2007 Chili Bowl Diary Monday, Jan 8th: After waiting in line a little over 6 hours we got into the building today. The ARDC teams weren’t able to pit together like last year. So the Millers and Bryan Kobylarz and Doug Rose are together in one area (where we all were last year); Steve Buckwalter and Carey Becker/AJ Ernesto are together in another area; and then there's Martin Racing ... all by our lonesomes. All the way at the VERY end of the building ... as far away from the track as is physically possible.  Oh well. At least we're IN the building. We’re excited this year to actually have a pit crew at the Chili Bowl. Our good friend from Andy’s Lanco days, microsprint driver Mike Freed and two members of his pit crew (Curt Goshert & Alan Shepard) traveled to Tulsa for the Chili Bowl Experience.  Practice tomorrow. Tuesday, Jan 9th: Andy was a little less than thrilled with his practice time. Jeff and Andy decided to make some changes to the shocks and, once he got on the track, Andy regretted the change. So they're going back to the regular setup for tomorrow. Wednesday, Jan 10th: Andy started 6th in his heat and finished third. This put him on the outside pole in the first qualifying event. In his qualifying event he finished in 5th (the top 4 went directly to tonight's A Main) which put him on the pole in the first B Main. In the B Main, Andy ran with Sammy Swindell for a couple of laps before Sammy took the lead. Andy was able to hold off the rest of the field for the first 10 laps. They'd close in on him in the turns but he'd pull away in the straightaway. A caution on the 10th lap bunched them up. On the restart ... Andy didn't. No power. Andy pulled off the track. They think that the fuel cell bladder collapsed on itself and was blocking off the hose that's supposed to pick up the fuel. They also discovered that his right front shock came off the bottom mount at some point. The good news is they have 2 days to fix the problem. Not the night we hoped for....but, like Andy says, "at least we didn't wreck". Thursday, Jan 11th: Upon closer inspection, they found out the bladder hadn't collapsed. It turns out that the fuel filter and injectors were clogged. We put a new tail tank and bladder on the car. I guess we don't have enough experience to know that you have to really clean out the inside of a new bladder ... there's a residue on new bladders that's put on to help release it from the mold when they make the bladder. The fuel "releases" this residue and that caused the clogging problem. So yesterday they emptied the fuel, removed the tail tank, got some Dawn dishwashing liquid and spent a lot of quarters at a car wash! The good news is the tank had most of yesterday and all day today to dry out.  So we should be ready to go on Saturday. Saturday, Jan 13th: Here's the direct quote from the Chili Bowl Website: "ARDC Midget champion Andy Martin began his own alphabet drive in "F" Main action that ultimately ended in the "B" Mains.  Martin finished fourth in the second "F" Main, which was won by P.J. Jones.  He then climbed to third in the second "E" Main behind winner Brad Loyet and Cole Whitt before charging to runner-up honors behind second "D" Main winner Dustin Morgan.  After Josh Ford won the first "C" Main, Martin survived a turn one fracas with four-time Chili Bowl champion Sammy Swindell that electrified the crowd by racing back to a fifth-place transfer position in a race that featured Brady Bacon's dramatic last-lap pass of Aaron Fiscus to take victory honors." The "fracas" was pretty interesting. Swindell went high in turn two either to avoid contact with or due to contact with another car. Andy saw the opportunity to get by Sammy on the low side. Coming out of turn two, Sammy and Andy made contact. Several laps later, under a yellow flag, Swindell drove into Andy putting them both into the 1st turn wall. He then proceeded to get out of his car ... Andy said at this point he's thinkin' "uh oh" ... Andy turns to the one official and says "Is my car alright?" and at the same time feels this bump on the side of his helmet. This turned out to be Sammy slapping Andy’s helmet. Swindell’s car had to be towed off the track ... to the boos of what seemed like everyone in the building.  Andy was able to restart … to the cheers of what seemed like everyone in the building. The officials announced that, even if Andy didn’t qualify on his own, they would award him a position in the B Main because of what Swindell did. But Andy didn’t need the “free pass”; he raced back to 5th position to make the transfer to the B Main. Andy started the B Main at the back of the field and, unfortunately, didn’t finish high enough to qualify for the A Main. But Andy’s very happy with his performance and is really looking forward to next year’s Chili Bowl. Martin Racing can’t begin to express our appreciation to all of the ARDC people at the Chili Bowl who helped on Saturday night between mains as Andy worked his way through the alphabet. Thank you!
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Latest News from the Shop..... Andy's car will be on display at the Dirt Trackin' Show at the York Fairgrounds January 26-28. Andy is excited to have Overhead Door of Lancaster as his new primary sponsor. Please be sure to follow their link as well as the link to brampton traffic tickets on the Sponsors page! Take a look at our partners' sites: Great Southern Bike Rally
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