Dan The Road Trip Guy
Join Dan the Road Trip Guy as he explores the adventures, memories, and life lessons of diverse guests from all walks of life. This podcast goes beyond the road to celebrate the journey of life by uncovering stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply love a good story, Dan the Road Trip Guy will leave you inspired and ready to embrace your own adventures. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
I hope you enjoy the episodes. You can find me at https://www.dannyneal.com.
Dan The Road Trip Guy
Talking Revving Engines, Family Business and More with Mike Martin
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I hit the virtual asphalt with my friend Mike Martin, memories of a classic Ford Mustang and the twists and turns of the Pacific Coast Highway fuel our conversation. Mike, a retired family businessman, breathes life into tales of manual transmissions and life lessons. We chat about the nostalgia that wraps around the steering wheel of his first car, and the family road trip that is etched into his heart—revisiting stops like Hearst Castle and the towering Redwoods.
The road we travel takes a compelling turn as Mike recounts the remarkable growth of his family's industrial metal fabrication business. From its modest beginnings to becoming a 4-generation family business. Mike's reflections on innovation, community spirit, and his father's post-World War II vision illuminate the legacy that continues to drive the company forward, now settled in the city of Florence, Kentucky.
Finally, he shares the perfect road trip companion—none other than the legendary Paul McCartney. Imagine the songs we'd sing, the stories swapped, and the talk about Paul's Corvette. Mike graciously gives a shout out to me and an invitation to the listeners to keep riding shotgun with us at dantheroadtripguy.com, ensures the journey never truly ends. So here's to the open road, the memories we make, and the tales we tell along the way.
Absolutely nothing beats windshield time, a road trip and good conversation in the car. Welcome to another episode of Dan the Road Trip Guy, where we have entertaining conversations about cars and road trips, life lessons and maybe, every now and then, a little advice. I'm your host, Dan Neal, Road Trip Extraordinaire, and now buckle. Now and then, a little advice. I'm your host, Dan Neal Road Trip Extraordinaire. And now buckle up and enjoy the show. I am on a virtual road trip today with my guest. His name is Mike Martin. He is from Northern Kentucky area, so we live pretty close to one another, but we're on a virtual trip today. He's in Indianapolis and I'm here in Cincinnati. I met Mike like I've met a few of my guests on One Lap of America. Several years back he came and he actually did quite well, and we'll talk about that during the show. Mike grew up in the family business that his grandfather started and has just recently retired. I'm excited to talk to Mike. Welcome to the show, Mike.
Speaker 1:Oh well, thank you very much. I'm pleased to be here with you, Looking forward to doing your show with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I appreciate you taking the time and I know you're kind of on an outing today, so even more appreciate it. I'd like to start this off with, and you'll appreciate this just take a warm-up lap, if you will, for a couple minutes or a minute, and just tell my listeners who you are before we dive into the details.
Speaker 1:Oh well, probably like you, I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have a wonderful family my wife and three beautiful children they're all grown now and a grandchild beautiful children, they're all grown now and a grandchild. I worked all my life for my family business. I just retired a couple of years from that. Worked here 41 years. Yeah, I'm just kind of enjoying the retired life. Right now I'm in Indianapolis at the Mecham car auction, so it's a fun day with some friends. So pretty much where I'm at right now.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for sharing that. So we'll just head on down the road here and spend a little bit of time together, but tell me about your very first car, way back when.
Speaker 1:Oh well, my dad's company had a very big contract with Ford. Kind of like in the immortal words of Henry Ford you can have any car you want as long as it's a Ford. And I did get a black one. I got a Ford Mustang. My dad insisted that I get a manual transmission and I couldn't have air conditioning. I was lucky to get the Mustang because my older brother unfortunately he was a Delta Pinto. We uh quickly discovered that was not the car to get a second time. So I was lucky there, even though it was the ugly oil embargo era of cars. A 77 Mustang. Um, it actually had a 302 V8 in it with a whopping 120 horsepower. So but you know, I was glad to have it, even you're 17 years old. Uh, basically, uh, having a ford mustang, I was very happy.
Speaker 2:So it's my first car yeah, what color was the interior?
Speaker 1:actually had this, like we called it, a gold velour. It was a cloth but it was like a gold color. So the car was black with a gold pinstripe and just like a gold accent. So it was really, you know, for the time, a nice car. It was the hatchback it was not the notchback, which was, you know, they called the Charlie's Angels car.
