Anyway, the race is tonight, weather permitting. Come on out and support grassroots racing. Eat hot dogs. Drink beer. Whatever floats your boat.

Going by results on the Southside Speedway website, we placed 24th, which means we gained six positions. That's one advantage of starting dead last. Some new rules at the track had us scrambling before the race, plus we had to put a new radiator in at the eleventh hour. Thanks again to Joe and Eric for their hard work on the car.

Also thanks to all our fellow Martin Agency employees and friends who came out to cheer us on. See you on August 24.

Firing the new engine up for the first time

We're planning to hit the track early for a little practice if time allows. The weather seems to be cooperating, so plan on hanging out at Southside Speedway with us tonight for a good show. Here are the race particulars.

The new engine ready to go in

The engine fairies have been here

Weather looks good so far for Friday night, but you know how that goes.

Number 64 - minus one engine (click for video)

Granted, there's still a lot of work to be done. John doesn't even have his current track license yet, much less any seat time. But it's that kind of unpreparedness that makes the MartinEnduro racing experience fun.

We want to thank The Martin Agency for ingnoring what they know about smart advertising, and buying space on our car. Same goes for Hanes, TLC, GEICO, G-Force Karts, Roy Hendrick's Muffler Shop and BFGoodrich Tires. Whether they just have a good sense of humor or a love for old school racing, their support helps a lot.

Stay tuned for updates as the week progresses. And let us know if you want to help with or advertise on the car. Either way, we'll work something out. Call John at 512-9782.

Since our last race, the car has undergone quite a bit of work. The new engine will provide us with the horsepower to be competitive. Our time away from the track will make us that much hungrier to blow the doors off the competition. Or we may crash the car on lap one. You just never know.

Either way, come out to Southside Speedway next Friday night to see some great racing action. The racing action starts around 8, but our class (Street Stock) probably won't begin until 9:30 or even later.

There's a full season of Enduro racing (now called Street Stock) at Southside with more races than last year. We've already missed one or two races, but hope to be up and running very soon. Jeff and John secured a new (used) engine to replace the sad 307. It's an Olds 403, and we sure hope the extra 96 cu. inches (and our brand new set of BFGoodrich Radial T/As) help. We'll start updating the website on a regular basis now, so check back for news about the season. And be sure to visit http://www.southside-speedway.com for info on Street Stock and other classes of racing. Let's hope we didn't forget how to do this.

It's hard to believe we're running again with the same motor, considering the noises it made after the last race. But evidently what our engine lacks in style and power, it makes up for in durability. Nonetheless, Google thinks the "Olds 307" is a species of dog, because that's how most people describe it.

Enough negativity! We plan to bring it!

Be there tonight if you can. The green flag drops on other classes at 7:00, with enduro starting sometime after 9:00. Possibly much later than 9:00, but don't wait too late to show up. Tickets are $10 at the gate. Less for seniors and kids.

If you don't like the idea of going to a "stock car race", think of it as a "movie" where you can bring your own cooler up to 18 inches long, full of beer but not in glass bottles. Come on. It's Friday, the hurricane didn't hit us. We've got our health. Go breathe some fumes.

Watch the action from the stands

With new baby business and other things to attend to all day, I barely made it to the race on time. Because I registered so late, I was sent to the back of the field of 29 cars. For the record, that's the third straight race in which I was on the last row. Being in the back has its advantages, though, since you can pass slower cars but not have to worry about getting steamrollered by faster traffic right away. Of course within a few laps it was hard to tell who was leading and who was following. The carnage started pretty quickly with crashes all over the track. I managed to avoid them (probably since I was so slow). I had to squeeze between disabled cars and the inside retaining wall once, and I almost hit a car that spun on the front stretch. Somebody else beat me to it though. Evidently, having a camera on your rear bumper causes a bit of unwanted attention, as one guy gave me three solid hits from behind, even though I was staying high to get out of his way. The young folks tell me he was trying to "bring it". I'll double check the tape, but I believe he was the same guy who eventually ran into the parked car at the start/finish line. The car did about as well as usual. The temperature was nice and stable at 160 degrees before the race. But after a few laps, the needle started moving and didn't stop till it pegged itself way past the 250-degree mark. Miraculously, the engine died right as I rounded turn 4 to take the checkered flag. I coasted around the track and into the pits, where the engine sizzled and smoked. Once again, however, it started up long enough to get back on the trailer. Who knows, maybe it has one more race in it.

