Press Releases

Wildomar, July 13, 2018 – When the Martin’s made the decision to step away from Nostalgia Funny Car racing at the end of the 2017 season, a lot of people thought they were done with drag racing. At that time, little was known that Will, with the encouragement and support of his wife Cindy decided to pursue a class that he has always wanted to compete in… Top Alcohol Funny Car. 

“We had just completed a test session at Auto Club Famoso Raceway with the Speed Racer in September of 2017. My husband had just started to make the tuning decisions and the car was showing results. “On the way home from that test session Will and I talked and I heard him say how the class as a whole has changed.” Before he built the nostalgia car, his original dream was to expand upon his previous success in alcohol racing and move up to Top Alcohol Funny Car said team President Cindy Martin”. It was during that car ride home we decided that now was the time to make the switch and begin the process of chasing that unrealized dream.

“I can remember as a kid running from my parents pits to the fence at Pomona, late at night to watch guys like Brad Anderson, Lou Gasperelli, Jett Field and others run their TA/FC’s” said Will Martin. Thought they were so cool when I’d hear the drivers bringing the rpm’s up then dropping the clutch.

The Martin’s have taken a ground up approach to this entire project. The Martin’s chose Victory Race Car to build their new car.“My last 2 cars were built in Indiana”, said Will Martin. “While those cars were good, my involvement in the build process was always very minimal. The car I received was always the same as our competitors. How could we ever have a potential performance advantage if we do things the exact same way? This was a main deciding factor as to why we chose Victory. Their experience and innovation with John Force Racing and even back when they were building Alexis Dejoria’s Alcohol Cars made them stand out in the crowd.

“When Will & Cindy Martin first approached us about building them a new car I thought, ‘Awesome, another Nitro Nostalgia Car!’, but quickly learned they were looking for a brand new TA/FC,” said Ron Williams. “We had already been thinking about a few new ideas for an alcohol car, so when this opportunity came along to build one for the Martin family, we were very excited!” The new VRC Gen4 Top Alcohol Funny Car is Victory Race Cars’ newest design to attack the highly competitive TA/FC class.  

With the new car comes a new name. The Martin’s have rebranded their Mach III Motorsports to now be known as Martin Family Motorsports. The team is giving its new entry some personality by naming it Clean Slate. 

“We are starting over 110% said Cindy Martin. This program has no ties to anything from the past. New Car, New Team, New Truck and Trailer, and a very focused direction. While we respect what we have done historically, it has become very important for this project to reflect our young family. We enlisted our good friend Rod Burke of Burke Designs to create the rendering and all the logos and we could not be more pleased with his creation. 

The car comes home from Victory the first week in August and then the assembly process begins and we could not be more excited. We have decided on Brad Anderson power with a Molinari Clutch for our new hot rod. Both companies have always provided unmatched customer support and have always gone above and beyond. “We are not cutting any corners and doing this with the best parts period. We may not have the volume of parts as the larger funded teams however we are hopeful to start small, create success and attract sponsorship to allow us to expand the program”, said Will Martin.

Taking time off like we have, we cannot assume all our partners will remain with us. We are grateful for the historic support of companies like CP-Carrillo, ProLong Super Lubricant,Total Seal, and Aeromotive and hope to work with them again. Currently we have received commitments from partners such as Phenix Industries, DJ Safety, Pro Manufacturing, FIE, Dave’s Gaskets, and Victory Race Cars for our new endeavor. We can not thank them all enough for the support!

The current plans are to shake the new car down at the first test session of 2019 and pick select events to hit in their first year. Growing up I respected Joe Pisano immensely. His stuff was always immaculate. He did not run all the races rather he ran the races he wanted to. When he did you knew he was coming and he was coming to win. That is the model we are following with this program. 

“Will has always wanted to build a TAFC and we finally have a chance at fulfilling his dream”, said Cindy Martin. “With the support and hard work from our family and friends we have proven that we can accomplish anything we attempt.”

For more information on our team, please follow our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/martinfamilymotorsports or visit our website at http://www.martinfamilymotorsports.com

About Martin Family Motorsports:

Martin Family Motorsports was founded in 2006 and rebranded in 2018 by Will & Cindy Martin. Will grew up in the sport of drag racing as the son of John & Debra Martin who successfully campaigned their independantly ran Jam-Air Special Top Fuel Funny Cars for 10 years finishing 10th in National points. Will Martin is a 2 time NHRA Series National Champion and 2 Time California Independent Funny Car Association Series Champion. With 17 career victories including the March Meet and California Hot Rod Reunion, the Martin family knows what it takes to succeed in the sport of NHRA Drag Racing. The MFM team includes: Will Martin (driver/tuner) Cindy Martin (Team President), Dave Purcell (Team Manager), Sean Barnes (Car Chief), Mario Campos (Assistant Car Chief), Jessica Campos (Floater), Andrew Martin, and Alaina Martin.