or go get your torque converter fixed .
It ’ s an expensive series , too , because to compete on the level we compete in , I almost feel like you have to have two of everything : two converters , two transmissions , I have two motors , I have spare blowers . If you don ’ t have all that stuff , I don ’ t know how people make it . A lot of people borrow stuff from me and buy stuff from me because I feel like I ’ m pretty prepared , but if you don ’ t have that stuff , it ’ s very hard to stay at the top .
How did this championship compare to the last one ?
This meant a lot to me because any time you can go back to back , that ’ s a huge achievement . With the first championship , you get a huge target on your back . People are automatically driven – and I don ’ t even take offense to it – but they ’ re driven to knock you out of that position .
I ’ ve been fortunate enough that in the four NPK seasons , I ’ ve won the first race in all four seasons . I didn ’ t win the championship in the first two , but I still won the first race . So what it always did was it made me the points leader . Everybody was always chasing , trying to knock me off the top . It just puts a target on your back and you ’ re always running .
I always have people trying to knock me off of where I ’ m at . It was more so this year . The competition was harder . More people felt like they were after me . I felt like for the first time , every single person that ’ s there doesn ’ t want me where I ’ m at . I think that ’ s what made it mean a lot more to me , just knowing that so many people were trying to get me to fail .
How do you plan to keep stepping up ? What ’ s it going to take to go three in a row ?
I think for 2022 my goal is to step my engine program up a little bit . There ’ s been a couple newer version Hemis that have come out since I ’ ve been racing my gray car . We sold both the motors we were using for NPK and we ordered two new ones . Both those motors are a step up . I don ’ t know , they may be worth 100 or 150 horsepower .
My goal is to be 3-5 numbers faster than I was last year . I feel like if you don ’ t have those goals and aspirations every year , you ’ re going to eventually fall even with people or fall behind . The way I look at it is the heavy hitters , the people that have the money to do it and the people that are going to put the time in it are going to do what they can over the wintertime to try to think that they picked up enough numbers to outrun me . It ’ s my job to take that exact same outlook . Whatever I went last year , I need 3-5 more numbers this year than I had last year . That ’ s what we ’ re going to do .
We made some shock changes and we ’ re going to run the motor a little different and we ’ re going to try some ProCharger stuff . We ’ ve got a couple camshaft profiles to try , even with the new motors . Now that we ’ re finished filming America ’ s List , we ’ re getting ready to hit the ground running and do some testing with the NPK car .
Now talking about the show in general , you ’ ve really embraced your role as a star of the show . You were all over the place at PRI signing autographs and meeting fans at sponsor booths . How have you approached that side of this , being a face of the show and for your sponsors ?
Stepping up to take a major role in the Street Outlaws franchise in general , it ’ s shown me the influence that we have on people , which is maybe why I handle myself certain ways .
WITH THE HELP OF PROLINE RACING ’ S STEVE PETTY , MARTIN HANDLES THE TUNING CALLS TO NAVIGATE THE UNFORGIVING , UNPREPPED RACING SURFACES ON THE NPK TOUR AND ON THE STREET .
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