Marty Nothstein Ousted in Opening Round of Eliminations at NHRA Southern Nationals
Former Olympic Gold Medalist Happy With His Performance in the Team's Season Opener

/Bicycling News Articles/ - COMMERCE, GA, April 30, 2008 - Even though Marty Nothstein wasn't able to find the winner's circle in his debut as the new driver of the Permatex/Wynn's Texas Roadhouse 2008 Chevrolet Impala SS Top Alcohol Funny Car, Follow A Dream, Incorporated team owner and crew chief Jay Blake was happy with his team's season opening performance at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Georgia.

"You always want to win," said Blake, who is the only blind crew chief in motorsports. "However, when you look at the fact that we had a new car, a new driver and new tuner, I'm very happy that we qualified 14th and then gave Steve Harker a good run in the first round of eliminations. We weren't really able to fully test the car prior to pulling into Atlanta. I'm extremely happy with the way Marty and the team responded under some very difficult circumstances."

Nothstein's best qualifying run came on his third attempt with a pass of 5.810 seconds (249.76 MPH). He then improved on that time in his loss to Harker in the opening round of eliminations with a run of 5.796 seconds.

"We learned a lot," said Nothstein, who is a former Olympic Gold Medal cyclist, who last year during his first full year in Top Alcohol Funny Car, won two races. "We now have a benchmark to improve upon heading to our Division 1 race in Virginia. I never like to lose, but I know that we're heading in the right direction."

Nothstein and Follow A Dream return to the track this coming weekend (May 2-4, 2008) at the season opening Northeast Division 1 race at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg, Virginia.

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Jeff Fisher
Blitz Group LLC
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USA 60611