Heralded as the biggest Nitro Jam in the United States, the sport’s top racers will be on hand for two days of nitro-powered racing action as drivers in Top Fuel, AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car, Fuel Altered and Nitro Harley battle it out alongside nearly half a dozen jet-powered machines, wheelstanders, fireworks and more at the 2013 San Antonio Nitro Jam presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports and CarSafe.
And headlining that list is a lineup of Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars that will leave fans talking.
Want the defending race winner, a Texas native with a wild Lone Star State theme coloring the side? How about Nitro Jam’s quickest and fastest machine, owning all of the records there is to set and two championships to boot? How about the fastest talker in the west, a man known better by a nickname than by his own name with a go-or-go-home personality straight from the glory days? Yes, the San Antonio Nitro Jam has it all.
“The entire ‘explosive’ team is ready to take on the best in the country and they are coming to San Antonio to finish some unfinished business,” said Mark Sanders, better known to the public as “Mr. Explosive.” “Don’t miss this one. Texans know how to party and we are ready for all of them in the winner’s circle to hang with us.”
Leading the way into San Antonio is two-time defending Nitro Jam World Champion Peter Gallen. With a brand new design on the side of his record-setting 1978 Monza bodied “Poverty Stricken” Funny Car, Gallen is looking forward to his first race of the 2013 season as he tries to take home his first win at the San Antonio facility since winning the series’ first race back at the track in 2011.
“There is still more we want to do in this car,” Gallen said. “We are always pushing our car and our team harder, to be the best, and even with the success we have enjoyed over the last few years we aren’t backing down one bit. There are still mountains out there left to climb.
“The race in San Antonio is filled with heavy hitters and we didn’t get to show our stuff last year due to some problems with the car. We think we got those problems ironed out and we are ready to show our stuff in front of those great fans.”
While Gallen will certainly be the one to watch, the man that will hold the most support from the crowd is defending race winner and Texas native John Hale. Hale’s “Nitro Boss” Mustang Funny Car features a unique design with a skull, Texas flag and the phrase “don’t mess with Texas” spilling across the back. And as the 2012 winner of this very race, you can be certain Texas fans will once again be pulling for the “Boss.”
“Everyone on the team is excited about having a Nitro Jam in our great state of Texas. I have raced with many of these cars before and I am looking forward to competing against them. They are all a great bunch of racers.
“Nitro Jam really puts on a great show for the fans and we look forward to being a part of it once again.”
Perhaps the hottest driver at the end of 2012 is multi-time race winner Greg Jacobsmeyer in the “AllStar” Dodge Challenger. Jacobsmeyer won two of the final three races of the 2012 season, both coming against eventual series champion Peter Gallen giving Jacobsmeyer and his crew plenty of bragging rights in the offseason. Since then the “AllStar” team has been busy focusing on lower times and faster speeds hoping to make an even bigger splash in 2013, beginning in San Antonio.
“The new motor, clutch and injection system met every expectation last year, but there is always room for improvement,” Jacobsmeyer said. “To extract every ounce of performance requires mastery of many variables and is best done with reliable data collection and analysis to inform tuning and adjustment decisions. New sensors, data recording and analysis capability are in store for this season to ensure that is possible.
“Couple that with advice from experts in the sport and we predict even quicker speeds and ETs are in store for the ‘AllStar’ Dodge Challenger.”
Mark Sanders presents the biggest wildcard of the bunch as “Mr. Explosive” returns to Nitro Jam action for the first time in almost two years. After a bad crash in March of 2012 put the “Mr. Explosive” machine out of commission for the year, Sanders returned in a big way in 2013 with a brand new 1970 Mustang that he took to the final round of the biggest nostalgia Funny Car race of the season at the March Meet. With a new car and a proven winner, Sanders looks forward to matching blows with the best-of-the-best.
“We are back in a big way. We had a bad crash in 2012, but we have put that behind us. My son Jake built a brand new, tough as nails nitro-breathing Funny Car and boy does that thing fly,” Sanders said.
The nitro foursome will clash Friday and Saturday night the weekend of April 5-6. Pairs will be drawn at random each night, with the round one winners returning for the final later in the night. First round losers will square off in the consolation round.
Don’t miss the San Antonio Nitro Jam April 5-6 at San Antonio Raceway!
