{"id":101461,"date":"2025-06-27T18:18:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T18:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/bartone-bros-park-injected-nitro-funny-car-after-controversy-reload-with-pirate-ship-for-norwalk\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T18:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T18:18:24","slug":"bartone-bros-park-injected-nitro-funny-car-after-controversy-reload-with-pirate-ship-for-norwalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/bartone-bros-park-injected-nitro-funny-car-after-controversy-reload-with-pirate-ship-for-norwalk\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartone Bros. Park Injected Nitro Funny Car After Controversy, Reload with \u2018Pirate Ship\u2019 for Norwalk"},"content":{"rendered":"

After making headlines this season with their record-shattering nitro-injected Top Alcohol Funny Car (TAFC), Bartone Bros. Racing is returning to familiar territory\u2014and a proven winner\u2014as they roll out the supercharged \u201cPirate Ship\u201d Funny Car for its second appearance of the season at Summit Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n

The team made history earlier this year at the Baby Gators, debuting Tony Bartone\u2019s new nitro injected TAFC<\/a> and immediately resetting the national record with a 5.330-second run at 281.42 MPH\u2014the first time a TAFC entry has ever exceeded 280 MPH. They followed up with another record-setting 5.317 at the Gatornationals<\/a>. That same weekend, held at zMAX Dragway, the team also made history as the first-ever Injected Nitro TAFC to win an NHRA national event\u2014and then backed it up with another win in the Gatornationals final.<\/p>\n

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Despite their success, NHRA\u2019s recent rule change reducing the allowable nitromethane percentage from 97% to 91% has forced the team to park the groundbreaking car, citing concerns over performance parity. The move comes after the team\u2019s nitro car won four of the first five races in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injected car has basically been handcuffed to a middle-of-the-pack car,\u201d said Sean Bellemeur. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot. A lot of negative energy thrown our way by a lot of people. To say we\u2019re motivated and excited is an understatement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last weekend at a regional event at Summit Motorsports Park, Bellemeur was runner-up to Phil Esz in TAFC, just missing the win on a holeshot. He was the top speed runner and went down the track every time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like a kid in a candy store right now,\u201d Bellemeur said. \u201cAs fun as the injected nitro project was, I am getting back in my hot rod. I\u2019ve always been a blown alcohol guy, they\u2019re more challenging to drive. They\u2019re more technical, and they\u2019re definitely more unpredictable. We have a point to prove to everyone out there. So I know the team is excited to get our championship car from last year back on track!<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the old saying goes, it\u2019s like riding a bike. I\u2019ve driven this style of car for over 20 years. My family car is set up the same way as this car, too, and I\u2019ve made laps in it recently, so I\u2019m hoping we\u2019ll get right back to where we were at the end of last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Alcohol Funny Car will make their first qualifying run at 11 AM on Friday.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on June 27, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Bartone Bros. Park Injected Nitro Funny Car After Controversy, Reload with \u2018Pirate Ship\u2019 for Norwalk<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After making headlines this season with their record-shattering nitro-injected Top Alcohol Funny Car (TAFC), Bartone Bros. Racing is returning to familiar territory\u2014and a proven winner\u2014as they roll out the supercharged \u201cPirate Ship\u201d Funny Car for its second appearance of the season at Summit Motorsports Park. The team made history earlier this year at the Baby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}