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Martin well-respected throughout community

Saturday's celebration of life for Dode Martin will bring together those who knew him from his racing activity and those who knew him through his community activities.

Martin, who was 92 when he passed away Feb. 1, had lived in Fallbrook most of his life but was nationally-known for his drag racing cars. In many cases those who knew Martin from drag racing and later moved to Fallbrook would know Martin for what he did beyond his automotive interests.

"The community lost a great leader. He was very much involved in Fallbrook, not just cars," said John Raifsnider, who moved to Martin's neighborhood in 1994. "There were so many people that he helped in town."

Martin was born in La Habra but was 18 months old when he moved to Fallbrook. His parents, Dean and Pansy, operated a lemon grove on 22 acres and although Martin's childhood house was torn down in the early 1960s the Palomino Road house where he lived for most of his life was on that property. Martin joined the United States Army in 1944 and served his country for two years, but after living elsewhere briefly he returned to Fallbrook in 1949.

Earl and Beverly McDougal purchased a house on the former grove in 1960 and became Martin's neighbors.

"He was just the sweetest person you'd ever want to know," Beverly McDougal said.

Martin was the fourth of five children. His sister Myrtis Story was the second of the five children, and Jack Story was Martin's nephew. The Percy Miller Ranch was just west of where the Martin and McDougal families lived, and in the late 1970s Earl and Beverly McDougal, Dode and Muggins Martin, and Jack and Shirley Story purchased that property and developed it into the Grand Tradition Estate and Gardens which opened in May 1984.

Martin designed the porch railing and the scales on the side of the Grand Tradition.

"He pretty well designed all the things that we needed," McDougal said. "He really was a genius when it came right down to it."

In 1987 the McDougals bought out the Martins and the Storys.

The Grand Tradition was the site of the Fallbrook Historical Society's annual luncheon in 2007 when Martin was presented with the Pioneer of the Year award. Martin had been a member of the Fallbrook Historical Society since 1993.

"He was very big in creating and maintaining that museum," Raifsnider said.

"He did a great deal for the historical society. He was really instrumental in building the new barn we have," McDougal said.

Martin had to use his design expertise when the barn was being built. "When they bolted it to the foundation it didn't match," McDougal said.

Martin figured out how to solve the problem. "He did an outstanding job," McDougal said. "He saved us a tremendous amount of money."

Martin's planning expertise included long-term schedule arrangements. "On Sunday nights he planned his schedule for the whole next week," McDougal said. "He got more done than anybody I ever knew."

Scott Denton and his wife purchased a house adjacent to Martin's in 1993. "I've known him as a neighbor and a friend most of all," Denton said.

That relationship included Martin helping with the frame of the 1955 Chevrolet Denton is rebuilding.

"He was just the most amazing person I've ever met and giving," Denton said. "Just willing to do anything to help anybody."

When Jan Plischke taught at Potter Junior High School he founded the Potter junior drag racing team in 1996, and the program continued until Plischke retired in 2000. "He was always very helpful to the kids," Plischke said of Martin.

"He was instrumental in helping us with our engines," Plischke said. "He balanced the engines for us and just helped us with some of the engine work."

In the drag racing community Martin's reputation wasn't as a Fallbrook community member. He began his drag racing career on the Santa Ana drag strip in 1950.

Martin and the Nelson brothers, Tom and Jim, founded the Dragmaster company which built race cars. Their first car was Dragliner, which was built in 1957 and ran in the C Dragster class which had a weight specification of 1,585 pounds and a 283 cubic inch motor. Dragliner, which ran on gasoline, reached approximately 125 mph at the finish line a quarter-mile from the start and covered that distance in approximately 11 seconds.

Dragliner utilized a Ford chassis, a Ford transmission, and a Chevrolet engine; Martin had built the car with plans for a flathead Ford motor but accepted Jim Nelson's recommendation for a Chevy engine. Martin drove the car at the 1957 National Hot Rod Association nationals in Oklahoma City on Labor Day Weekend and won the C Dragster class, and he also won the 1958 NHRA nationals in Oklahoma City with Dragliner.

Dragmaster then sold Dragliner to Dick Nicolosi and built faster race cars. In 2009 a replica of Dragliner was built after determining that the restoration of the actual car would not be possible. Martin, the Nelsons, and other volunteers built the replica which was completed in 2010 and taken to the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield before being loaned indefinitely to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona.

The first car donated to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum was the Dragmaster Dart, which won the NHRA's 1962 Winternationals. Dragmaster built "The Two Thing" between Dragliner and Dragmaster Dart; The Two Thing won the 1960 NHRA nationals in Detroit with a record speed of 171 mph and in 1961 reached 177 mph at Indianapolis. Martin completed restoration of The Two Thing, whose two Chevrolet motors provided 1,500 horsepower, in 2005.

When the NHRA switched from gasoline to racing fuel in the mid-1960s, Martin and the Nelsons retired from racing rather than make the switch, although Dragmaster continued to manufacture chassis.

During 2007 and 2008 Martin and three others built The Dragmaster Trainer, which has a Dragmaster chassis for an old-style look but a modern motor and a 170-inch wheelbase for improved safety. In March 2008 Martin not only tested the car at Barona Speedway but also received an NHRA license at the age of 82, although his desire was for others to drive most of the car's races.

