Martino to make debut in Gainesville

March 6, 2012   ·   0 Comments

Stoney Creek, ON – For east coast drag racers and fans, the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com represents a pilgrimage of sorts, providing a getaway from the deep freeze most of them have been under for the last four months. For Mark Martino and his DeSantis Crane Service Pro Stock team the anticipation of a new season is that much higher provided this will be their first event of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, which rolls into Florida with two events already in the books.

Just because this is the team’s first event of 2012 doesn’t mean they come in to it unprepared though. An early season test session at Bradenton Motorsports Park in January, with several other high profile teams in attendance, yielded numbers that were not only competitive, but provided a great deal of optimism for the family owned and operated team. “We had a very consistent race car in testing and our time slips were representative of where we should be compared to the sponsored teams that were testing with us that week.” Stated Martino.

Martino and the rest of the team intend to run 10 NHRA Full Throttle Series events in 2012, sticking to the east coast tour stops as a way to keep the budget in check and allow them to be as competitive as possible each time they pull to the starting line. “We’ve got a great engine program that is going to keep us in the hunt at every event we attend.” Said Martino.