Speaker 1:I didn't have that one, luckily. Yeah, it was kind of cool. It just was very slow with a big engine in it. But no, I was, like I said, I was very happy to have that car yeah, and that was uh probably a four speed on the floor yeah, yes, a four speed, and you know it's funny, you talk about manual transmissions.
Speaker 1:Um, I think I was listening to one of your other podcasts and the guest was dealt the same thing. His first car was a manual and I had nobody teach me how to drive that thing. My dad didn't drive a manual and I just kind of figured it out. I guess I didn't tear up a clutch, I don't remember any problems. But we talked about motorcycles. I didn't know how to ride motorcycles motorcycles, I did not ride motorcycles.
Speaker 2:So I think that helped quite a bit because the controls are pretty much the same yeah, yeah, for sure jumped in it and took off yeah, I always love to hear, particularly guys who are a little more um, or guys and women who are older, because they usually have some really fun, uh, older car stories. So that's, that's cool, yeah, uh, so take me on a in your lifetime. Any Epic road trips that maybe funny road trips that just stand out in your mind and I know you've been on a few one laps and those are definitely Epic road trips.
Speaker 1:But, uh, anything else, maybe with the family or um, I did do a really great vacation about six or seven years ago. I've been to California a few times. You know you go there and either you know you go to LA or San Francisco and you go along the Pacific Coast Highway. It's so beautiful but you always got to turn around, you know, and come back to your hotel. So I said I'm going to do a trip where I'm going to land at LA and slowly go up the Pacific Coast Highway and just leave from San Francisco. That was really fun.
Speaker 1:I was with my two boys and my wife. We just drove a SUV but it was really fun. We was with my two boys and my wife. We just drove an SUV, but it was really fun. We stopped at the Hearst Castle and Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea and, of course, San Francisco and we even went a little further north up into the Redwoods and that was a lot of fun. You know, family trip and got to just take our time going up the Pacific Coast Highway. Family trip and got to just take her time going up the Pacific Coast Highway.
Speaker 2:Any troubles on that trip, or just went as planned.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, just everything went as planned. I think driving the SUV kept me in check with my boys. I had to be a good dad, but you know what's kind of funny though. We got to the airport and I'm picking up the and Hertz likes to show off those Porsche 911s and I said to my wife I said you know, we could rent two cars. She kind of gave me the look like no, that's not happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. Speaking of one lap, we talked about one lap, and that's how I met you. How many one laps have you done?
Speaker 1:I've done three complete one laps. I did enter a fourth one which unfortunately I had to withdraw from. I had some car issues. But yeah, I did two of them with a really good friend of mine, michael Trevor, and I actually recommend you reaching out to Michael. He's very involved with the concours and really great guy knows everything about cars and he was wonderful man. I always tell everybody he treated me like an F1 driver on that one lap. I mean he would get my breakfast for me. He had the car all cleaned.
Speaker 1:It was just a great time and, as you know, all the hours of driving, um the picking the right partner in the one lap is very important and michael was a a great uh co-driver and, uh, he was my autocross guy. I'm terrible at autocross and, uh, I think he cracked down like a 12th or 13th and you know highly competitive that autocross field is. So he got me through the autocross and I think we managed to finish in the top 10 both times, which is pretty good in that group of field. And, uh, this is the third time I did it. I actually uh got to do it with Ross Bentley. Are you familiar with Ross?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, yes, you got some coaching then along the way, probably right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of hard to coach into one lap, you know, because we only get those three-lap time trials. But Ross had a lot of great advice. He was just a wonderful guy and I didn't even really know him so it was kind of a gamble, but I figured, being a world-class coach, he's obviously got some good communication skills and he was just a great guy. You know, we talked about everything, not just about cars, but he actually coaches other types of athletes too, and racket sports and things you just wouldn't think about. So, yeah, it was a great time we finished in the top 10 again and it was a great event. We just sailed through it, didn't have any issues and it was another great one lap.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and finishing in the top 10 might not sound spectacular to people who don't know what one lap is, but if you finish in the top 10, not sound spectacular to people who don't know what one lap is, but if you finish in the top 10, you've had a pretty good week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's for sure. You know I always tell people you know the first 20 or so positions is some pretty serious drivers. You know everybody's wanting that top 10. And you know sometimes you pull a 15th out, but sometimes you pull a fifth out. I always say if you can just finish in the top 10 every event, you're definitely going to be in the top 10. You might get a top five. So yeah, it's very competitive.
