Q
& A By
Todd Martin
Nate Van Wagnen
The plains of Tulsa , Oklahoma , will rumble with the sound of nitromethane-injected A / Fuel dragsters this August 25 th and 26 th when Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park hosts the inaugural Pro A / Fuel Challenge . It ’ s a two-day , dragstersonly event headlined by a $ 20,000-to-win modern A / Fuel dragster race with a total purse of $ 50,000 – a first for A / Fuel racing . Also included in the line-up are a Quick 32 shootout , the Southwest Junior Fuel Association racers and Junior Dragster fields for two different age groups .
The man behind the event is veteran Pro Extreme driver and Tulsa coowner Todd Martin . Along with fellow racer and co-owner Keith Haney , Martin has worked to bring a variety of unique and entertaining events to the storied Oklahoma track . The Pro A / Fuel Challenge is Martin ’ s latest brainchild , designed to bring attention to a class Martin feels has been long underpromoted . He even recently earned his A / Fuel dragster license with plans of putting together his own A / Fuel team in the future .
Martin took time out of his schedule during Tulsa ’ s NHRA Lucas Oil Series divisional event to discuss the inspiration for the event , as well as his possible A / Fuel future .
A / Fuel dragsters are rarely “ the show ” at races other than NHRA regional events , and they ’ ve never raced for such a sizable purse . What was your inspiration to put on a race like this ?
This track has a history of doing different types of races , thinking outside the box and promoting specific classes . We do a great job with Pro Mods . Tulsa held the Funny Car Challenge in 1972 when they went up against NHRA . They ’ ve had the NHRA Nationals here . So I think part of the inspiration was to continue on the heritage of the track in finding the under-promoted classes of racers that deserve the attention .
The other part of the equation is a lot of your professional drivers come out of A / Fuel and go into Top Fuel . Look at Shawn Langdon , Morgan Lucas , Scott Palmer , the Force girls – the list just goes on and on . They all raced A / Fuel before they jumped into Top Fuel racing . I feel it ’ s an underpromoted class that people need to see . These cars are going 5.20s at over 280 mph in the quarter mile . It wasn ’ t too long ago that Top Fuel didn ’ t even go that fast .
You recently earned your NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster license in Bob Everett ’ s A / Fuel dragster . Why did you want to go through that process ?
I got my A / Fuel license because I wanted to be able to promote this race correctly . I called Bob and told him I wanted to get my license . Monroe Guest , who usually drives the car , just had surgery and they needed to test the car before Topeka , so the timing was right . Also , I am slowly and methodically looking at putting together an A / Fuel team for next season . There is a possibility you ’ ll see me in an A / Fuel car soon .
How did the sensation of driving a nitro-injected A / Fuel car compare to driving your screw-blown Pro Extreme car ?
The biggest difference is obviously we run 660 feet with the Pro Extreme car , where the A / Fuel car runs 1,320 feet . That was a really cool deal to be able to run it out the back door at 270 mph . I ’ ve never been that fast before , so I thought that was a really neat opportunity . I found that the beginning of the pass isn ’ t as fast because they have a clutch and they have so much power that they have to back it down , but from 300- foot to the quarter mile was really fun to drive .
I can say the neatest thing is when they switch it over from alcohol to nitro on the startup because the first time we did that on the racetrack , it was like there was a thousand-pound gorilla on top of the car hitting it with a sledgehammer . You can feel every cylinder fire in the A / Fuel car while it ’ s idling .
The driving of the car is very simplistic compared to the Pro Mod . The Pro Mod cars are a lot more to handle and there ’ s a lot more going on inside the car , so you really have to concentrate on a whole bunch of things . With the A / Fuel car , you don ’ t have as much to focus on . The craziest thing is that you never touch the throttle after you do the burnout . You ’ ve got to get that through your mind – you absolutely cannot touch the throttle before the launch .
It ’ s neat to be able to see the front end . You never get to see the front end of the car in the Pro Mod . In the dragster , you can actually see the front wheels and the whole front of the car going down the racetrack versus in the Pro Mod where you can ’ t see past the end of the blower .
With the race weekend for the Pro A / Fuel Challenge rapidly approaching , how is the general outlook surrounding the event ?
I ’ ve already had 19 teams call me to pre-enter the race and pay the $ 2,000 entry fee . That says a lot about the potential of this race . The concentration of A / Fuel teams in our area have been very receptive to the idea of the race . We ’ re just trying to do our part to make drag racing great . It takes people thinking outside the box and bringing new types of races to the spectator to make this sport continue to grow . DI
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