Thanks to Mindy Reese for scoring this historic race. Also thanks to Jeff Pollard for all his help in the pits and the garage. Thanks to the great group of fans who came out, too. It's nice to hear someone screaming something other than "Fire!" when I drive by.

And of course, special thanks to our sponsors: CARFAX, Roy Hendrick's Muffler Shop, Montgomery Body Shop, Edo's Squid, Key's Towing, G-Force Karts, Signs By Tomorrow, Maxwell Welding. We only associate with high-quality folks, so take our advice and give them your patronage. Thanks to GEICO, UPS, Spike TV and The Martin Agency for their parts in all of this...although they'd probably prefer we not mention what that means.

If we think the car can make it more than a few laps, we'll see you at the next race on Friday, Sept. 23.

Attendance has been pretty light at the last two races. But instead of taking the hint, we'd like to encourage Martinites and friends to come out. We know watching 30-some deranged drivers spinning, flipping, crashing and burning doesn't sound exciting, but it actually is quite enjoyable. Give it a chance. There's only one race after this one. Click back to the homepage for details about the race. Hope to see you there.

First things first. I drew the exact same starting position as last time...39th. Coincidentally, that put me on the very last row on the inside. Next to me, was my friend Joe who would start last. No problems before the race, so I got to see some of the other races and qualifying to get in the proper frame of mind. Not sure what time is was when our race started, but it was late. After one pace lap, the green flag dropped and it was on. I passed a few cars early on, but I soon became the "passee" as the underwhelming power of the Olds 307 became clear. The car was really loose, despite my lack of power. I didn't even check my tire pressures before the race, so I guess I deserved the wild ride. There were a few wrecks and other incidents that I could see (Note: I couldn't see much at first due to foggy glasses...opted not to wear contacts. Bad idea.), but I stayed clear of them. I ended up having to stay to the outside again to avoid getting run over. Got very sideways a couple of times thanks to some large slicks of automotive fluids that appeared in bad places. Avoiding them, and the permanently disabled car in turn 2 was a high priority. By the way, one driver made a couple of laps with his hood up. And not just a little up. Up up. As the race wore on, our car started smoking a lot from all smoke-prone zones as if to tell me, "Stop. Please stop doing this to me." Instead, the car's weakness just made me mad. As a result, I pressed the pedal down to the floor, and when it would go no further, I pressed even harder. With one lap to go, a car spun between turns three and four, and for a second, I thought he might find me. But he didn't. I took the checkered flag with 45 laps completed and brought it into the pits...where the car cut out on its own. After it cooled down, I was able to get it onto the trailer, looking as good as it did when we started. But we'll be looking for a new motor before we race again. And if it's a good one, enduro might never be the same.

Once again, many thanks to our sponsors who have allowed us to have a lot of fun so far. Not only are they good sports, but they're all great at what they do, so do yourself a favor and partake of their services.

Also, thanks to Jeff Pollard, the lone airgunman. The solitary screw-driver. The only oil filler. The one guy who got his hands dirty this time around. Don't worry, man. Now that we've finished a race, people will be flocking to help, right?

