Bartone won the 2014 March Meet.  (Brian Losness photo)

2014 NHRA Heritage Series Champion Tony Bartone

Words by Brian Losness
Photos by Brian Losness and James Drew

As it sits right now, Tony Bartone and the Bartone Bros. team is… perfect.

For the past calendar year the Bartone Brothers have been perfect with their nostalgia top fuel dragster. Bookending the past 12 months with wins at the New England Hot Rod Reunions and in between those events the Bartones have been victorious at every race the team has attended this year!

After missing the 2013 California Hot Rod Reunion due to issues transportation issues, the team made it back to the West Coast earlier this year for the March Meet.

The team showed that even though they had missed the 2013 Reunion, it was only delaying the inevitable.  Bartone and tuner Steve Boggs took care of business in a very skilled way to claim their first ever March Meet win and the rest, well, is history:  Winning every nostalgia top fuel race this year. The big exclamation point was the run in the final round at Epping where Bartone ran 270 miles per hour in taking the win.  

There could be something very special happen at the California Hot Rod Reunion on Oct. 17-19. It appears that Steve Boggs has found a very special tune-up for the gold dragster. That Boggs-tuned dragster has set top speed and low ET at the last two Heritage Series events.  So, when Bartone Bros. Racing pulls through the gates at the Famoso racetrack, they have a distinct possibility to make history when that car takes to the track.

DRO Nostalgia Editor Brian Losness talked with Bartone, who was at his home in Florida.

: How are you doing today, Tony?

Tony Bartone: I’m good, I’m good.

: What does winning this championship mean to you and Michael?

TB: You know we had a goal for this team when we started it five years ago, and that was to win a championship.  We have always been quick and fast at times but never consistent, and that is what we have become over the past year.