DUNN AND BARTONE RUNNING FOR CHAMPIONSHIP
The beginning of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season has been a frustrating one for legendary Lucas Oil Funny Car crew chief and car owner 'Big' Jim Dunn and his championship caliber driver, Tony Bartone.
The pair just missed qualifying for the quickest Funny Car field in history at the season opener in Pomona when their 4.816 elapsed time fell just short of the outrageous 4.79 bump spot. At the next race in Phoenix, Bartone ran 323-mph but missed the show by one spot when he qualified 17th. But despite their early set backs, the Lucas Oil team is primed and ready to rebound at the Gatornationals, the first race of the season on the East coast.
The beginning of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season has been a frustrating one for legendary Lucas Oil Funny Car crew chief and car owner 'Big' Jim Dunn and his championship caliber driver, Tony Bartone.
The pair just missed qualifying for the quickest Funny Car field in history at the season opener in Pomona when their 4.816 elapsed time fell just short of the outrageous 4.79 bump spot. At the next race in Phoenix, Bartone ran 323-mph but missed the show by one spot when he qualified 17th. But despite their early set backs, the Lucas Oil team is primed and ready to rebound at the Gatornationals, the first race of the season on the East coast.
Although Bartone is a native New Yorker, he owns a home in Southern Florida, so Gainesville Raceway can be considered a home track for the former NHRA Alcohol Funny Car champion. And the 49-year-old veteran driver would love to notch his first Professional win at the historic Florida facility. "We've gotten off to a slow start but it isn't for lack of effort," said Bartone, "Big Jim and the boys are working as hard as anyone out here, but the Funny Car class is more competitive than ever and you have to be running your A-game all the time. Just to make the field for Sunday's eliminations can be considered quite an accomplishment, but we're not satisfied with that, we want to win races."
"The Lucas Oil Funny Car will be ready for the challenge when we arrive in Gainesville," said co-crew chief, Jon Dunn. "We have enough runs on this new car to be competitive. We are going into Gainesville with a bunch of new stuff. We started off the season with a new clutch, cam and heads and we're positive that will help our performance tremendously. We're very close to getting the Lucas Oil car to run consistent mid 4.70's and dialing in a strong tune-up. There is still plenty of time to qualify for the Chase and that's our goal."
Jim Dunn is also encouraged about the future of the team. "With our association with Forrest Lucas and Lucas Oil and Evan Knoll with Torco Race Fuels, we have two of the biggest names in drag racing supporting our team. I feel very positive about our performance throughout the remainder of the season.
Bartone, who qualified third at last year's event and advanced to the quarterfinals, added, "We're going to give our Florida fans and the army of Jim Dunn supporters something to cheer about in Florida."