At first glimpse his ride may look like a vehicle straight from Orson Wells’ War of the Worlds but that’s not about to deter Pro Modified racer Harold Martin in his quest to make his Martin M-4 a viable Pro Modified race car.

“The car’s progression is coming along well,” Martin said. “The publicity in the early stages actually caused a problem in that racers and fans flock to the car. There’s a part of me that will be glad when the newness wears off so we can get down to racing and figure this thing out.”

Martin is currently qualified 15th provisionally in the Pro Modified field at the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C.

Of the obstacles Martin, the former General Motors engineer, has faced in the past few weeks learning the nuances of the chassis has proven the toughest challenge. At first glimpse his ride may look like a vehicle straight from Orson Wells’ War of the Worlds but that’s not about to deter Pro Modified racer Harold Martin in his quest to make his Martin M-4 a viable Pro Modified race car.

“The car’s progression is coming along well,” Martin said. “The publicity in the early stages actually caused a problem in that racers and fans flock to the car. There’s a part of me that will be glad when the newness wears off so we can get down to racing and figure this thing out.”

Martin is currently qualified 15th provisionally in the Pro Modified field at the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C.

Of the obstacles Martin, the former General Motors engineer, has faced in the past few weeks learning the nuances of the chassis has proven the toughest challenge.

“We have a new chassis that we wanted and moved a lot of stuff around,” Martin said. “We just wanted to get some laps to better understand what the car wants. The car has been real quick down low but a little inconsistent in the middle. We’ve had some issues with tire shake. That’s just making laps to work it out.

“The thing about having a Pro Modified is it’s not only laps but adjusting to the track conditions you are facing at the time. We are facing a new variable this weekend – a hot track and a new race car. I’m excited each time I come out here because I want us to challenge ourselves as well as other racers. We want to create a combination robust enough that it can get down the track no matter what the conditions are.”

The radical body slices through the air like no other car Martin, a late-model auto specialist, has found. The trick is now to harmonize the sleek piece with the chassis it cloaks.

“It affects you more as a driver because of the different aerodynamics,” Martin explained. “You just don’t have the same vision. It’s no different than jumping in a 1963 Corvette after being behind the wheel of various late model cars. You are still learning where the optimum set up is in conjunction with the aerodynamics. Right now we aren’t worrying so much about the body as we are where the bars go beneath it.”

One might think the engineer in Martin would inspire him to stand back and think to himself the M-4 is an odd-looking body. Not so. He’s enthused to be part of what he feels is history being made.

“I think it’s great to be a part of history … to be a part of something that is different and unique,” Martin said. ‘It’s something that has people from Formula One as well as other forms of motorsports calling. They are calling to compliment on the creativity.

“We’ve even had people from the government calling to say that this car is what we need to see out of Detroit,” Martin concluded. 

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