Speaker 2:Well, congratulations on those, and we hope to see you back there again someday.
Speaker 1:Okay, I will, definitely will do that again.
Speaker 2:I remember seeing photos of you and I asked you about this yesterday when we were chatting a little bit. But I remember seeing photos on social media of you on a motocross bike and I was like I wonder if Mike raced motocross. And so you told me yesterday you did Take a minute and tell us about how you got started in motocross and oh, that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:My neighbor friend across the street, his dad bought him a little Yamaha Mini Enduro 60. And basically I pestered my dad until he bought me something and he got me a little Honda 50. Within probably three years I was racing a Suzuki RM 120 or Suzuki 250, actually RM 250. I spent about the next six or so years racing motocross. I just you just couldn't get me off that bike. You know, I just loved it Raced.
Speaker 1:I was pretty successful locally. You know it was what you would call a local hot shoe. I'd always podium a local race. But then you know that pyramid, when you get to the regionals and the qualifiers, uh, that pyramid gets quite a bit tough, just like the one lap. So I was kind of in the middle of the pack guy in the qualifiers for the national events but uh, so I knew I wasn't going to really make a career of it. But I had a lot of fun race.
Speaker 1:Like I said, about six years I had all kinds of cool bikes. I I really love the european bikes. The makos and the ktms actually had a can-am for a couple years. Yeah, that was kind of like the first taste of motorsports where I kind of, you know, got bit with the bug of motorsports racing and uh, and I was just really a car racing fan. I couldn't afford to race a car or anything, but I live in here close to Indy. I would always make the trip to Indy and uh watch, uh, indy 500. You know, I just never thought someday I may actually be racing on that track. That was a lot of fun too.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, thanks for sharing that also. But hey, you told me the other day I never really knew what you did and we were standing at Putnam Raceway Park the other day and I said you know, what'd you do for a living and you shared that you're part of a family business that your grandfather started. Just take a little bit and share with us what that was about and how you got started in that and what that was like working with your family.
Speaker 1:Oh well, my dad really built that company up. Unfortunately my grandfather did start the business but unfortunately he passed away pretty young. So my dad inherited that business at the age of 25. My dad was a CB in the Navy in World War II. Cbs basically are contractors in the Navy and my dad quickly realized being a CB. My dad quickly realized being a CB what the military needed as far as not just guns and tanks and stuff but all kinds of equipment. My grandfather had this little basically I don't know. My dad called it a downspout shop. We were just making little downspouts and gutters. You know we're just making little downspouts and gutters.
Speaker 1:And when he come back from the war he got my grandfather to get some more industrial metal fabrication equipment and go after some of these military contracts. And sure enough they got a real early start in that field. And it was anything industrial, not just military, medical, energy, transportation. Like I said, he had a nice contract with Ford. We would repair and modify Ford transmission shipping racks. So the shop was very equipped. We have laser cutters and water jet cutters, robotic welding, every type of welding you could imagine, big-tig press brakes, these big press brakes that would form the metal.
Speaker 1:My dad was. He liked new technology and he was one of the first shops with CNC. So in the old days you just if you had to punch a quarter-inch diameter hole, you had one die and boom, you change the tie, you cut the half inch hole and cnc uh opened up an avenue to speed that process up. And luckily my dad captured that uh equipment pretty early in its infancy and uh, we had uh very fast uh machines early and that gave us a good uh head start in the field. Now of course everybody has them. But I always knew, you know, from even being a child I go into that shop and say I'm going to work here.
Speaker 1:You know, I just thought it was so cool, you know, with the sparks, you know, and the plasma and the fork trucks rolling around and these big sheets of metal, and I'm like, man, this is, this is. I knew what my career was going to be at a very young age and I'd ended up working there 41 years and it was a very great ride. It was like a small company, family owned, and it was just just part of my family Basically. The employees were my best friends. I really enjoyed my career there. It was really nice.
Speaker 1:A lot of long-time employees probably. Oh yeah, we've had very low turnover. And what was a great compliment to me was when we did have a guy quit. A lot of people it's not bad, I think the grass is greener and they moved to somewhere else and almost every person I ever saw that did that said man, I should have just stayed where I was at. And that was always a great compliment to me. You know that. You know these people realized that it was a good company to work for and I was proud of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was the name of it? Well, that's kind of a good question. My grandfather named it Cincinnati Ventilating Company. So the company was originally in Cincinnati and he did do ventilating, hvac and stuff. But, like I said, my dad kind of converted it to the industrial metal fabrication. He ended up moving it to Florence, kentucky, in the early 60s In Florence. There there was the industrial park. It's still there. He got a good deal on being one of the first companies it was 1963 to move to Florence, kentucky.
