC championships, (including) three years in a row. I've won a lot of Busch races, a high percentage of wins vs. starts. I won three ASA championships.

"I've had a very successful career if I'd never won a race, more successful than I would ever have dreamed as a hillbilly kid from Arkansas; I don't know if that's truly hall-of-fame or not. I don't know if that puts me on a level with Cale Yarborough or David Pearson."

Martin wonders what the criteria for a hall of fame might be. Do you judge solely on championships? The late Davey Allison is in a couple of halls of fame, but he won only 19 Winston Cup races, and his lone championship came posthumously in IROC in 1993. In Allison's favor was a 1992 Daytona 500 championship, plus a couple of victories in The Winston all-star race and the fact that his father is Bobby Allison.

"If you judge by something else, I might stand a chance," Martin said. "But, if you judge by numbers, I may not make it. I don't know where I stand."

Actually, he stands pretty well.

Jim Freeman, the director of the Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) in Talladega, Ala., said that Jeff Gordon, with four titles, 58 Winston Cup victories, three wins in The Winston and two Daytona 500 victories, is a shoo-in.

"Terry Labonte, with two championships, he's probably in," said Freeman. "(Bill) Elliott, with his speed records and the Winston Million and a Cup championship (1988), he's probably in.

"Dale Jarrett might be a candidate. If he wins one more championship, he's in, and he is a three-time Daytona 500 winner." And he's already won 29 Cup races and has been a regular points contender since 1996.

Freeman figures Rusty Wallace and Martin, with 54 and 33 Winston Cup victories, respectively, are clear candidates.

But no one's in a big hurry for induction. According to publicist Tom Roberts, Rusty Wallace says that, no, he's never thought of the hall of fame; he has too much racing left. He wants to add to his 54 Winston Cup victories (tying him with hall-of-famer Lee Petty) and one championship. Maybe, if he hangs up his helmet in five years or so, he says, then the hall of fame may be a consideration.

Freeman said that current racers like Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, and perhaps Ward and Jeff Burton, may be candidates someday.

Scoff, but Bobby's a former Winston Cup champion; Dale Jr. already has two Busch titles, a win in The Winston and some of the most rousing Winston Cup victories ever; Stewart is an imposing figure in Winston Cup after winning crowns in several open-wheel series, including the Indy Racing League. Kenseth is a solid, winning driver; Jeff Burton has won a bunch of races, and Ward is a Daytona 500 winner.

And there's a strong argument for the current crop. Even though Martin admires the giants of the past, he says they may have had life easier. Nowadays, he says, drivers have to deal with a more aggressive press corps, television, sponsors who want lots of their time and fans prowling for autographs.

"We have a little more on our plates,” he said, “and maybe they could concentrate on racing more. I don't know."

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Bodine, meanwhile, builds his own hall-of-fame case.

"I've won races, won some darned good races," he said. "And I've won races the hard way, with everybody out there knocking people out of the way on the last lap to win, passing them on the last lap to win. So, yeah, I hope so. I've brought more to the sport than just driving. I've brought power steering, seats, the safety things. I was the first outsider, northerner, Yankee to break into this sport, and now it's full of them. I've been a pioneer in this sport.

"So, when it's time, I hope they consider me for the hall of fame, whatever's out there for old guys. Yeah, I've done a lot, and it's not over. I'm not through. I'm still here, trying to make a mark and do some things. "

The clincher, ironically, may be Earnhardt. Every great athlete needs a rival to ensure his greatness. Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier; Jim Brown had Sam Huff; Michael Jordan had Magic and Bird, and Petty had Yarborough, Pearson and Allison.

Bodine may have been Earnhardt's Joe Frazier?

Earnhardt and Bodine were Hatfield and McCoy, with the Yankee Bodine (from Chemung, N.Y.) challenging the Rebel Earnhardt (from Kannapolis, N.C.). They smacked fenders and bumpers, and they postured and threatened each other. NASCAR brought them on its carpet, of course, but the feuders didn't mind. They reveled in it all.

So, Geoffrey, were you Dale's Smokin' Geoff?

"I think I was," he said. "I don't want to brag about it, but I'm proud of it. Because I think the same way. We had a tremendous rivalry in the '80s and early '90s. I don't see it (a great rivalry) out there now. One week, it's these guys; next week, it's somebody else.

"Race fans loved it, we loved it. NASCAR spanked us a few times, but I think, deep inside, they loved it, too. It put people in the stands. "

And it put Bodine on the map.

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One thing in the favor of the aging drivers is that there are so many halls of fame. There's the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, which concentrates on stock-car drivers, located in Darlington. There's the IMHOF, which covers all forms of motor racing, located next door to Talladega Superspeedway. There's the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, and you can find halls of fame everywhere from Daytona Beach to all points north and west.

Do they judge by victories? Not necessarily. The late Neil Bonnett garnered hall-of-fame votes while winning 18 Winston Cup races and no championships. Harry Gant, long since retired, has the exact same numbers, and he'd get votes. Hey, Bodine has 18 wins, too.

If you've done something unusual, you have a shot. If the guy's popular with media members, it helps.

The thinking is simple. Gordon, Labonte, Elliott, Jarrett and Wallace will get votes as Winston Cup champions ... Gordon's a lock. Elliott will get votes for the aforementioned reasons, plus the fact that he has one more victory (41) than Tim Flock.

Martin has the four IROC titles and the Busch Series-record 45 wins, and he's a winner of The Winston all-star race (1999). And his 33 Winston Cup wins are ahead of Fireball's 32.

There's the sentimental vote, of course. The late Alan Kulwicki got votes with four career Winston Cup wins and a 1992 championship. Same with Davey Allison and Bonnett, although Davey's only title (IROC, 1993) came posthumously.

Voters often go for former Daytona 500 winners, so three-time Daytona 500 winner Jarrett seems to be a lock. Two-time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin, with 10 wins so far, may be another possibility. If he wins the championship this year, he may be in.

The other possibility is Ricky Rudd. He's never won a championship or s Daytona 500, but he is the record-holder for consecutive starts, and he did win at least one race for 16 years.

Although Freeman once concentrated on stock cars as the publicist for Talladega Superspeedway, he now thinks globally as director of the IMHOF. To Freeman, Michael Schumacher of Formula One and Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. of Indy-car racing are clear candidates. So are longtime sports-car star Tommy Kendall, World of Outlaws' 16-time champion Steve Kinser and drag-racing standouts John Force or Kenny Bernstein.

Not all hall-of-famers are drivers, of course. One assumes that NASCAR boss Bill France Jr. would be an easy choice. Other logical picks are longtime car owner/track owner Roger Penske, controversial track owner Bruton Smith, as well as car owners Richard Childress, Jack Roush and Rick Hendrick.

Robert Yates might get in as a championship-winning car owner or the best engine builder of his time, and Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler may be the best promoter ever.

Ray Evernham may be inducted as a crew chief, and his case will be even stronger as his Dodge program progresses.

Freeman figures he'll greet all kinds of racing folks to the IMHOF down the road, and he's almost certain Martin will be one of them.

Martin, though, says he isn't worried. He might not even be able to name a hall of fame. He just wants to race hard and well.

"I know I have done some really spectacular things in my career," he said. "I know there's some really spectacular things I haven't done. I know that, and I don't feel bad. Even if I never win again, I'm satisfied."

Don't worry, guys. If you can stand up to Earnhardt, and you did, you go. One day, expect the halls to call.