Fri, 1 May 2009, 10:02 AM
Everyone Needs A Little Motorvation, ...And Some Water.
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By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Mark Pickens
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Every now and then the rule's makers at NHRA decide to go with the flow, that is, pick up on a
class that seems to be thriving at the local level. Sometimes the class is born out of necessity,
like Super Gas back in the early 1980's or Super Comp shortly thereafter. In those cases, the trend
toward bracket racing was sweeping the country, or at least sweeping southern California, and in an
effort to attract some of those racers to the NHRA divisional and national event fold, the classes
were added to the rulebook. A lot of the time, when these new classes come along, they are run on
an "exhibition only" basis for a couple of races. Then, once a trend is seen, a trend that shows a
lot of racers competing in the class and a lot of fans enjoying the class, it is added to the full
lineup. That's the case with one of the hottest new classes to come along in some time, Top
Sportsman. A few years ago the sportsman racers were looking for a place to race their full-bodied
cars, their really fast, full bodied cars. Several of the NHRA division directors noticed the surge
in these cars and added them to their Lucas Oil division events. The first one took place back in
2004 and, from what I've seen, the Top Sportsman class may be here to stay.
Pickens vs. Brooks
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A couple of years ago, Jay Hullinger, the Division 3 director, had an idea to showcase these new
cars and the new class at a national event. So he got together with the other division directors
and they decided to hold an invitational race at Atlanta in conjunction with the Southern
Nationals. This year the event was sponsored by Davis Golf Carts and Sunset RaceCraft and it
featured nineteen cars. Among those who qualified were former invitational winner Earl Folse, who
checked in at 6.277, good enough for the number one spot. Red-hot Keith Raftery from Division 4 and
the "King," Ronnie Davis were also in the field. Keith qualified with a 6.427 and Ronnie with a
6.451. There were other notable drivers in the field including a couple who have earned national
event "Wally" trophies for winning at the Sportsnationals where the class is contested along with
all the other Lucas Oil sportsman categories. And, if you checked down at the bottom, and I mean
way down at the bottom you would find the nineteenth and last qualifier, Mark Pickens. Mark ran,
and I use that word loosely, an 8.052 to make the field. Of course the fact that everyone made the
field helped out as much or more than his 8.05. "Going back to the divisional race in Texas a few
weeks ago," Mark said, "the car hadn't made it down the track in its last six runs." As the
expression goes, Mark didn't hit anything in Atlanta but he sure had a couple of good opportunities
to do so. "On the day of the eliminations I was ready to go home. I had everything just about
packed up, the pit area clean and then my crew chief, David Glidewell, told me that he had made a
few adjustments on the car. Mark said that David asked him, "Do you trust me?" And Mark's response
was, "Of course I do. He then told me that he put on some new tires and made some adjustments to
the steering on the car and he said that it would go down the track." Well, David should get a
raise, because the car not only went down the track once it went down the track five times and,
believe it or not, Mark Pickens won the Top Sportsman invitational race. "It's hard to believe,
especially after what we did the first four runs here in qualifying," he said. "I'm sure all the
other guys were hoping that they would get to race us because we were the 'ducks' today."
Apparently, not. That was a funny choice of words, too, since Mark earlier stated that the Top
Sportsman class features some of the best bracket racers in the country and, according to him,
"There are no ducks in this class."
Mark Pickens
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Mark Pickens didn't really come up through the ranks like a lot of drag racers do. He raced a
couple of cars before getting his Top Sportsman ride, but most of them were for fun. "I had a
Corvette that had a supercharger on it and nine inch tires. It ran in the nine-second range and was
a lot of fun." Mark said that he actually built his first Top Sportsman ride for his son, but when
he left for college and eventually got married and had children, he lost interest or time or both
and didn't want to race anymore. "So I had a car and I still had the itch to drive, so I did." The
car that he drove to victory in Atlanta was built by Garret Livingston at Garret Race Cars and is a
2007 Pontiac GTO. "It's really like a baby Pro Mod car," Mark said. "It's one of the lightest cars
out there since it has a lot of titanium and carbon fiber parts on it." Sounds like Top Sportsman
isn't exactly an "entry level" class to me. "No, these are fast cars, really fast cars," he said.
