Tony Bartone- Norwalk Wrap Up

Gremlins Halt Jackson Racing Progress in Norwalk

Photo provided by Auto Imagery

Norwalk, Ohio- In the sport of NHRA Drag Racing, a victory or loss can often come down to who has the most consistent race-car during eliminations. The performance of every part on a very expensive machine can also impact success. This past weekend at the Summit Equipment Nationals held at Summit Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio, the Rick Jackson Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car team experienced both sides of this equation.

The Santa Clarita, Calif. based group entered final eliminations with an incredibly consistent race car. After qualifying in the third position with 5.663-second elapsed time, the Steve Boggs lead crew and their driver, Tony Bartone, would pair-up against the 14th qualifier, John Bojec from Chardon, Ohio. Bartone grabbed a slight starting-line advantage and headed straight down the track, recording another 5.66-second elapsed time (a third in a row) and capturing a round one victory.

In the second round Bartone’s foe would be Kebin Kinsley from Kennedale, Texas. Bartone once again captured a slight reaction time advantage and the Boggs tuned ‘flopper’ picked-up the performance; recording a stout 5.644-second elapsed time at a speed of 252.66 miles per hour, taking the round two win over Kinsley. The car was becoming a deadly consistent machine.

“We had a car which could compete with anyone out there this weekend,” stated car owner Rick Jackson. “These cars are very fickle and you need to ensure every cog in the machine is working perfect to create this type of consistency.”

The machine which is the Jackson Racing Mustang Alcohol Funny Car would experience a parts failure during the burnout in the semi-final pairing with Chris Foster. “The electronic tachometer broke during the burnout which completely threw off the rhythm of our car,” noted Jackson. “Tony did the best he could do under these circumstances and really drove the car considering.”

Bartone did his best to give Foster a good race, but the driver from Davenport, Iowa was on his game. Foster took the round win recording a 5.673-second ET and ended the weekend’s activities for the Jackson Racing team.

“Steve (Boggs) had our car right all weekend and we were making changes that were showing promise,” concluded Jackson. “My team did a fantastic job with the car all weekend and all were very disappointed. Chris Foster, Will Hanna and his team did a good job and had a good race car all weekend. We congratulate Chris (Foster) and look forward to our next event.”

The Jackson Racing team of Boggs, Chris Perl, Mike Pavia, Pat Feely, Lew Larson and Javier Gonzales will head back to the Centre Pointe Collision Center head quarters in Santa Clarita, Calif. and prepare for their next race weekend at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event for Division 3, held July 24th through July 26th in Columbus, Ohio.

For more information about the Rick Jackson Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car team, please visit their website @ http://www.rickjacksonracing.com


Courtesy of Tim Charlet @ CRX PROMOTIONS