Friday, March 31, 2006

Brandon Martin Joins 2006 All Star Rookie Chase

CAMARGO, IL (3-31-06) – As the 2006 All Star tour gets ready to turn up the heat on the World of Outlaws in the season’s first co-sanctioned event at Eldora Speedway on April 7th & 8th, Brandon Martin will be turning up the heat on the All Star Rookie of the Year chase. Brandon and BMI Racing (Attica, OH) made the announcement this week that they will be chasing the Rookie of the Year honors which pays the winner of the award $10,000 on top of the Season Championship Points Fund.

Brandon raced full time with the MASS series in 2005 along with Chad Blonde, who will also be competing for the All Star Rookie title in 2006. James Mosher from Albuquerque, NM will also be touring with the All Stars and chasing that title as well. “We have a great group of young, hard chargers running with us this season,” said series president Guy Webb. “These are the type of guys who are the future of the All Stars and of 410 winged sprint car racing in general.” With the exodus of 4-time All Star Champion Chad Kemenah to the World of Outlaws, the door is wide open for a new champion this season. “Five years ago nobody had heard of Chad Kemenah,” said Webb. “It’s time for the next champion to step up to the plate.”

Brandon Martin started racing 305 sprints in 2000 after spending 7 years turning laps in the go-kart ranks. He won Attica Raceway Park’s “Hard Charger” award and was Fremont Speedway’s Co-Rookie of the Year his first year in a sprint car. Brandon made his 410 debut just one year later in September of 2001 with the All Star series at Fremont Speedway. In 2002 he began racing 410's full time at Fremont and Attica. In December of 2004, Brandon spent some time in Florida on the super-fast high banks of Daytona Speedway testing in an ARCA stock car. His next big challenge will be the high banked dirt 1/2 mile monster called Eldora Speedway.

Brandon has gained lots of valuable dirt track experience around Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana and has been building BMI Racing into a well oiled machine. “The rookie chase will be pretty cool,” stated Martin. “Chad Blonde is a good racer and he will be tough, however I do feel good about our chances. We just need things to go our way and to keep the car out of trouble and we'll be fine!”

Off the track Brandon has gotten a lot of attention as well. After the devastating hurricane season last year, Brandon and the entire BMI Racing team enlisted the help of the Northwest Ohio racing community to lend a hand to those who had lost everything. Martin converted his 48-foot trailer into a relief station, transporting over $50,000 worth of supplies to the nearly 8,000 residents of Pass Christian, Mississippi, which was literally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They chose this town because they were a small racing community as well and it just seemed to fit. One racing community helping another. Their generosity was well recieved.
“You can’t understand the destruction until you see it for yourself... it was utterly amazing,” said Martin after delivering relief supplies to the storm’s victims. To see the faces of the people when we opened that trailer door and they saw all the stuff.... they just couldn’t believe a bunch of race fans from Ohio would do that for them.”

Brandon will enter the 2006 All Star season with a brand new paint scheme and a new sponsor, Clean Burn, who is the manufacturer of the most reliable used-oil furnaces on the market. “I’m looking forward to the season,” said Martin. “The first couple weeks are going to be interesting and we just need some good luck!” You can find out more about Brandon and BMI Racing by visiting his web site at www.brandonmartinracing.com .

The All Stars will be in action on April 7th and 8th at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH and then on to Attica Raceway Park for the Coors Light Spring Nationals on April 14th and 15th. Visit the All Star web site at www.allstarsprint.com for more information on the series as well as the most up to date schedule information

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