Nitro Funny Car racer Bob Gilbertson, who's cutting back to a limited season this year, will start testing in the up-coming weeks and plans to make his first NHRA start in 2008 at the 39th Annual NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals March 13-16.

 

Gilbertson, who is actively searching for marketing partners to join his team, will banner his own business, Trick Tank on the flanks of the wildly painted Monte Carlo that he'll campaign to start off the year.

 

"These cars run on money, not Nitro like everybody thinks," Gilbertson said from his Charlotte office.  "With us not having any corporate support this year I've got to run the car out of my back pocket and it's tough, we really need some help and hopefully something will happen to keep us out there.  We've got a lot of sponsorship leads that we're actively pursuing but unless somebody comes on board soon we'll probably run only about 10 or 12 NHRA races."

 

"I am excited about getting back on track," Gilbertson added.  "With Nicky (Boninfante Jr.) coming back as crew chief I'm optimistically confident that we'll be able to represent ourselves well out there and maybe draw some corporate interest.  I'm not begging but if there's somebody out there that wants to get involved I'll make you a deal you can't refuse...chuckle."