Northern excursion takes TAD Team Owner Main to his roots
WEST LEBANON, N.Y. - When a long black rig with Texas plates pulled through the gates at Lebanon Valley Raceway in West Lebanon, N.Y., it was received with more than one puzzled look. While the trip could be said to be a 'bit' out of the way for the Houston based NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster team, this weekend's Division 1 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event there will be a homecoming of sorts for team owner Howie Main, who started his racing career here. Armed with the team's newfound consistency, Main and team driver Darvin Martinets hope to make the 'homecoming' trip a successful one.
Main, who owns and operates Reaction Delivery, a Houston-based overnight Hot Shot trucking company and Pipe Tools, Inc., is excited about racing at his old stomping grounds.
"Racing at this level is a dream come true," said Main. "The racing schedule in our part of the country really slows down this time of year, so we got the crazy idea to come up here and run a few races. I started racing at Lebanon Valley, so it will be fun to come and race there again. My brothers live up here, so we're going to leave the rig here after the race and run the national event in Reading, next month."
"We've got the car going down the track from point A to B without hurting parts," Main continued. "We made clean runs at the Rusk divisional, and made a couple of test laps at Houston Raceway Park. Hopefully we can take that data and continue to make clean runs this weekend."
Martinets is also excited about the team's newfound consistency.
"The car has been running well and it has everyone on the team excited about getting to the next race," stated Martinets. "This will be a new track for me and many of the racers up here I've never ran against. Hopefully we can make a good showing and represent Division 4 well."
Qualifying will be ran on Friday evening at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Final eliminations will conclude the event on Saturday. Stay tuned to InsideTopAlcohol.com for the latest news in alcohol racing.
