Martin Family Racing Team looking forward to 2010 PMRA season

Wayne Martin guides three generations of family racing with
Barrie, Ontario-based Corvette Pro Modified

Sitting in the team’s large shop just outside of Barrie, Ontario recently, Tim Martin explained why his team signed up with the Pro Modified Racing Association in 2009.

“This will open more doors for us. We did all we could with the Altered.”

The Altered raced by the Martin family was one of the quickest cars in its class, but it was time to move on to a new class. Tim Martin, who now drives the G-Force Race Cars 1963 Corvette Pro Modified, is the second of three generations of drag racers. Father Wayne Martin started racing in the mid-1960s, and Tim’s son Chase will be a regular in the Junior Dragster wars.

“We had a BA service station in Scarborough, Ontario, and we started messing around with cars,” said Wayne about his start with fast cars more that 40 years ago. “I started with a 1955 Pontiac that I raced at Toronto International Dragway in Georgetown, Ontario with the likes of Bert Strauss. I also ran a Chevelle and a truck in Super Gas and Super Pro until the mid-1990s when I handed over the controls to Tim.” 

The elder Martin was a force in these classes at tracks such as St. Thomas Dragway, Cayuga Dragway, the Grand Bend Motorplex, Luskville Dragway and in Leicester, New York. He also at one time proudly held the title as driver of the fastest pickup truck in North America.

But Wayne’s son Tim, now 42, had been racing a few years when his father stopped, starting in 1985 with a street-based Chevelle. Faster cars were built over the years, including a nitrous-powered dragster, and eventually a supercharged Altered that was one of the quickest cars in its class on the IHRA circuit.

Along the way, Wayne taught himself how to provide a very effective tune-up to the team’s nitrous-oxide injected race car engine. His work was noticed by Nitrous Oxide Systems of California, and the company joined the Martin team as a primary sponsor.  The Martins also had ties with noted former Pro Modified driver and now car tuner Al Billes, who was building engines for the team, including some power plants while still in high school in his native Barrie.

Billes helped the Martins with the Dragster, a 1997 265" dragster built by Mike Bos and powered by a 632-cubic-inch nitrous-injected big block Pontiac, which at one time was the fastest car of its kind in Canada, and the first Canadian car to qualify number one at an IHRA national event. But that wasn’t enough, and the next step for the Martins was a supercharged car. By 2006, the team stepped up to the challenge with a stout-looking 2002 Mike Bos altered style car with a blown TFX Hemi and about 2400 horsepower.

Tim was a little apprehensive during his first time behind the wheel of the Altered, which debuted during an IHRA National Event at Cayuga Dragway. After driving a rear-engined Dragster with unlimited visibility, he said he could not see straight ahead with the just-finished front-engine Altered. The team thought they would try an eighth-mile pass just to see how things went, but Tim said “the car felt good”, went the entire quarter-mile distance, and qualified number one for the event in the IHRA’s Top Dragster pass.

There were smiles and handshakes in the pits from fellow competitors after this run, as the Martins pulled off something that is unheard of in racing – qualifying number one in a brand new car with a totally unknown and untested combination and engine tune-up.

This car went on to win several class titles, including the track record holder at the Grand Bend Motorplex, and also held the IHRA Top Dragster benchmark with a 5.945-second, 233 mph pass.

“We had a lot of fun with that car,” Tim noted. “We did what we had to do. It was time to move on.”

The Martins acquired the Corvette late in 2008, and to date have only put 14 passes on the Pro Modified as the team finds its way with the door-slammer. 

The car is powered by an Al Billes Racing 526-cubic inch Veney Supercharged Hemi mated to a Lenco three-speed. Along with Tim, the team consists of Crew Chief Len Price, plus Wayne Martin, Brad Winter, Gerry Gilligan, Rob Middle, Brooke and Chase Martin, and Sheri Martin.

Tim mentioned that his son Chase did little racing in the Junior last season as the team worked with the Pro Modified, but added 11-year old will be suiting up more in 2010.

Tim would like to give a special acknowledgment to his father Wayne. 

“Known as Uncle Wayne to most, my Dad is a highly-respected character in drag racing and in the world of business. His years of knowledge, hard work, dedication and continued perseverance are a valuable lesson to us all. Whether just lending a helping hand, catching up or more often than not,” Tim notes with a sly grin, “Telling a few good jokes.” 

“He leaves a deep impression on you,” he went on. “I am reminded of this daily as everywhere I go, I’m asked ‘how’s your Dad?’ and then told what a great man he is. I am thankful to have a great mentor to not only me, but my son Chase. I appreciate my Dad for allowing me the opportunities to grow, develop, and find my true sense of purpose. Not by telling me how to live, but by living it with me!”

Sponsored by the Dungeon Fitness and MMA Club, NGK Spark Plugs, Performance Improvements, Pro Signs and Crisp Interiors Plus Inc., there are a few plans for the team and the Corvette before the PMRA season gets underway for 2010, but Tim said “he enjoys racing with the group, and is looking forward to success when he feels more comfortable behind the wheel.” 

“The Altered was more forgiving than the Pro Modified,” he noted. “The Pro Modified needs more finesse. But this one will be fun once I get the hang of it.”