Winning your first round of competition in the toughest class in all of drag racing, NHRA Pro Stock, is no small feat, but when you take out the previous year’s champ in the process it becomes a much bigger deal. And how does one celebrate such a win? By joining his quickly expanding fan base on one of the planets fastest growing social networking sites, Twitter, of course.
Just 11 days ago at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com in Gainesville, Florida, Mark Martino did something that only one other person had managed to accomplish in the last four years at the event, beat 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock World Champion Jason Line. He did it in convincing fashion too, strapping a stellar .028 reaction time on the two-time series champ.
“Its hard to find words to describe how big this is for our team,” said an ecstatic Martino following the event. “I had a good feeling pulling up to the line against Jason (Line), I didn’t see him the whole way down the track, and when I saw that win light come on in our lane it felt like we had won the event! The (crew) guys were yelling over the radio telling me we’d won. It was an unreal moment.”
Following the win a tremendous amount of interest has been generated around Mark’s efforts and because of that he has decided to increase his involvement on the social networking scene by joining Twitter. Aside from his already active Facebook page, his new Twitter presence will allow him to have more immediate and direct interaction with his fans throughout, not only his days at the racetrack, but also during his day to day work at the family business DeSantis Crane Service.
In a sport where interaction with the fans is a huge selling point, Mark see’s the value in giving them even more access. “The fans are a big part of what makes this sport so great and I want to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to keep them excited about what we’re doing with our deal,” commented Martino.
Fans can follow and interact with Mark on Twitter by searching his handle @MarkMartinoNHRA or on Facebook by friending Mark Martino.
Up next for Mark Martino and team is the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, located in Concord, North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte, April 13-15.
ABOUT MARK MARTINO: The third year pro has achieved great things thus far competing on a limited basis in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, including his first round win at the 2012 Gatornational’s, beating two-time series champion Jason Line, and a clutch performance on his sports biggest stage at the 2011 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, where he qualified for the 16 car Pro Stock field, besting 13 other competitors, including six-time NHRA World Champion Warren Johnson and multi-time national event winner Larry Morgan, for one of the highly coveted spots.
From Jory Elliott
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