What does Sean Martinez believe was the key to his first win? The new shamrock on his truck, courtesy of his sponsor.
“My dad, Chris, golfs so much at Stenger’s Shamrock Farms — a local par-three course — that they offered to sponsor my truck,” Martinez, of Seaford, Delaware, said. “With the name Sean and a shamrock on the truck, it could only be good.”
Martinez, now 19, started racing at age 17 in his father’s hand-me-down car in the charger class. Midway through his rookie season, he switched to truck, racing in the Delaware Super Trucks division.
“I found that in the truck division its more competitive and the drivers, for the most part, do not hold grudges,” said Martinez. “Trucks are a great beginning class for people who want to try out racing and possibly get into it further. It’s fun and exciting to drive in the truck division. There is great close racing and still a little banging around.”
His father now races in the 602 sportsman modified division.
“I eventually want to get into a 602 modified,” Martinez said. “Trucks to 602 modifieds is a big step, but it will be a challenge I am willing to take.”
However, for now, Martinez seeks to improve in the Delaware Super Trucks.
“I’m taking little steps,” said Martinez. “My emotions were all over the place when I won. I was happy, but there were tears coming from my eyes.”
Those tears flowed because Sean Martinez thought of his journey to victory lane at Delaware’s Georgetown Speedway.
“Of course, my dad got me into driving, but it was my grandmother, Peggy Martinez [who passed away in 2012], who took me to the races when I was a little kid,” Martinez said. “We always were in the stands cheering for my dad. I was thinking of her in victory lane.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
Photographers
The Outside Groove contributor from Macungie, Pennsylvania, has covered the sport since 2012. Sabo serves as the official track photographer of Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Photography is a family ordeal for Sabo. He shoots with his daughter, Abby, at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. At Grandview and other venues Sabo travels to, he and his father, Stephen “Poppa Pepper” Sabo Sr., capture the night’s action with their cameras.