First of all, it was a really fun/exciting race. Lots of cars spinning out...one or two big crashes. I drew number 39, so I started pretty far back in the pack. After a clean start, the car ran well at first and felt pretty strong. But as the water temp rose, we started to lose power, so it was frustrating--especially on the straightaways. I feel like I ran well up until the first red flag. While I was waiting for the crews to clear three cars from the track and the ambulance to take one driver away, I decided to shut the car off, hoping it would cool down a bit. Then came the rookie mistake. I thought the restart would be a rolling one. Wrong. The light turned green and everyone took off...except me. Took me a second to get the car back on and in gear. I almost got clobbered by the field, but recovered fairly well. Soon after the start, someone ripped the front right off the car. Fiberglass and metal went flying and almost took out the headlight cam. Luckily it survived with the footage intact. There was a lot of pushing and shoving for the remainder of the race. I tried to stay to the outside when I felt my car slowing down. Even though it was getting slower, it was also getting looser in the turns. Turns out I had a blown tire (left rear) that an official pointed out to me on the second red flag stop. I pulled into the pits, and got the tire changed just in time for the race to be over. I was not moving very fast doing my own pitstop. Pretty exhausted. But the car will race again! Thanks to everyone who came out. And special thanks to our sponsors and team. Especially Jeff Pollard and Dane Magoon who logged a lot of hours in the garage. Also, thanks to Joe Henderson, driver of the No. 43 car. He's an old autocross buddy of mine who raced enduro for the first time and finished! Joe is a top-notch BMW mechanic and road racer. He helped me try to figure out the squealing belt problem before the race. Also, special thanks to Freddy Keys and his driver Aaron who got us to the track and back. Overall, it was great night, even though we're still looking for that finish.

Thanks to all of our sponsors for hanging in there through all the rain. Check our sponsors page for more info on how to find them. See you tomorrow night.

Last night Jeff, Dane and cameraman Ben met in John's garage to work on the car. After lots crimping, cutting and sparks, John finally got all the gauges working and installed a cool looking toggle switch for the dial illumination. Dane re positioned the hood and trunk pins to match the post-race shape of the car. Once again, we dropped the pan and drained the transmission fluid. Special thanks to Jeff and Holly, by the way. Jeff noticed that John was about to put Type F fluid in the transmission-the wrong kind-and promptly acquired the correct kind. Earlier in the week, Holly Flaisher did her homework and determined that a GM 350 Turbo transmission holds 3.5 quarts of fluid. Or was it gallons?

We also gained a new sponsor yesterday. G-Force Karts has agreed to trade track time for space on our car. A match made in heaven if ever there was one. Look for footage from their track on this site soon.

Tonight we're scheduled to work on the car again. Same time and place. Not a whole lot more to do to get the car ready for the race except to test.

The car is starting to have a little dignity again. We found a bumper at the junkyard and forced it to fit on the mangled frame. More importantly, we have an appointment with Roy Hendrick's Muffler Shop on Horsepen Rd. Friday after they close to go over the car with a fine toothed comb. Chuck and his crew have been a huge help to us and we HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEIR EXHAUST AND BRAKE WORK and other repairs. They're a racing family and they've taken our ragtag team under their wing. Call them at 282-2857 before you spend a bunch of money at a dealership or somewhere else.

Our goal is to rent the track for a practice day before the June 3 race. As a thank you to the Hendricks, we'll share our time with Brandon Hendrick who races in the Modified division at Southside. Plus, they'll be on hand to help us set up the car and give John a crash course in circle track racing.

We'll post a work/practice/race schedule on the site soon.

Our pristine Oldsmobile started near the front of the 30 car field thanks to a lucky draw by John. We lost our grill and knocked our front bumper loose within the first few laps, and the action never let up.

After mixing it up for 12 laps or so, John had to bring it into the pits as his oil pressure was dropping, water temperature was rising and the car was beginning to fill up with smoke. The car was missing on the straightaways, and John was having trouble getting the car into gear.

