This guy is King of the Road when it comes to mpg

By day, Jack Martin is an adjunct professor at Appalachian State University who teaches courses on sustainable transportation and resource management.

In these oil-guzzling times, that's plenty interesting. Once-mighty automakers have been reduced to begging for government handouts, and surely we all remember last summer's $4-per-gallon fiasco.

As thought-provoking as sustainable transportation might be, it's Martin's hobby that's the real gas.

For kicks, grins and the occasional large trophy, Martin engages in "hypermiling" -- a competition in which drivers attempt to wring the best fuel efficiency out of their vehicles -- and he's quite good at it.

Good enough to be named Grand Champion in last year's Tour to the Shore, a timed, 150-mile road-rally race in southern New Jersey in which he coaxed 124.6 mpg out of his hybrid Honda Insight.

That was good enough for Martin, 52, to be asked to spend part of a day recently talking mileage with NASCAR star Carl Edwards; Martin wound up featured in this week's edition of ESPN The Magazine.

"The biggest joke of this whole thing is that I find it hard to believe at my age that I made it into a sports magazine," Martin said.

Interest in efficiency

First, let's review the standard disclaimer: Don't try this at home. But don't take my word for it.

"If you're two seconds behind a heavy truck, it can break the wind for you, and you can get 10 percent better mileage," Martin said. "You can close that gap and do better, but that runs against common-sense safety. But if you like getting a truck tailpipe taken out of your skull.…"

Martin didn't finish the thought. You get the picture.

He started thinking about economy of movement as a youngster when he would try to swim across a lake in the fewest strokes possible. His interest in efficiency grew more refined as a teenager, when he drove a school bus and paid close attention to the fuel gauge.

(Show of hands. Who remembers when high-school kids drove school buses? What were we thinking?)

"They would accuse me of cutting my routes short because I was using less fuel than other drivers," he said. "But I knew that if you go easy, don't waste your brakes, anticipate your stops and look down the road, you can save gas."

From there, it was a short leap to the world of solar-powered vehicles and fuel efficiency. And because he lives in Burlington and works in Boone -- 120 miles one way, twice a week -- hypermiling became a necessary obsession.

He was getting about 32 mpg in a small pickup before he switched to a 9-year-old gasoline-electric hybrid last year.

"The Insight is rated to get 60 to 65 miles per gallon," he said. "My best in the Insight is 90 miles per gallon."

That's round trip, and U.S. 421 does feature one rather large downhill on the return leg. Still, 90 mpg is mighty impressive.

Anybody can do it

If you are interested in better fuel mileage -- whether out of a heightened sensibility for the well-being of the planet or because you have an increased sensitivity to your wallet -- Martin is a guy worth hearing.

"Most people don't want to listen until gasoline gets to a certain price," he said. "Three dollars a gallon and up, they want to learn it all."

Don't drive like a jackrabbit with rapid acceleration and frequent hard braking. Coast some on downhills. Roll to a stop when safe. Properly inflate your tires. Take that excess weight out of your car. Add a fuel-efficiency guage.

"Most of it is behavioral," Martin said. "You don't have to carry your racquetball gear, a computer, a skateboard or in my case, solar panels, in your car."

As for his time driving with Carl Edwards, Martin said that the meeting was arranged by ESPN and that they talked about engines and mileage while taking turns driving a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid to and from Roush Fenway Racing headquarters in Concord to the nearby Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"I drove one way and got about 60 mpg and he drove the other and got 10," Martin said with a laugh. "His finishing comment was that if he could get 10 miles per gallon in a stock car, nobody could touch him on Sunday."

■ Scott Sexton can be reached at 727-7481 or at ssexton@wsjournal.com.