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IHRA Qualifying Update: Martin Overcomes Challenging Track, Starts 16th in San Antonio

Team ACDelco
IHRA Qualifying Report
Harold Martin, Owner/Driver
ACDelco Pro Modified Pontiac

Event: Amalie Oil Texas Nationals
Location:  San Antonio Raceway
San Antonio, Texas
March 24, 2007

Martin Overcomes Challenging Track, Starts 16th in San Antonio

ACDelco Pro Mod pilot Harold Martin and the rest of the racers at the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals faced a unique situation during the second day of qualifying, as concerns with the San Antonio Raceway racing surface forced IHRA to shorten the racing format from their normal quarter-mile distance to one-eighth of a mile. This unforeseen change sent teams scrambling to refocus their set-ups to maximize their performance in those 660 feet. Fortunately, Martin and his crew were up to the task, with their 4.117-second, 176.28 mph pass earning them the sixteenth position for Sunday's final eliminations.

"I guess you can categorize our experience to this point of the weekend as racing, because we didn't know what to expect, and had to be ready for any and all things that could happen. The fortunate part is that we are in and get to play tomorrow, and have a number of things we are excited about. However, we are somewhat frustrated by having yet to run anywhere near our potential.

"We're as optimistic now as we were when we first rolled through the gates. We think our ACDelco Pontiac is capable of running in the front half, but know we just need to find better ways to race this racetrack than what we have been. We'll be reviewing our notes, trying to change the set-up because clearly it was too aggressive. We've probably been the quickest to sixty feet on all of our runs, but getting it into second gear has been the great challenge. We have to find a way to tame it down and get it to the end of the track, so we'll make some corrections and get ready for tomorrow."