Other than those things, it worked like clockwork. During the pitstop, John realized what everyone already knew, that his front bumper was only attached on one side and was in danger of falling off. After inspection, the officials gave him the go ahead to re-enter the race. Because the race had been red-flagged for another incident during his pit stop, John had to wait for the last place car to complete one lap before he was allowed to take to the track.

Just when old No. 64 was starting to make some progress, an incident in turn three caused a lot of drama and eventually took the team out of the race. A nudge from behind sent our car sliding through the turn where it was blocked from view by the infield garage. Everyone expected to see No. 64 slide through to the other side. Nope. Instead, the announcer says, "Looks like Car Number 64 is on fire." And it was. While trying to get the car restarted after the wreck, John's car was broadsided by another competitor. Immediately after that, flames flared up under the hood. Turns out a transmission fluid leak onto the exhaust manifold was the culprit. The fire crew put it out in no time and only minimal fire damage was done to the car. Nonetheless, John called it quits for the night.

In the post race celebration in the pits, we were able to start it and drive away under our own power. At this point, it looks a lot more like an enduro car should.

Many thanks to all the fans who came out Friday night. Also, John gives special thanks to everyone on the team who got us out there racing. Emily, Both Patricks, Catherine and Dane made particularly big contributions. Not to mention Terry and Mike whose roll cage was put to the test and never budged. You guys rule.

Look for the MartinEnduro team in the last race of the season on Friday, September 17. Same place. Same time.

A perfect day for loading the car on the trailer and heading to Roy Hendrick's Muffler Shop. Shop manager Chuck Hendrick and exhaust wizard Robert Morton installed a custom dual exhaust using big, fat 2.5-inch pipe. No muffler, no catastrophic converter. Just free-flowing pipes exiting just in front of the rear wheels. Chuck and Robert created a mean looking exhaust worthy of a Mad Max Interceptor. And as quite a few Martinites have come to expect, the staff at the shop could not have been nicer. We owe a big thanks to everyone at Roy Hendrick's Muffler Shop. Don't take your car anywhere else. (And thanks to Betsy for negotiating a sweet sponsorship with them.)

John is about to go out of town on a Quiznos TV shoot. He's bummed that he'll miss the welding of the cage and hopes that Terry does not take artistic license with it (e.g. welding it on the roof in the shape of a dying swan.)

Welding is going to be a huge part of the enduro project. Emily's boyfriend (Patrick B.) has a friend who welds. His name is Terry Wolfe, and actually he's a sculptor. He came over to John's garage tonight and looked over the roll cage kit and the instructions. He says he's confident that he can handle the job of protecting John's vital organs. Still need to figure out logistics of getting the car to a suitable workspace for the installation.

Jeff runs a website for Toyota truck enthusiasts called CustomTacos.com. He's freaky that way.

The MartinEnduro team is made up of a bunch of art directors, copywriters, producers, studio artists, IT guys, account execs, accountants, a photographer, a sculptor, an archaeologist, an '87 Olds Cutlass and a small refrigerator full of beer. Most of the aforementioned are advertising folks who hail from The Martin Agency in Richmond, VA.

We might not be very good at racing, but we have the only enduro car signed by Dale Jarrett, driver of the No. 44 UPS Toyota. So there.

Enduro racing is basically the lowest form of stock car racing where cars cannot be modified for speed. The intent is to provide a way get into racing without spending a lot of money. Races at Southside Speedway in Richmond, Virginia, generally last 50 laps with around 30 cars starting. There is no qualifying. Starting positions are determined by random drawing. There is some prize money involved but it's not much, and we're certainly not in it for the money.

Across the country, enduro rules vary. Everything from schoolbuses to cars pulling campers have taken to the track to battle it out. Here in Virginia, the purists prevail. No gimmicks and a fairly stringent set of rules. So what's the attraction? Driver skill level is suspect. Barring a valid driver's license there are no requirements (e.g., MartinEnduro driver John Ryland has never raced before and hasn't even gotten a speeding ticket in five years or so.)