Steve Boggs

Steve Boggs was inducted into the International Hot Rod Hall of Fame in 2026. His induction celebrates a career spanning more than six decades of innovation, championships, and record-setting performances.

 

The partnership between Boggs and team owner Tony Bartone began in 1992 at Sanair Raceway in Quebec, when Bartone made what would prove to be a career-defining hire. The duo has worked together ever since, winning championships and setting records across multiple decades.

  

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.  

 

In 2024 won national events at Indy, Norwalk, Vegas (2), Charlotte, and Texas. The team also won the JEGS Allstars Shootout for the second year in a row on its way to its fourth NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Championship and Midwest Regional Championship. The team ran 16 events in 2024, went to 13 final rounds and posted 13 wins.

 

Since the start of the team, they have won six championships and amassed 78 feature wins. 

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For Boggs, what started with a wooden cart built by him and his brother Ronnie as kids in Ohio has resulted in a career that has amassed more than 120 national wins and over eight national championships resulting into induction into the International Hot Rod Hall of Fame in March of 2026.