Verne Tomlinson worked for Fuel Injection Engineering, more commonly known as Hilborn Fuel Injectors, before moving to Fallbrook in 1980. "He bought a lot of our equipment," Tomlinson said.

Tomlinson lived in the Los Angeles area when he and Martin both raced. "We got to be really good friends," Tomlinson said.

At the 1960 NHRA nationals in Indianapolis, the final two drivers were Martin and Tomlinson. "I ended up beating him that year," Tomlinson said.

"I knew Dode well, but it was strictly a business association," Tomlinson said of his pre-Fallbrook years. "I got to know him a lot better when I moved down to Fallbrook."

Although Tomlinson and Martin would encounter each other in town after Tomlinson moved to Fallbrook, the two continued their automotive relationship and Tomlinson and Martin would often rely on each other if they had questions about specific automotive components.

"He was a really nice guy and did what he said he was going to do," Tomlinson said. "If he told you he was going to do something he did it."

Don Montgomery raced from 1948 until 1972 and moved to Fallbrook in 1974. "Dode was a great guy. He was well-known in the drag racing world," Montgomery said. "He was well-respected."

Montgomery published eight books on drag racing history in the late 20th century. "Dode was kind enough to loan me some of his pictures," Montgomery said. "Dode helped me particularly on the dragster stuff."

Martin also assisted Montgomery in car restoration activity. "Dode did some machine work for me," Montgomery said. "He was very good at it. He could do some of the special type of things that you needed."

Montgomery noted that Martin's donation of cars to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum has helped to preserve drag racing history. "It allows people to see some of the cars the way they were," Montgomery said.

Jimmy Scott grew up in the San Fernando Valley and has lived in Fallbrook for the past 25 years. "He was one of my heroes when I was a teenager," Scott said.

Scott was not aware that Martin was a Fallbrook resident when Scott retired and joined a friend who was living in Fallbrook. "I was surprised to see how many car people there were in Fallbrook," Scott said. "I found out Dode was one of them."

Scott learned where Martin lived and introduced himself. "We hit it off right away," Scott said.

Martin and Scott would work together on motors. "Any time we had a project, somebody who wanted to do a motor, I was his assistant," Scott said. "We did some really oddball motors there's no way I would have taken on by myself."

Many of those were motors from the first half of the 20th century, and Scott noted that Martin was one of few people with that expertise. "He was very much in demand for that kind of stuff," Scott said.

Martin would provide recommendations for Scott's work. "Probably one of the smartest guys I've ever been around," Scott said.

Scott denied having the design expertise Martin had. "If somebody tells me what to do, I can do it, so Dode and I worked really well together," Scott said. "I always enjoyed the times working with Dode."

Roy Miersch, who moved from the Los Angeles area to Fallbrook 30 years ago, was a teenager when he met Martin in the late 1950s. "Dode was good," Miersch said. "He was doing quite a bit."

Miersch would eventually build dragsters himself. He knew that Martin lived in Fallbrook when his wife and a friend were looking for property and found a parcel in Fallbrook, although Martin wasn't the reason for Miersch's decision to choose Fallbrook. Miersch built a shop and then a home on his new Fallbrook property.

"He's helped me and a lot of guys with different little projects," Miersch said.

In Miersch's case that included restoration of an El Camino. "Dode offered to put my motor together for my El Camino," Miersch said. "He fixed the heads up for me and just gave them to me."

Miersch wasn't the only Fallbrook resident who wasn't charged for Martin's assistance. "Dode was really a good guy, a tremendous giving person," Miersch said. "He would help do anything for anybody."

Miersch noted that Martin would perform a task if he liked what someone else needed done. "He did not expect anything in return," Miersch said.

The relationship went beyond the shop, as Miersch and Martin would often chat during Hot Summer Nights car shows.

"He was just so talented," McDougal said. "He could fabricate just about anything. It was amazing."

"Just an amazing guy here. Whatever he put his mind to he did it," Denton said.

"He'd come up with a better idea than what we dreamed about," McDougal said. "No matter what you gave him to do he could figure a way out to do it."

"He lived a good life," Plischke said.

"He pretty much had a life of doing what he wanted to do and he enjoyed it," Scott said. "He'll be sadly missed by the car community."

"He was a good neighbor. I only saw him get upset at anybody one time," Raifsnider said.

"I never knew anybody who didn't like him," Tomlinson said.

"He taught me a lot about friendships and relationships," Denton said.

"I'm proud to say that I got to know him the last 20-some years of his life," Raifsnider said.

"He was very generous to me," Raifsnider said. "The community's lost a great man, not just because of the racing."

Muggins Martin passed away in October 2014. They had a daughter, Diane Foust; granddaughters Tora Schilling, Tracy Rogers, and Tammy Simpson, and three great-grandchildren. Dode Martin also lived long enough to know his great-great-granddaughter.

Schilling noted that Martin's willingness to help on automotive and community projects wasn't at the expense of his family members. "Family was most important to Dode, and we will miss him the most," she said.

"It's going to be a big empty space here in Fallbrook," Denton said.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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