Speaker 1:So we kind of advertised the company as CVC Metal Specialties. So we kind of advertised the company as CVC Metal Specialties. But our accountant really recommended we keep our name, our original name because we had such a good reputation. So we just followed his advice. But when we advertised it, we would just advertise it CVC Metal Specialties. Okay, where was it located in Cincinnati, do you remember? Yes, it was probably right about where the Paul Brown Stadium's at. I think my grandfather did pretty well on that. What's funny is he moved the company right across the river to Covington on 3rd and Madison. They had a good spot. It was a nice flat spot and plenty of room. That only lasted about two or three years and then the IRS bought them out.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, which they just tore it all down, right, I was buying them the other night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the IRS is gone now too, but after that buyout that's when my dad moved it to Florence, Kentucky, so kind of just kept moving south.
Speaker 2:Fun story. I love hearing about businesses that started decades ago by first generation and then it's gone second and third and I think you told me it's got some fourth generation working there now.
Speaker 1:Yes, my brother's son is now the actual owner and president of the company. My brother bought me out about three years ago. Basically, his son is running the business now and, yes, that's the fourth generation there and he's got a son too, so maybe they'll go five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, that's super cool. What's on your bucket list? I mean, you've been a lot of places, you've raced some cars. What else is left?
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, that's a good question. I've been very fortunate I've gotten to go to F1 races, I've gotten to go to Super Bowls. I've lived a very fortunate life. Really, right now in my retirement, I just like traveling, no-transcript, having, you know, just a set like oh gosh, I got to see the Eiffel Tower. You know, it's like I've seen it, you know.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I just like going to Europe. We're going, actually, we're going to Germany next month. A friend of mine is picking up a new Porsche at Stuttgart and I'm going to rent a little BMW Z4. I don't even know where we're going. I know we'll be going through the Alps and just driving through Europe and just exploring Europe and, just as my buddy says, we're just going to chase the weather, we're just going to go where the weather's nice and that's where we end up. So we don't even really make too many reservations, we just you know, we'll definitely drive the Alps.
Speaker 1:We did this in 2018. It cracked me up because I actually rented a Porsche Cayman. He signed us up for a spa track day. In Europe they're a lot more casual about a track day. You know, here in the States's, you know you fill out all the uh, the forms and everything, and I just uh, drove into spa and I'm in a porsche and I had my helmet with me and, um, I just drove on the race course. You know, it's like there was no driver's meeting or anything. It's just like I guess they would black flag you if you're messing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, um. So yeah, I was, uh, just doing laps around spa and I really had no intention of doing that and I'm like, well, this is fun. Yeah, that's the way we travel, you know. Sometimes we luck out and have a wonderful day or two like that, and sometimes it's, you know, we might be raining and we're in a bowling alley, who knows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just take it as it comes right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I like that?
Speaker 2:Have you driven the Nuremberg ring?
Speaker 1:No, Actually I'm afraid of that thing. I've driven that thing on a simulator and I can barely get around at one time without going off. It's just so big. If I lived there and had a couple months to really study the course, I would do it, but I just, you know. No, I would definitely. I would just do a ring taxi. I would just let one of those guys take me for a ride around it, and I would be very happy with that because I definitely don't want to go off. You know that.
Speaker 2:Right yeah for sure. Here's a question for you. If you could take a road trip today, you're heading out with anyone, living or deceased who would it be? Where would you go? What would you drive? Maybe that Mustang right.
Speaker 1:Maybe one of those 911s? Yeah, tell me about that. You know you gave me a heads up on that question and I'm going to have to go the easy way out. I thought about a lot of people and, of course, family. You know I've got the ride with my family. I think a really cool person would be Paul McCartney.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, that's a first on Day on the Road Trip Guy. I've not had anybody tell me that, so tell me more.
