NHRA Funny Car racer Tony Bartone had plenty of reasons to be worried when primary sponsor Lucas Oil Products informed team owner Jim Dunn they weren’t returning in 2008 as primary sponsor on the team. Though he had reasons, he never subscribed to any negativity.

“I never doubted John Dunn,” Bartone said of the team’s manager and marketing agent. “He is relentless when it comes to finding sponsors.  He kept digging out back and came up with a great sponsor called Canidae Natural Pet Foods.  We're glad to have them aboard.”

For the first time in his professional career, Bartone is the front-man for a non-automotive sponsor.

NHRA Funny Car racer Tony Bartone had plenty of reasons to be worried when primary sponsor Lucas Oil Products informed team owner Jim Dunn they weren’t returning in 2008 as primary sponsor on the team. Though he had reasons, he never subscribed to any negativity.

“I never doubted John Dunn,” Bartone said of the team’s manager and marketing agent. “He is relentless when it comes to finding sponsors.  He kept digging out back and came up with a great sponsor called Canidae Natural Pet Foods.  We're glad to have them aboard.”

For the first time in his professional career, Bartone is the front-man for a non-automotive sponsor.

“Your goals are still the same,” Bartone explained. “You're out there to promote the product, promote the company and help them increase their sales through a million different marketing things that we do out here in NHRA racing.

MEMORIES OF THE TOP ALCOHOL DAYS 

As a Top Alcohol racer, Bartone more than held his own ground. In fact, the New Jersey native

won 25 national events in Top Alcohol Funny Car and three more in the dragster.

“My days in the Top Alcohol ranks remain a distant but fond memory but I enjoy being out here in the nitro ranks,” said Bartone. “I enjoy driving any kind of race cars as long as it goes fast and has four wheels on it.”

Oh really? What about the rear-engine Funny Car his boss made famous?

“Jim tells me that when he had that car his helmet was about an inch away from the front windshield,” Bartone said. “I've seen pictures of it and it looks a little intimidating to try to drive but I'd give it a shot.  Why not?”

 
Bartone’s demeanor makes him the perfect driver for Dunn. He’s often considered as a David among the Goliaths. This makes knocking off the higher financed teams quite an impressive trophy.

“Any round win you can get in NHRA funny car competition is a coveted item,” said Bartone. “You're out there to do your job and it's always nice to win.  At the end of the 1320 you see that little light come on -- on your side in your lane it's a pleasurable experience.”

What Bartone didn’t see as a pleasurable experience, though, was the uncertainty of a solid spec for the Funny car chassis design for 2008.
 
“NHRA believes that they're doing what they have to do to increase the safety of the sport,” said Bartone. “A team like ours, I believe that the chassis that we use, the Mike Plueger chassis, one of the stronger more rigid chassis out there.  I think our chassis is fine, but again we have to abide by the rules.  As part of the testament to the Plueger chassis I rolled the car into the sand trap in Denver, CO.  We put a new body on it, changed the headers, made sure the chassis was still square and straight and wasn't broken.  We went out and ran with it the next day and ran over 300 mph on the next lap.  The Plueger chassis has a lot of integrity in the strength and design of the chassis.  I think it's a very good piece.”

This chassis uncertainty has been tough on the teams like the Dunn’s.

“We had a hand full of chassis that we had set up under the old rules and now they've rendered them useless unfortunately,” admitted Bartone. “We're building new chassis to conform to the new rules and now they have to be on the track by July 1 so we're making our best efforts to make that happen.”