Steve Boggs

Steve Boggs and Tony Bartone have been racing and winning together for 31 years. The duo has amassed 18 national event wins with Bartone driving and have won five championships and amassed 58 feature wins with Bartone as team owner and Boggs tuning. 

 

In 1992 Boggs met Tony Bartone on the starting line at Gainesville Raceway and was hired as his crew chief/tuner. The duo has been working together, winning, and setting records ever since. 

  

Boggs helped Bartone to become a standout in the Lucas Oil Series, the developmental league for NHRA pros, where he tuned Bartone driven cars to 25 event wins, at one point winning 33 rounds straight, and one world championship title in Top Alcohol Funny Car in the 1990s. 

  

Boggs followed Bartone in 2000 where they tracked a Jerry Toliver Top Fuel car. The duo was with Toliver’s team through 2002. In 2003 they moved over to his uncle's A-Fuel Dragster and then with Jim Dunn Racing from 2004 to 2008. 

  

In 2008, the New York based driver broke through in the professional ranks. Bartone powered his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a 4.454-second pass at 238.17 mph to get the long-awaited win. That day he beat Ron Capps in the NHRA Funny Car category at the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals in Kent, Washington. In addition to beating Capps on that faithful day in the final, Bartone outran Gary Scelzi, Mike Neff and Tony Pedregon in earlier rounds. 

  

From 2008 to 2012 Boggs and Bartone were running amongst the top names and teams in the sport like Force, Pedregon, Scelzi, Neff, etc. and beating them. During this period, they won 50 Wally trophies with teams Rick Jackson Racing (2209-2014), and Jim Dunn Racing (2008). 

  

When Bartone stepped out of the NHRA pro touring seat in 2012, Bartone was not finished at the track. Not done driving, in 2013 Bartone formed Bartone Bros Racing and began competing in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Championship in a Murph McKinney built car. Again, Boggs was managing and tuning the car. No Nostalgia Top Fuel driver and tuner has ever been as dominant since the series began in 2009, winning championships in 2013, 2014, and 2015. 

  

In 2014 when Bartone chose to start his own team, Boggs came with him and two have been racing and winning ever since under the Bartone Bros Racing banner. The team currently competes in NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Championship with the Bartone Bros Racing Chevrolet Camaro with Californian Sean Bellemeur driving.  

 

Continuing with Bartone Bros Racing and driver Sean Bellemeur 2015: Bartone Bros Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car- Won first National Event (Dallas, TX) in fill-in role. 2016: Bartone Bros Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car- Won second National Event (Dallas, TX). 2018-Present: Bartone Bros Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car- 3 Time NHRA World Champion (2018,2019,2021), 2 Time MWDRS Champion (2020, 2021), 2023 - Ten wins, won five National events (Pomona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Indy, Maple Grove) to go along with four Regional wins, two in Las Vegas and one in Norwalk and Richmond, also won the JEGS All-Star Shootout in Texas and was crowned North Central Region Champion.

 

Since the start of the team, they have won five championships and amassed 65 feature wins.