Team History
The Beginning
The Martin Families venture into drag racing began in 1980 with Will's parents John & Debra Martin. The couple owned and operated a successful heating and air conditioning contracting firm based out of San Dimas, CA. The name of the business is what lead to the name of the race car: Jam-Air Special. Jam-Air standing for John A Martin Air Conditioning. John, was a work-a-holic and after the untimely passing of his father Art in July of 1980 decided to find a hobby to keep his mind occupied after his fathers passing. John reached out to long time friend Charlie Allen, track manager of Orange County Raceway who invited him down for a funny car race. Two weeks later John had purchased his first car, formerly the L.A Hooker owned by Gene Beaver (John Force's Uncle).
The 1980's
John and Debra fielded a series of Jam-Air Special cars from 1980 to 1989. The cars were originally driven by Henry Harrison till John could complete his license process in 1982. From there the Martin's would run primarily on the west coast until 1988. In 1988 the Martin's hired Ronnie Swearingen and Jimmy Prock to campaign a brand new Steve Plueger built Chevy Beretta for the full 1988 NHRA season. The team finished 10th in the world as an independent team with no corporate sponsorship.
End of an era
In 1989 the Martin's decided to call it quits after the event in Atlanta. Unfortunately they became victim to a sport that was starting to grow and emerge into a corporate world and decisions were made against the independent team that benefited some of the sports largest teams both with sponsorship and on track rulings. The assets of the team were sold off to Wyatt Radke, Del Worsham, and Grame Cowin
Rebirth
In 2005 Will Martin, the son of John and Debra decided it was time to follow in the footsteps of his parents and try his hand in racing. With the help of his mother, Will was able to purchase his first rolling chassis. Would take him a little over a year to complete and when all was said and done he made his debut behind the wheel of the Jam-Air Special Version 2.0 in August 2006 at Sacramento Raceway park running in the 7.50 index funny car class called CIFCA
The index days
The martin's would spend from 2006 thru 2010 running both CIFCA & NHRA Heritage Series competition with their blown alcohol funny car. The team broke thru for their first career win in Redding in 2008 and would go on to claim the CIFCA Series championship in 2008. For 2009 NHRA began a 7.0 class that allowed funny cars. the Martin's with the help of Mark Platt put a 69 camaro body on the car so they could run CIFCA and NHRA that year. In total they ran 14 races that year and even with missing 2 races in the NHRA series, they would win the inaugural NHRA National championship and 2009 CIFCA championship. They would return in 2010 and dominated the NHRA series by winning 5 of 6 races taht year.
The Fuel Days
In 2011, thru the success of the Martin's on track accomplishments and business ventures, the team switched to Nostalgia Top Fuel with a new Murf McKinney built Mustang funny car funded by Multistack Chillers. The car was built for Will to relive a moment in his life he was too young to remember that his father had. They ran the car in various iterations until end of 2017.
2006- Jam-Air Version 2.0
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
First car for Will Martin. Ex Cruz Pedregon Advanced Auto Parts Car that was debuted in August of 2006 in Sacramento.
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
A new body topped the same chassis for 2007 after an unfortunate situation where the steering whell came off in Will's hand at Sacramento Raceway on the 12th run with the car in September of 2006.
2008- EMCOR Services
2007 - Jam-Air Version 2.2
2008- EMCOR Services
As part of their 25th anniversary celebration, executives from Emcor/Mesa sponsored the Martin's for 1 season. The extra funding allowed the team to run the whole season where they won 3 races in route to their first series championship.
2009-2010 - 69 Camaro
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
2008- EMCOR Services
This car became the most dominate car in the country in this configuration. With a winning percentage of 88% over 2 seasons, this car won more races than it lost.
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
This Murf Mckinney built Ford Mustang car was built by Howard Mazei with advisement from Bob Brooks and John Martin. It made its debut at the MArch Meet in 2011.
2012- Paradigm Shifter
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
2011- 69 Mustang AA/FC
As part of a new marketing campaign with Multistack, the team enlisted Paul Stohl of PPG to apply the beautiful candy paint job. The performance of the car drastically stepped up and finished 4th in national points
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
2013 was a difficult year for the Martin Family as John was diagnosed with cancer. The team took some time off to figure out where they wanted to go. With the decision to sell the family business, Will decided to pay homage to one of his favorite racers, Dale Armstrong and bring back one of the cars he drove, the Speed Racer.
2016/2017- Speed Racer V 2.0
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
The car was repainted in 2016 to make it more "nostalgia" looking. The team was able to win 2 events with this car at Barona's Funny Car Shoot outs in 2016 and 2017. The team was aggressively testing in 2017 for a full time return to competition when it was ultimately decide to change directions and switch to TA/FC.
2023- Clean Slate TA/FC
2015- The Return of the Speed Racer
2023- Clean Slate TA/FC
The Martin's return to racing took longer than expected. After enlisting a chassis builder to build them a new car, that brand new car had too many problems to run. The Martin's enlisted the services of Keith Lowery @ PRC Fabrication to completely take a brand new car and start over. This coupled with the Martin's taking time to focus on their family, starting their business, and focus on their son's racing., it just took longer to get to where they wanted to be. Today they have a first class operation with great people around them .
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