It’s a beautiful sunny day at the Tulsa Raceway Park where we have something quite unusual happening.
Usually, we have Shawn Ellington and Ryan Martin in front of the camera talking about the changes that are to be made before they make a run, or after they have made their pass, telling us what went wrong and what they actually did right.
This time, we find both of these guys behind the camera, filming other guys putting down times at the track. When we say other guys, we mean their good friend Phantom who is here for a very special reason, a reason that makes us all jealous of him, and that is going full throttle at the track behind the wheel of the legendary OG Murder Nova.
Getting the live audio commentary by the cameramen might not be the best idea for most races or even testing, and while many cameramen tend to be quiet in order not to mess up while talking about the stuff they are filming, this time we have Ryan Martin filming stuff, so who better to tell us about what is going on than him right.
It is refreshing to see all of them helping Phantom achieve his goal which is putting down a 4-second run at the track, especially as we see Ryan’s crewmen and Daddy Dave helping him line up the car.
Seeing Phantom as excited as he was after the very first run is something that makes all the trouble worth it for the entire crew of racers, and team members alike that were out there helping him, because it is not every day that you get to sit behind the wheel of a car as powerful as the OG Murder Nova and put down a full power run at the track.
Once Daddy Dave told him the time, it was obvious that Phantom will not be able to wipe that smile off his face, and while for a split second at the start we all thought that he did not wait long enough for the car to build maximum boost, we all heard it start popping right before he let go of that transbrake button.
Usually, the pops that we hear mean that the car has reached the prerequisite boost which was set up on the launch control, and are a telltale sign that the car is ready to launch.
Although Phantom did what he came here to do on the first run, with Shawn being Shawn, he puts him back in the seat for another round, making sure that this is a day Phantom will remember for the rest of his life.
The fact that Phantom managed a time that is very close to Shawn’s personal best with the OG Murder Nova seems to be energizing Shaw, and that is something a lesser man would be annoyed by, but not Shawn.
Proving what a great friend he is, he was extremely happy that his friend and crewmember had put down that time, and kept his foot in, the whole way because, in his mind, Phantom has bled for that car, it is the least he can do to let him drive it.
As a bonus round in the video, we get to see everybody doing their job like they are supposed to, and after his run, Phantom gets back behind the camera relieving Ryan Martin of his camera duties so he can focus on stuff that we all want to see, and that is putting down a few runs on the ZL1 Camaro.
Ryan Martin is happy to blow the cobwebs off that machine and to be honest, we were more than happy to see him do it, and unlike Phantom’s time-slip which were made public immediately, we knew there was no way Ryan is going to tell us his.
Daddy Dave followed suit and just like always did not reveal his time, however, he did put down a very good run, proving that bringing the Goliath back to an F3 ProCharger along with the recent chassis modifications apparently works very well at the track.
If it was up to us, we would have them do their runs side by side so we can finally see how fast Ryan’s ZL1 is compared to the Goliath, unfortunately, nobody asked us.
Check out this great video showing some real comradery, which unfortunately did not answer the biggest question we had about the fastest, yet unproven NPK car, Ryan Martin’s ZL.