"And they're driven by some great drivers. It's a fun class and I really enjoy it." The car, which
won Best Engineered at the recent Jegs Sportsnationals in Belle Rose, and which could win Best
Appearing at any race, is powered by a 665 cubic inch engine that was built by Jeff Wilkerson. "He
does great work and the car ran flawlessly once we figured out what was wrong with it." Or at least
once David found out what was wrong with it. And after struggling on every run during qualifying,
Mark was the picture of consistency in eliminations, making runs of 7.08, 7.07, 7.08, 7.08 and
another 7.08 in the final round to beat Jeff Brooks and get the win.
Millican and Pickens
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Mark Pickens may be the only Top Sportsman driver who also owns a Top Fuel car. "I've been friends
with Clay (Millican) for a while and when he told me that his car and operation were going to be
for sale, we sat down, worked out a plan and the next thing you know I own a Top Fuel car." Mark
then went on to say that, as of right now, he is funding the car from his own pocket but that he
and Clay are continually working in an effort to come up with some partners for their operation.
"Clay is just the best guy, personally and professionally, and we're looking for someone who will
compliment our operation. We're close, but everyone says that, so let's just say that we're working
on some programs that we hope will come to fruition in the very near future."
Pickens and Lauren
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"Hope" is a word you hear a lot from Mark, and it's even on the side of his car. "Hope 4 Sudan is
something that my wife, Lauren and daughter, Jessica are involved in. They travel all over the
world doing missionary work and when they went to the Sudan a while back they came back with a
mission." That mission is to raise awareness for the plight of the people in that country and to
help bring much needed water to them. "We work with a company that drills wells, and one well can
serve about 3,500 to 4,000 people. They have the water they just don't have any way to get to it.
We try to make people aware of the situation and the exposure that the dragster has given to this
project has been amazing," Mark said. He added that several members of the NHRA community have gone
to Sudan and his wife is going back this week.
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Also on the side of the dragster and Mark's Top Sportsman car is the name, "Motorvation." "That's
my company and we deal in electronic fuel injection. Our slogan is, if you can build it we can tune
it." T.J. Tracey, who also runs in the Top Sportsman class, heads up the operation for Mark and he
does a great job with the company. "T.J. is one of the best big-money bracket racers in the sport
and he has won just about everywhere he goes. He's the brains behind the tuning operation," Mark
said. And if a Top Fuel car, a Top Sportsman ride, a humanitarian effort and sponsor hunting don't
keep Mark busy enough, there's always his day job. "Our family owns and operates the largest United
Van Lines agency in the country. We also have a company, Primacy Relocation, that facilitates
financial as well as relocation services for businesses worldwide. The key is always great people,
and we have some of the best. It does, however, keep me pretty busy."
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Mark said that winning the Top Sportsman race was unbelievable, especially after the way they
started, and winning in Top Fuel would be even better. But, he added, "When you see what the people
in the Sudan are going through, even if you don't qualify it's sure not a big deal. Racing is fun,
but there are people with real problems in the world and we'd like to do what we can to help them
out." It's an attitude like that, and the fact that he puts his words into action, much more than
a winning time card, that makes Mark Pickens a winner.
Mark would also like to thank Corey and Jeremy Glidewell for their constant help, as well as Rick
Jones and especially Frank Hawley for their invaluable help in Atlanta.
NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]
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Sep 2- INDY - Stock Eliminator Round 1 Class Eliminations
Sep 2- INDY - Top Fuel Preview
Sep 1- INDY - Stock Eliminator Qualifying, Session #3 Order
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Sep 1- INDY - Stock Eliminator Qualifying, Session #2 Order
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