Tyler Clem Assumes Driving Duties for Viper Motorsports; Set to Tackle HTF Tour
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 11, 2024
Tyler Clem Assumes Driving Duties for Viper Motorsports; Set to Tackle HTF Tour
(OCALA, FLORIDA) Viper Motorsports is excited to announce today that Tyler Clem, of St. Petersburg, Florida, has assumed the driving duties of their rebranded #63v entry - effective immediately. The twenty-one-year old driver, who already has five feature wins to his credit in 2024 in Crate Late Model and Sprint Car competition, will follow the Hunt the Front (HTF) Super Dirt Series schedule full-time in 2024 starting this weekend at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Florida. The ‘Southbound Throwdown’ kicks off on Friday, April 12 with a $5,000 to win opener, while Saturday’s doubleheader finale boasts a $15,000 first place prize.
The Saint Johns, Florida-based team now houses their equipment in Ocala, Florida - working collectively with Big Frog Motorsports and experienced crew chief Mike Rey. The new collaboration of Viper, Big Frog, and Tyler Clem tested a Super Late Model a few weeks ago at Southern Raceway in Milton, Florida. Tyler was fast right out of the box, ran second the entire feature distance on the Friday leg of the program, and was in position to possibly win the Southern Allstars Dirt Racing Series (SAS) contest until an incident with a lapped car ended his stellar effort.
“Over the years, my wife and I have heard the rumblings about how there are some really talented drivers out there and they just need an opportunity, but it is rare that they ever get one,” stated Viper Motorsports owner Shawn Martin today. “Big Frog Motorsports and Mike Rey have a solid program and have done an awesome job bringing Tyler (Clem) along in the Late Models. Even under the Viper banner, this is far more a pairing of resources and support systems that makes this opportunity sustainable and less stressful for everyone, while giving a really good, young talent an opportunity to take a bigger swing at the Super Late Model world.”
“Tyler has a ton of talent, already has a $12,000 victory under his belt in a Crate car this year, and if things worked out differently in lapped traffic when we tested at Milton - he could possibly have wins in three different divisions,” said Martin. “That is extremely difficult to do in this day in age and it takes a bunch of talent to do that. The first Super Late Model win is always the hardest to get, but once he gets it - I don’t think the second one will be too far behind.”
“Between Viper and Big Frog, there are six-plus cars and seven-plus motors, multiple haulers, and enough parts to build a bunch more cars,” Martin went on to say. “There are enough resources here that no one has to be stressed over anything. Much like Lisa and I, Jenna and Augie (Burttram) do not race for a living, as it's not their primary business either. We both have multiple other businesses that require our day-to-day attention. We all do this for the love of the sport and we have a passion to race. This has to be fun and enjoyable for everyone involved due to the investment of resources and time involved.”
Veteran car owner Augie Burttram with Big Frog Motorsports is also excited about the new collaboration with Viper Motorsports and driver Tyler Clem. “Our intentions - at first - were to help Tanner (English) and Shawn’s team turn things around and get them back on the top of their game with the lack of good, experienced road help available right now. But things changed recently with their split and we had all tested earlier at Milton with Tyler, so I think Shawn was impressed with him and they worked out a deal together this week. I’m excited to see if we can bring Tyler and the Viper team up to the next level with veteran crew chief Mike Rey leading the team. Tyler has also brought his crate car owner and sponsor Chris Bennett from Ocala Restaurant Supply to support him, along with a few other sponsors. We are all ready to get started at All-Tech this weekend and I expect this new pairing to gel quickly and win races soon!”
Maybe the most excited about today’s announcement was young driver Tyler Clem, who will get to fulfill a dream of running a Super Late Model full-time. “I am thrilled to get started with Shawn and Lisa Martin and Viper Motorsports and extremely thankful for this opportunity. It has definitely been a dream of mine to race Super Late Models full-time and I look forward to getting started this weekend at All-Tech Raceway. Everyone associated with this new collaboration is going to work hard and we are all focused on getting this team strong results throughout the season.”
The Viper Motorsports team would like to thank the following list of valued partners for their continued support of this new effort: Viper Risk Management Group, Big Frog Transportation, Base Racing Fuels, Ocala Restaurant Supply, Capital Waste, Vipmar Construction Services, Gardner Energy Services, Chiarelli Paving, ML Performance, Creekside Auto Sales, H&A Development, SRI Performance, Swift Springs, Wiles Driveshafts, Supreme Enterprises LLC, Schaeffer’s Racing Oil, Close Racing Supply, Davis Diesel Service, BMF Race Cars, Hoosier Racing Tires, Chase Motorsports, All County Garage Doors, Penske Racing Shocks, Action Graphix, Beyea Headers, Jones Racing Products, XS Power, Strange Oval, Wilwood Engineering, Bulldog Rear Ends, Diversified Machine Inc. (DMI), FK Rod Ends, Sweet MFG., Barnes Oil Systems, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, and Accelo Racewear.
Keep your eyes open for a refurbished website on www.VRMGMotorsports.com soon and be sure to “Like” both Viper Motorsports Company LLC and Tyler Clem Racing on Facebook to get the latest news and information.
Media Contact: Ryan Delph - Delph Communications
www.DelphCommunications.com
