PR - MARTY THACKER - BRAINERD NATIONAL WRAP-UP

Submitted by: Shanna Snyder-Bell

Contact Person: Marty Thacker
Contact email address: mlthacker@mapllc.com

Thacker Moves into the Top 10

Marty Thacker and the Rapid Transit Race Team were at the Brainerd International Raceway this past weekend to participate in the Lucas Oil Nationals. Although the TORCO sponsored Top Alcohol Dragster was eliminated in the quarterfinals the team was able to gain points on their competitors and move into the Top 10 in the National points standings.

Thacker began the weekend by qualifying 9th with a 5.40 at 266.48 mph in a very competitive field. First round, Thacker was great off the line with a .051 reaction time to earn the hole shot victory over his opponent running a 5.39 at 266.64 mph. In the quarterfinals, Thacker was ousted by the #1 qualifier and eventual race winner when he ran hole shot assisted 5.41 at 264.65 mph. The quickest and fastest run by a blown dragster of the session.

"Brainerd is always a challenging race. We had problems in the first two qualifying sessions, which put us two runs behind the rest of the field on the tuning curve. We were able to run a 5.40 on the last qualifying run just to get away from the bottom of the field, but with so many A-Fuel cars in the 5.20s, we were still left in the #9 position. After winning a close match in the first round, we couldn’t hold off the #1 qualifier in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, he did to us what he did to everyone else in the field. He put us in the trailer and sent us home early."

"We gathered more data on the new Boninfante clutch that should help us down the road and we had a good time. So overall it was still a good weekend thanks to TORCO Race Fuels and Atlantic Scaffolding. Now we will get everything set and head to Bowling Green and then Indy to see just how high up the ladder we can climb.”

Next stop for the Rapid Transit Race Team will be in Bowling Green, Kentucky August 26th thru the 28th for the 5th out of 6 Division 3 Lucas Oil Divisional Series events this year.

Please visit the official team website www.rapidtransitracing.com.

You can access the full line of innovative products offered by our major sponsor TORCO Racing Fuels including racing gasoline, additives, and TORCO Gear at www.torcoracefuels.com.

Visit the websites of our current associate and product sponsors at the following websites:

Atlantic Scaffolding Company – www.atscaf.com

Valvoline - www.valvoline.com/pages/racing

Hoosier Racing Tire – www.hoosiertire.com