The two racers made headway and generated the Sox & Martin Super Car Clinics featured at many Plymouth dealerships. This feature became a popular guideline for high performance enthusiasts among Mopar fans. As part of the promotional effort, Sox & Martin Drag Racing Clinics toured dealerships across the country to offer racing advice and to speak to their fans about high performance vehicles.
Mr. Ronnie Sox’s journey began back in the 1950’s with his family operating a Sinclair Gas Station located on Church Street in Burlington, North Carolina. Eventually, Mr. Sox began racing at several racetracks throughout North Carolina and quickly became popular among many race fans.
In 1952, Mr. Buddy Martin’s career started at sixteen years old with a great hobby interest in cars and trains. The vehicle that began this journey was a 1939 Ford Coupe in which he took completely apart to learn how the engine worked. His true passion was particularly in drag racing down in the south. Mr. Martin competed in the races and did well quite well; however, there was always one person he could not beat, Mr. Ronnie Sox. Mr. Martin spent many racing seasons trying to win against Mr. Sox, but he never quite made it across the line taking the title. Finally, Mr. Martin decided that since he couldn’t beat him to join him. In 1963, Mr. Martin and Mr. Sox joined together as race partners and formed Sox & Martin.
Mr. Martin was the first one to recognize Mr. Sox’s talent and skill for driving a high performance vehicle. Mr. Martin once stated, “Ronnie's skill as a driver was a gift. He was very coordinated with the hand and foot. In addition to his shifting, his reaction times were outstanding. Although most people drove four speed cars at the time, other drivers would miss gears left and right, but that never happened with Ronnie. Everybody had an excuse, but Ronnie could get into anyone's car and have no problems oever".
During 1962-63, Mr. Sox and Mr. Martin won their first race as a performance team with their 1963 - 427 Chevrolet. In 1966, the team lost and was outperformed by the fiberglass, flip top body Mercury Comet of Don Nicholson. When the 1964 racing season ended, Mr. Dale Reeker, Chrysler Engineer, was sent by Mr. Bob Cahill, Plymouth Product Planning, to find the best four-speed manual race car driver in the country for the company's 1965 Plymouth racing program. Sure enough, the two gentlemen to fill that role were Mr. Ronnie Sox and Mr. Buddy Martin. The first vehicle for the Plymouth Team Sox & Martin was a great looking red, white and blue altered-wheelbase 1965 Plymouth.
Throughout the coming years, Sox and Martin began to shock the world with their racing seasons as many wins followed their winning success both on and off the drag strip. Throughout the years, Sox went on to win the NHRA spring Nationals Super Stock title three times (1967-70) the 1968 Nationals and the 1969 Nationals. Although Sox and Martin drove many vehicles, their favorite was the 1968 Hemi Barracuda. With three consecutive world championships and many other great wins, Sox & Martin had raced into the racing history books and will always be remembered as one of the most significant teams in automotive performance.
On April 22, 2006, Ronnie Sox "The Boss" of Richmond, Virginia lost his courageous battle with prostate cancer. Although he is no longer with us, his racing career will always have a special place of great memories among racing fans. On August 15, 2007, at the State Theater in Detroit, Michigan, the legendary Pro-Stock drag racing team of Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin joined the 160 racers already enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Buddy Martin was there for this special event. In conclusion, Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin combined driving artistry and mechanical genius to form one of the most famous teams in drag racing history.
A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating the story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs are courtesy of Robert Tate’s Personal Collection. (Bibliography: Neely, Bill. The Sox & Martin Book of Drag Racing. Published by Henry regneery Company 1974)
Please do not republish the story and/or photographs without permission of MotorCities National Heritage Area. For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org. If you have a story that you would like to donate to be featured as a MotorCities Story of the Week, email Lisa Ambriez at lambriez@motorcities.org.