Nitro Dogs Racing

After five nitro seasons, Bartone to return to Alcohol Funny Car roots

Tony Bartone will be driving a Funny Car again in 2009, though his new ride will not be of the nitromethane-burning variety. Bartone will return to his Sportsman racing roots by taking the wheel of Rick Jackson’s ‘08 Ford Mustang Top Alcohol Funny Car while reuniting with former tuner Steve Boggs. The 1996 TAFC champion left his post as the driver of Jim Dunn’s Canidae Pet Foods Funny Car at the end of the 2008 season to spend more time with his family after five full seasons of racing with Dunn in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Bartone made headlines in 2008 when he notched his first national event win in Funny Car in Seattle. He became the third driver in NHRA history to win in both alcohol classes and Funny Car (Cruz Pedregon and Gary Scelzi are the others).

“My heart was in fuel racing, but the bottom line is that I have a couple of kids I need to spend time with,” said Bartone. “Being on the road for 24 events affects me more than the average Professional racer because when the race is over, I have to go back to my business in New York while my kids are in

Florida. With an alcohol car, you can run 14, 15, 16 races, get your points, and go from there. Going back to alcohol racing gives me some of my family life back.”

Bartone doesn’t leave the nitro ranks emptyhanded as he returns to his roots as the former national Alcohol Funny Car champ scored a win in Seattle earlier this year for team owners Jim and Diane Dunn.

Though Bartone last competed in Top Alcohol Funny Car in 2000, the prolific driver intends to be competitive from the get-go. After all, he’ll be driving for a team that won the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in

Indianapolis and finished in the top five in the national points standings in 2008 with driver Von Smith, who will be driving a Pro Mod entry for Awesome Al-Anabi Motorsports in 2009.Jackson, who owns

Centre Pointe Collision Center and Valencia Body Shop in

Santa Clarita, Calif., has fielded entries that have finished in the top 10 in the past two seasons. He scored three national event wins with Smith and won the inaugural spring event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2000 with Rod Alexander driving. Boggs, who tuned Bartone to all 28 of his wins in the Sportsman ranks, has won TAFC championships with Joe Penland Jr. in 1995 and Bartone in 1996 as well as a Top Alcohol Dragster championship with Mitch Myers in 2004.

“I think we have the opportunity to be competitive right off the bat,” said Bartone. “I don’t think I forgot how to drive an alcohol car, and we’ve got a good car with good parts and a good team behind it. I don’t have to tell you about my relationship with Steve Boggs. He’s like an older brother, and we talk almost every day of the week. I only met Rick in the last year or so, but I can tell you that if Steve Boggs is hanging out with Rick, then Rick has got to be a good guy.

“I don’t have any reservations about going back to alcohol,” Bartone continued. “I enjoy racing. Some guys get in their mind when they get in the Pro ranks that they can’t go backwards, but I’m a car guy, I enjoy driving, and I enjoy racing. I still get to do all that, so it works for me.”

The team is working on finalizing a schedule for 2009 and plans to participate in preseason testing in January and compete at the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in

Pomona