Dode Martin
The quarter half of the Dragmaster team, Dorrin “Dode” Martin did not find himself in the limelight as much as his partner, Jim Nelson. Like Nelson, his hot-rodding career began on the dry lakes Southern California. When organized drag racing began, Martin was in on the ground floor with his own crude dragster and his duels with the “Bean Bandits” at Paradise Mesa were as good as any rivalry since. In the mid-50s, he and Nelson teamed up to build the “Dragliner”, one of the first dragsters to feature an enclosed canopy and full-body. They won “Best Engineered” honors at the 1957 NHRA Nationals, as well as C/Dragster class win. The performance and high-quality workmanship lead others to seek their talents. They set up shop as the Dragmaster Company in 1958 with Martin working full time and Nelson initially helping on a part-time basis. The partnership of Nelson’s engine building and machine skills combined with Martin’s fabrication and welding expertise formed an ideal team. Dragmaster build everything from components to turnkey race cars. Approximately 300 Dragmaster chassis were built and the customer roster included the names of Hall of Famers like: Ted Cyr, Raymond Godman, Danny Ongais, Pete Robinson, and Mickey Thompson. Their own cars, like “Two Thing” and the “Dragmaster Dart”, won numerous engineering, safest constructed, and top speed awards as well as top fuel Eliminator the 1962 NHRA Winternationals and Top Gas at the 1963 AHRA Winternationals. Not just partners in business, in the early years Dode and Jim traded off driving on every run, whether it was a qualifying pass or a top eliminator contest. In 1964, under contract from Chrysler, they built the supercharged Dodge Chargers exhibition vehicle which many consider the first funny cars.