PR - MARTY THACKER - JOLIET NATIONAL PREVIEW

Submitted by: Shanna Snyder-Bell

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

Thacker Looking to Double Up in Joliet

The Rapid Transit Race Team is coming off a strong performance last weekend in Columbus and heading to Joliet, Illinois for the Ameriquest Mortgage NHRA National event. The Team had 2 final round appearances including one win last week to clinch the Division 3 championship and the Spitzer Low Qualifier Series championship. They are hoping to have the same kind of outcome this weekend as they pull double duty again racing in the National event and the prestigious Jeg’s All-Stars event.

"If I had to pick my favorite track, it would be Route 66 Raceway. It's only 3 1/2 hours from home, so we usually have quite a few friends show up to watch. It's the place I made my first 5.30 pass in the spring of 2002, where we ran our first and only 5.20 pass, and became the first alcohol car in history to run over 270 MPH. If you bring your game to this track, and don't make too many mistakes, you're going to fly," commented driver Marty Thacker.

Thacker is no stranger to pulling double duty at this event. The Robinson, IL based team was the winner of the Jeg’s event in 2002 and runner-up in 2003. Hopefully they will be able to add 2005 to this already impressive resume’ at the end of the weekend.

"The people at Jeg’s do a great job making this event one of the most prestigious races of the year. We really appreciate everything they do for the sportsman racers this weekend and throughout the year. The All-Stars are supposed to be the best of the best. In this class, that's a pretty hefty compliment. We compete against great competitors week in and week out. To think the competition gets any tougher is a little intimidating. But, that makes it so much sweeter if you can win this one. That's what we're going to try to do.”

"Our TORCO Racing Fuels sponsored Top Alcohol Dragster would love to accumulate some more points this weekend toward the POWERade National standings. We only have two national events left on our schedule, so we need to make them count. Not to put any additional pressure on ourselves, but with the additional support we receive from the people at Atlantic Scaffolding, we don't have any excuse not to do well and pile up those points.”

The Team will begin qualifying at 1:30 PM on Friday with a second run coming at 5:00 PM. The first round of the Jeg’s All-Star event will run simultaneously with the final qualifying shot at 11:00 AM on Saturday. Eliminations for the Jeg’s event will continue at 2:15 PM and final round will be run at 3:45 PM. The eliminations for the National event will begin at 9:00 AM on Sunday morning.

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