Martin Truex Jr.’s very own garage-mahal

By Michael J. Fresina - Jun. 26, 2009

When Martin Truex Jr. set out to build a garage and shop on the lakefront property he shares with longtime girlfriend Sherry Pollex and yellow lab Lexi, he wanted a functional outbuilding to store his toys.

“It was going to be just a four-bay garage with storage and a rec room on the second floor,” he says. “That’s it.”

However, once Truex realized he was free to create something from scratch, the original plans were scrapped.
“As a kid, I had the room my parents let me live in,” he says. “And the only house I’ve ever bought was already built. This was the first time that I had the opportunity to build something perfect, from the ground up.”

The project’s transition from humble man cave to mini-mansion began with the addition of a large bedroom suite and mushroomed to include a gourmet kitchen, custom millwork and an integrated entertainment system featuring no fewer than seven flat-
panel TVs controlled by a single, universal keypad.

Truex worked closely with master builder Ron Carroll of Stonebridge Luxury Homes and had a hand in
every facet of the building’s design and construction.

When it came to decorating, Truex and Pollex hired NASCAR-driver-turned-interior-designer, Shawna Robinson. Robinson — who selected every fabric, paint color and piece of furniture as well as art and fixtures — decorated Truex’s main house a few years back. Except for a 9-foot fiberglass Captain Morgan statue that Truex added, the decoration is seamless.

Each wall is adorned with tributes to Truex’s many passions: hunting, fishing, racing and the Philadelphia Eagles.

This article originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of NASCAR Illustrated.