Speaker 1:Well, way back in 2005 when I got my first Corvette, I was on the Corvette Forum and somebody posted a photograph of Paul McCartney in the C5. And they were kind of making jokes like oh, paul McCartney doesn't even have the newest Corvette yet, well, get this. About a month or so ago I saw a photo someone had taken of Paul McCartney in that same C5 Corvette. You know, he just kind of keeps that, I think it's a California car for him. He's got a place in California and he's had the C5 Corvette. So you know he likes a sports car, but he doesn't have to have the latest Ferrari or Lamborghini, and you know. So I think that's kind of neat that he kind of he's kind of planted. You know he's got what he needs and, uh, he just seems to be like a genuine guy, you know, for being probably the most famous person in the world. Um, and could you imagine that if you're uh riding down the road and uh drive, my car comes on?
Speaker 1:the radio and he just starts singing along to that. That would be so cool.
Speaker 2:That would be. That would be kind of fun. Do you think there is there a question in your mind that you might ask him?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, I would, probably. I would just want to hear the stories, you know, you know, surely he's met everybody. Just want to hear the stories, you know, you know, surely he's met everybody and you know, whatever would come to mind, uh, um, the obvious questions. Um, you know, from the beatles to just people he's played music with too. I'd like to know about his corvette. You know why? Why he has a corvette after 20 years. You know, in the c5, you know, and some of the cars he might have owned.
Speaker 2:You've been a lot of places, you've raced cars, you've worked in the family business. If you could leave people with one or two pieces of advice, what would you tell people?
Speaker 1:Well, working all those years in our business, I think the best thing to do is to surround yourself with the best people. It can be difficult sometimes. Sometimes people you think are really good people aren't so great, and sometimes people you don't think are so great are good. It's just their personalities. Some people are quiet and when you work with people, you spend a lot of time with them, and that was one part of the business. That was probably the hardest part was the hiring part, the interviewing process and everything, and I think just basically finding people that are like-minded and want to work hard and be successful, want to be very dedicated to what they're doing, that are ambitious. Those are the kind of people I like to be around, and people that just enjoy life. You know it's like you know we only get one shot at this thing, so let's make the most of it.
Speaker 2:That's great advice, mike, thank you. So you're at an auction today. You're at a car auction. Are you buying cars, or are you just watching?
Speaker 1:No, no, I'm just here. My friend here actually he's a Wagoneer fan and he's looking at these Wagoneers. I'm kind of looking at them, kind of funny, but everybody likes their own thing. No, I'm just here just to have some fun with my friends. I actually prefer modern cars. You know, a lot of these muscle cars are really cool. I wish I was a bit more handy with a wrench. I might like to have an older car, but it would be kind of embarrassing having to take it to a Chevy dealership to have my 69 Corvette worked on. Yeah, for sure to have my 69 Corvette worked on?
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. Well, wrap up here and really I just appreciate you taking the time. I know you left the auction, went out and sat in the Escalade to talk to me. But when I ran into you last week I was like I just got to talk to him Because I'd put you on my list. I have this long list of people and I just draw names out of who to talk to next. But then when I ran into you I was like okay, it's time.
Speaker 1:That's very nice. I really enjoyed being on the podcast and I really appreciate the work you do with the One Lap. I know it's just such a great group of people. I mean, like I said, the part about surrounding yourself with great people all those people on the one lap of america they would drop anything to help you. You know, it's like whenever there's a situation, those toyota guys are they amazing or what?
Speaker 1:they are absolutely amazing, yeah they just go so far out of their way to help everybody. I mean, they helped that, uh, tesla. I don't think that tesla would have finished the event if it wasn't for them, you know, and they, tesla got second place. They were a direct competitor to their toyota, which finished, I think, fifth one of their Toyotas, and you know, basically, you know they're going to let that guy not finish the event, no, they're going to help him out. So there's an example of some very fine people to surround yourself around.
Speaker 2:Hey, wrap up, mike, anything you want to give a shout out to charity business to give a shout out to charity business.
Speaker 1:Uh, oh, I I'll give a shout out to dan neal and his podcast to tell everybody that I've listened to some of them and they're really entertaining. Uh, so that's who my shout out will be will be danny neal and his podcast, and, uh, check it out everybody. It's a lot of fun well, thanks for that.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that fun. Well, thanks for that. I appreciate that. Until we meet up again, you can find me on the internet at dantheroadtripguycom. I hope you will follow this podcast so that you don't miss any upcoming episodes and share it with your family and friends so they can enjoy the stories of my guests also. Until we meet again on a future episode, keep having conversations with each other and keep driving.
