NHRA: Martino looks to complete the picture at Gainesville
14 March 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Productive testing has CENTURY 21 Racing Team confident heading into the Mac Tools Gatornationals
Parsippany, New Jersey- Since he debuted his new Don Ness-built Firebird in Reading last September, Century 21 Racing Team driver Tom Martino has been one of the top performers in the NHRA's Pro Stock division. He has qualified for all eight national events held in that period, often pacing the field after Friday's initial time trials and placed himself in the top half of the field on five occasions. In addition, Martino set new personal bests in elapsed time and top speed, and powered his way into the Speed-Pro 200 MPH club with a 200.75 mph effort at the Texas Motorplex in October. Martino has also had his share of success during final eliminations, listing a semi-final performance in Pomona and runner-up finish in Houston among his recent accomplishments.
Despite these impressive results, the one achievement that has continued to elude the New Jersey native is the ultimate reward - his fourth national event win. A victory in this year's pre-season Pro Stock Super Bowl only served to whet the Martino team's appetite for a regular season score. Based on their strong performances of late, Martino sees no reason for not reaching their goal at next weekend's Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
"Phoenix was just one of those weekends," explained Martino. "After breaking the motor in the first session on Friday afternoon, we found ourselves battling to catch up. Even so, we were still able to qualify and had a chance on Sunday. We learned quite a bit that we will be able to use in Gainesville. I don't want to seem overconfident, because everything has to go just right, but let's say I like our chances."
As could be expected, the Martino crew was hard at work immediately upon their return from the desert. Their first assignment was to diagnose and repair their number one motor, which carries the nickname "Thunder". Once this task was completed, their second powerplant (named "Vinnie" after Martino's youngest son) received similar attention, with fresh parts replacing any worn or suspect pieces. After ensuring each was up to full power on the dynamometer, the team spent a day at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey testing combinations and gathering valuable data.
Martino then flew to Orlando, Florida to attend his sponsor's national sales Convention, where he was able to meet and greet many of the more than 6,000 CENTURY 21 brokers and sales associates that attended the event. Upon his return, the focus was again on pre-race preparations, with plans for one last test session in Bradenton before heading over to Gainesville Raceway.
"We've had a productive couple of weeks," said Martino. "Fortunately, the problem with our primary race motor was relatively minor, so we were able to fix it rather easily. This gave us time to refresh the back-up unit, which we used to run in the mid 6.80's at over 200 mph in testing. The end result is that we have two motors that I would feel confident using on race day. Racing in this division, we'll take every advantage we can get.
"This is a big race for the CENTURY 21 Racing Team. As this is the traditional East Coast season-opener for drag racing, I'm sure we'll have a lot of family and friends on hand to cheer us on. Besides, we've gotten off to a strong start, and we want to keep it going. But the bottom line is this sport is winning, and hopefully, we'll put it all together at the Gatornationals. If so, it won't come a moment too soon."
Century 21 Real Estate Corporation (www.century21.com) is the franchisor of the world's largest residential real estate sales organization, providing comprehensive training, management, administrative and marketing support for the CENTURY 21( System. The System is comprised of more than 6,300 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in more than 25 countries and territories worldwide. Century 21 Real Estate Corporation is a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation
Text provided by Century 21 Racing
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