Thank You From Benji Martin

I have been meaning to get ahold of you, tell you a little story, and thank you for all the help you have given me over the years.

I don’t know if you have talked to Brad or Joe from AAMCO lately but…

So.. a few years ago I had my bad accident going through the traps in the Lumina. The car was a complete loss. As soon as I was cleared to race again, a very good friend of mine, Pat Osmundson, said hey I have my high school car just sitting in the garage. Its not as fast as your car was (its a low 11 second car) but it will get you back in to racing.

Very appreciative and excited I took the offer. I finished out the season, won a few super pro races, won a national dragster race, and made the magazine. All in all a very fun ending to a season that started out very bad.

Here we are a few years later.. I am racing a T/S car for Russ Allison with Shawn Herbst. This Last winter we took our dragster (the one that you and I went back and forth with data to get the converter working PERFECT) and we back halfed it. It was a hard tail car. We bought a back half from a car that was in an accident and had front end damage. We got it all together last winter and got it ready for this year. The goal was to set it up for SC but race it locally until we got really busy with the TS car. It started out great! I raced it in SP at 8.90. We learned the basics of throttle stop racing. I called you a few times and had questions for you early on. We lost in the finals at the second race we had basically a new set up at and then won the fallowing.

May came around, and it was time to start getting busy racing the divisionals with the corvette. The dragster got set aside due to time, money, etc.

We got to the middle of the summer. The same friend that loaned me the car, was one of the people that got scammed in the whole Jacob McNeal scam. For months, Pat was told his NEW car was being  built after he had sent off $18K. Come to find out there was no such thing as a new car being built it was all just BS. Pat continued to race locally at Walla Walla, a 1/8 mile track. Early on he hurt his current car that he raced. So again he went back to the high school car. Leading points with a few races to go Pat hurt that engine as well. Now it was my turn to return the favor. I had the dragster sitting in the shop with the cover on it.

We took him out, got him licensed, he got a few passes, raced the race, and loved it. Before that weekend he had never been quicker than low 10’s. Due to the car being set up, me having some data, and him never being that quick we just left it on the throttle stop.

He went back to Walla Walla, went out first round and also lost his points lead.

A few weeks later he goes to Boise for D6 ET Finals. Being 2nd in points at Walla Walla he made the race of champions….  AND he won it!!    D6 Super Pro Champion! In a car that he had MAYBE 15 passes in. This qualified him for Pomona to represent D6 and have a shot at a National Championship. We didn’t even adjust the stop to race 8.90. We left the same delay in it, and dialed it just as any bracket car. This is what Pat was comfortable with.

A few weeks later we went to Spokane for the money race. A lot of people were giving us crap for winning ET Finals with a throttle stop… So at Spokane, with it being an 1/8 race i talked to Pat and he was ready to race it off the stop. What would ya know…. the guy wins that as well. He beat some BIG name guys as well! What a stacked class.

Very Excited we all traveled down to Pomona. We thought hey what the hell… even if we go out first round that may be a once in a lifetime experience.

We went down there. Got to go through the NHRA museum, got to go to the bad ass banquet with a few of the pros. It was so fun. The NHRA treated us like kings.

Going over our game plan, Pat says I want to run it at the nationals on the stop. I was kind of shocked but he was right. The car was set up to run on the stop. This is where it was the most consistent. Pat was right, he said its going to be hot, we have never even been here let alone have any data on it. If we run it on the stop the starting line wont matter to us. I kind of liked this idea because i knew we would possibly race cars with a quicker ET yet a way slower MPH.

So we put it on the stop. We set the stop back to being on for 1.250 and left it. We dialed it from there. Pat was FLAWLESS on the tree, the car ran great, it did everything we expected.

Going in to round 1.. we chatted with the guy we had in staging. He dialed a 7.61. we dialed a 8.79. We get up there, both cars, do their burn out and back up, proceed to pull forward. Pat was hesitating. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I looked up, both cars were dialed a 7.61. Pat had accidentally put HIS DIAL in the delay box at 7.61 and THEIR DIAL as 8.79 (backwards). At this point Pat knows he’s screwed and cant legally change it. I knew instantly. I almost threw up on the starting line at the National Championship. I just looked down and put my hands on my knees. I hear them take off and the crew starts yelling….  All the other guy had to do was get away green… Red -.005.

Oh man what a gift. It really rattled Pat. He felt so bad he went over and couldn’t apologize enough. He was worried he thought the other guy thought we were playing games. I got him calmed down. Had him go to the coach and relax while we got the car serviced, data loaded etc.

The next 2 rounds were flawless making him the National Champion in a car he had been in less than 40 passes. What a great experience. After winning, they pulled us backwards up in front of the stands and then back through staging the wrong way towards their picture area. It was so cool. All of the funny car guys were coming over congratulating Pat and shaking our hands.

Thinking that we didn’t care what else happened in the season because we’ve already reached the highest possible spot there was still 1 points race at Walla Walla. After all, this was the actual reason we let him barrow the car, to attempt winning the track championship. It was one of those moments for him to win… so & so would have to go out first round and we would have to win. AND IT HAPPENED! Its as if the guy cant lose in MY CAR! lol

I also took 3rd my second year in TS for D6 (which was another car that i had talked to you a lot about and you solved many issues).

I just wanted to thank you for everything you do for our racing program. From helping getting a converter to work flawlessly, helping answer Brads questions on trans parts & assembly, or just dealing with my stupid questions from time to time.

I hope you enjoyed the holidays!

-Benji