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Martin: Harold Martin preview
Harold Martin Hopes Heat and Home Cooking is the Recipe for Success in Martin In the fiercely competitive Pro Modified division of the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series, racers look for any means to gain an advantage over their rivals.
Edited: Aug 7, 2007, 4:06 AM
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Harold Martin Hopes Heat and Home Cooking is the Recipe for Success in Martin
In the fiercely competitive Pro Modified division of the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series, racers look for any means to gain an advantage over their rivals. Whether spending countless hours on the dynamometer searching for horsepower, or testing their race car under varying conditions to obtain valuable tuning data, every option is explored in hopes of gaining the upper hand.
There are additional benefits to be obtained outside of the race car. For example, this weekend's Torco Racing Fuels Northern Nationals is held on a track that Harold Martin and the ACDelco Pontiac Racing team are quite familiar with, Knoll Gas Motorsports Park. Located within a two hour drive of their New Hudson headquarters in Martin, MI, this venerable speedplant serves as one the team's primary test tracks. As such, they have extensive notes on the combinations required to maximize their performance, which combined with the added support of their home state fans, gives the dynamic Martin cause for great optimism heading into the weekend.
"We're excited to be going back to Martin, where we've had great success," said Martin. "We've been looking at our notes from last year, where our ACDelco Pontiac ran so well, so we'll take that information and utilize it as our set-up directions for this year.
"On the other hand, we've been fighting a few things with the car lately that shouldn't be happening. I know it's all part of the journey of racing, and we've been working extremely hard, tearing the chassis apart, validating every nut, bolt and heim joint throughout it, while doing the same with our engine program, going over each fitting and connection. We know we have the performance, but we've also had a bad luck vibe around us recently, and it's up to us to remove it, which is what we're looking forward to doing this weekend."
Even with such intimate knowledge of the Martin racing surface, the EFI Wizard knows that in order to improve upon his semifinal finish at this event one year ago he will need to overcome the performance advantage displayed to this point in the season by the supercharged contingent. Although the predicted higher temperatures in the Great Lakes state should provide some welcome relief to those using nitrous injection this weekend, Martin knows he will have little room for error in order to score his second IHRA Pro Mod national event win. Even so, he is confident his team is up to the challenge.
"There's no doubt the performance advantage is still on the side of the blower (supercharged) cars," said Martin. "We like the hot and humid conditions that are in the forecast, and we hope that they hold. It certainly lends some opportunity for us to run well, get in the program and go rounds.
"Just the other day as we were in the shop working during a 98 degree ambient day, I was complementing my ACDelco team on their tremendous resolve. We are continuously looking forward and keeping our heads high, maintaining our sense of optimism, because we know it's feasible for us to win today as well as in the future. As for this weekend, nothing would be better than to have Martin win in Martin."
-credit: hm/jgk
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