BARTONE GOES WIRE TO WIRE FOR 33rd WALLY
Courtesy Jackson Racing
Las Vegas, NV – Rick Jackson Racing’s Ford Mustang bodied Top Alcohol Funny Car relied on consistent and quick performance in eliminations to capture the Santa Clarita, Calif. Team’s second NHRA National Event Wally of the
2011 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, after winning the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals this weekend contested on “The Strip” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in North Las Vegas, Nev. The win was the 33rd National Event victory for driver Tony Bartone, 29 of those coming by way of the Alcohol Funny Car, arguably one of the most difficult cars in motorsports to drive.
Bartone captured the event’s number one qualifying position on the team’s final qualifying attempt of the weekend on Saturday. The 5.628 second blast gave the Long Island City, NY native the choice of lanes against Surprise, Ariz.’s John Patton in the opening stanza. Patton was the 149th driver Bartone had competed against in competition. Crew Chief Steve Boggs and tuning consultant Darren Mayer of Darren Mayer Performance Engineering used the .62 as a base-line to lower their event best ET to a smooth 5.616 ET at 259.11 miles per hour in their first round defeat of the number 16 qualifier.
In the second round the Rick Jackson Racing team paired-up against Bret Williamson from Campbell, Calif., who was the 150th racer to line-up next to Bartone in eliminations. As the cars left the starting-line, Bartone was on his game, recording a 0.069 second reaction time, however the Centre Pointe Ford skated around the race track and fell off pace en route to a 5.775 ET. The slide-ways run was good enough for the round win, as the Team Eagle entry had difficulty in the second round race.
The Semi-Final round was a rematch of this season’s opening National Event, the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals where Bartone and the Center Pointe Collision team reset the 5-year standing National Elapsed Time record while winning the event. In that race, Gordon recorded his best run of eliminations at that event versus Bartone in the final. This race was no different. Gordon reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a solid 5.668, however the Gordon’s best effort was nearly 0.036 slower than Rick Jackson’s Mustang in this race, and Bartone took the round win, getting back into the low 5.60-zone with a consistent 5.632, combined with a 0.025 second hole shot by Bartone.
In the money round, Bartone defeated NHRA Division 6 hitter, Brian Hough, once again running a stellar for the conditions, 5.625 ET to Hough’s 5.824, giving the Rick Jackson Racing team a perfect 8-0 record in National Events to kick off their 2011 campaign.
“This car was a pleasure once again to drive this weekend thanks to another great team effort by the entire Rick Jackson Racing team,” noted Bartone. “The weather was very hard on several team’s parts. The Centre Pointe Ford Mustang escaped relatively un-scathed thanks to a great tune-up by Boggs and Darren Mayer. Our goal for this season is simple; championship or bust. We are off to a great start for the 2011 season and it’s great to win our second straight National Event. We will keep plugging and head to our next race, taking it one round at a time.”
For more information about the Rick Jackson team, please visit their website at http://www.rickjacksonracing.com. You can also follow the team on Facebook @Rickjacksonracing.
