Marty Thacker - Columbus Divisional Wrap-up

Thacker Goes to Second Final in a Row​

​

The Rapid Transit Race Team moved up to 3rd in the National points standings and sit 2nd in the Division 3 points standings after going to their second final in 2 weeks in Columbus last weekend. The blown alcohol dragster driven by Marty Thacker and sponsored by Knoll Gas – Torco Racing Fuels, used the momentum from their first divisional win of the season to go to their 3rd divisional final in the last four divisional races they attended.

“It is always nice to go rounds on Sunday, but to lose in the final the way we did was really disappointing. It's pretty obvious that we haven't found parity between the A-fuel cars and the blown alcohol cars yet. In the nasty air in Columbus, the best blown E.T. of the day was a 5.49, and my A-fuel competitor ripped off a 5.34 against us in the final. The National event at Sonoma had good air this weekend, and told the same story. We will take what we can get, but to know you have to get that much on the tree to come close to winning a race is just frustrating,” said Thacker.

The Team qualified #6 for the event with a 5.49 at 260 MPH. In the first round Thacker got the jump off the line and ran a 5.52 at 259 MPH to earn the win light. Second round, the Knoll Gas – Torco Racing Fuels dragster was first off the line again and ran a 5.54 at 257 MPH. In the final with almost 8 hundredths on the starting line, Thacker ran another 5.54 at 256 MPH, but it wasn’t enough to take the win light.

“It was a tricky race track out there this weekend. The race track was better than expected, but the air was some kind of strange. I wasn't the only tuner scratching his head, saying where's our horsepower? But in the end we ran some pretty good consistent numbers and that was enough to get us into the final round. We are really looking forward to going up to Brainerd in a couple weeks; it is usually a good track up there. Who knows, maybe we will be able to bring home another Wally for Evan and Knoll Gas – Torco Racing Fuels.”

Quick Facts

• Last weekend, the Team went to their fifth final round of the season. Thacker picked up his first divisional win in Indy earlier this month. That win moved him all the way up to 3rd in the National points standings.
• Thacker currently sits in second place in the Divisional points standings.
• The Team went to three final rounds last year and earned one win at the prestigious Jeg’s All-Star event in Joliet, Illinois. This year, Thacker went to the final round of the Jeg’s event, but missed out on a second straight victory by just inches. He currently leads the Division 3 points chase to represent Division 3 in the race in 2008.
• The Team set a personal best ET of 5.26 at the TORCO Racing Fuels National event in Richmond, Virginia the end of last season.
• The 2005 Division 3 Champions finished 3rd in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series points standings and finished in 16th place nationally in 2006.
• The Team, based out of Robinson, Illinois, has won 5 UDRA National Championships and 2 NHRA Divisional championships.

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 Skull Gear at www.torcoracefuels.com.

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

Hoosier Racing Tire – www.hoosiertire.com

Lucas Oil – www.lucasoil.com

Fatheadz – www.fatheadz.com

Submitted by: Shanna Snyder-Bell

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