Harold Martin, ACDelco IHRA
Pro Modified Racer and Entrepreneur featured on CNN.
CNN Newsroom is a 30-minute, commercial-free broadcast.
The show airs Monday through Friday internationally on CNN. Additionally,
it airs in more than 36,000 schools in the United States. The
show gives viewers an in-depth look at the day's news events as
well as incorporating specially produced segments.
Over the course of the year, Harold reaches out
to students at career fairs, student seminars and other promotional
events across the country." It is exciting to have the opportunity
to reach out to students on a national level and share with them
the importance of a formal education in achieving successes in
life."
Harold will also announce a scholarship opportunity
for high school students interested in a career in the automotive
industry. Martin's ongoing innovations in EFI have been the basis
for his personal challenge to achieve higher levels with his progressive
ideas. His 2,000 horsepower ACDelco Pontiac Grand Am employs an
electronic fuel injection engine, specially designed by Martin.
Building on the combination of Harold's expertise and enthusiasm,
the 2001 race season is expected to be both exciting and record
breaking for Harold's race team. The innovative style of the Martin
Motorsports Team will set the stage this season for their future
growth and expansion.
Martin's company, while specializing in Electronic
Fuel Injection, has expanded to include engineering and development
of engine programs for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) companies
to professional race teams. GM Performance Parts recently released
a new high technology EFI 502 cubic inch engine package which
was designed and developed in conjunction with Martin Motorsports.
Additionally, the company has been assigned complete Powertrain
responsibility for the newest Carroll Shelby sports car, the Shelby
Series One.
With a combination of experience, education, innovation
and enthusiasm, it's no surprise that CNN has chosen to profile
such a dynamic individual.
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HAYNES: Every once in a while, you meet someone
who breathes inspiration, someone you admire not only for his
accomplishments in life. but how that person lives life. Recently,
I ran across such an individual: a drag racer-turned-entrepreneur
who's living a life-long dream.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (voice-over): The thrill of drag
racing: speeding down a quarter-mile track at more than two hundred
miles an hour. It's a risk-taker's sport. Harold Martin is the
embodiment of a drag racer. He's not afraid of risks. He thrives
on competition and fear of the unknown.
HAROLD MARTIN, DRAG RACER: But what about the distributor?
Has it been phased in?
HAYNES: Harold puts his hands on everything that
passes through here. For him, turning wrenches comes naturally.
MARTIN: Since a kid, I basically have been fascinated
by engines and the possibilities and the what-ifs?
HAYNES: Martin's fascination with motor sports was
inspired by his father, a Detroit autoworker who liked to drag
race on the side.
HUSTON MARTIN, HAROLD'S FATHER: Every Saturday night,
he would be there, involved in whatever we was doing. So I knew
then. I said: Boy, this guy, he's going to be a drag racer.
HAROLD MARTIN: My dad was very good in opening that
door and giving me opportunities to learn about it and to be on
his race team and those kind of things.
HAYNES: Martin wanted his drag engine to be the
best, which meant developing expertise he didn't have. So he took
a part-time job at General Motors to pay for a degree in automotive
engineering. At GM, Martin was an innovator. He's credited with
developing the first electronic fuel injection system and Cadillac's
Northstar engine. At the peak of his career, Martin left GM to
start his own automotive engineering company.
HAROLD MARTIN: I felt like it was time to take that
risk and pursue a dream. I felt like, you know, I didn't want
to look back on life and say: I wish I would of, could of, should
of.
HAYNES (on camera): Was it a little scary to start
your own business?
HAROLD MARTIN: Yes. Starting your own business is
always a very, very difficult thing and concerning thing. You
have the risk of: You've lost the security of the job that you
had. You have the risk of: Well, will people really think highly
enough of you to give you business, as well as will they come
back to you after the first episode of that business?
HAYNES (voice-over): The risk paid off. Harold Martin
built himself a multi-million dollar enterprise, attracting race
enthusiasts who want to soup up their engines and major auto companies
like General Motors.
SCOTT MACKIE, GENERAL MANAGER, ACDELCO: We certainly
appreciate the association with Harold. Racing is a very difficult
sport. And staying on the cutting edge of technology is an extremely
difficult thing to do.
HAYNES: Besides his father's influence, Martin credits
much of his success on his upbringing as a child in inner city
Detroit.
HAROLD MARTIN: It takes a surrounding staff and
a surrounding community to make you ultimately the person that
you are. And that's why I find it so special to have the opportunity
to come back into the city of Detroit and do things within the
public school systems and do things within communities at large.
It's each and every one of you that has the ability to take your
own prospective careers to whatever level that you choose to.
Nothing can stop you other than you.
HAYNES: Martin goes out of his way to share his
philosophy of hard work and determination with young people.
HAROLD MARTIN: I want them to make a serious commitment
to the career. I want them to make a serious commitment to education.
And I want them to realize that it's them that makes that difference.
HAYNES (on camera): Does a young Harold Martin growing
up in this neighborhood today have as much opportunity to succeed
as you did?
HAROLD MARTIN: A young Harold Martin today has even
greater opportunity than I have today to succeed. This is really
good, Mike.
HAYNES (voice-over): Martin makes no secret about
the value he places on family and spends as much time and energy
on being a husband and father as he does climbing the entrepreneurial
ladder. (on camera): How much do you try and involve your son
in what you do as a professional?
HAROLD MARTIN: I want him to be a very successful
person. I want him to know the benefits of working hard and what
the rewards are of having a good education and having good, hard
work ethics and those kinds of things.
HAYNES (voice-over): Harold Martin is living a dream:
a dream he made come true by his own hard work and determination.
But just because he's accomplished so much doesn't mean he's ready
to put his life on cruise control.
HAROLD MARTIN: God didn't put you on this Earth
to go out there and coexist. He put you on this Earth to go out
there and make a difference. Each and every day, I make a major
stride toward making sure that our efforts at the end of the day
are going to make a difference in the programs that we are involved
with. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HAYNES: That's NEWSROOM for Thursday. We'll see
you back here tomorrow. Take care. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT,
PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED
AT www.fdch.com
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RACECAR
Electronic
Fuel Injection (EFI) Wizard Harold Martin's personal commitment
to education and the leaders of tomorrow has earned the attention
of CNN.The Detroit based business leader was featured in a segment
airing in February. 
