Barton Races to Semi-Finals in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Tony Bartone, driver of the Jim Dunn-owned Lucas Oil Chevrolet Monte Carlo Funny Car, came from his No. 16 starting position in the ACDelco Nationals on 'The Strip' at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and pressed onward to the semi-finals before 'Fast Jack' Beckman reach the finish line first in that elimination round of competition.

Bartone's day began by advancing to the quarterfinal round of eliminations after overthrowing No. 1 qualifier, Robert Hight. He recorded a fraught time of 5.406 seconds at a speed of 198.82-mph after Hight's car suffered mechanical problems on the starting line during his burnout. Tony Pedregon was the next victim of Bartone's after outrunning him by a good margin after the Long Beach, Calif.-based Lucas Oil team separated themselves from Pedregon running an elapsed time of 4.881 seconds, 312.28 mph as compared to his oil adversary's slower time of 5.177 seconds, 211.53 mph.

It was against 'Fast Jack' Beckman in the semi-finals that ended a hopeful day for Bartone. But he was up to measure leaving the starting line first (.082 - .099) and was ahead of Beckman until Bartone's car got out of the groove, nearly center lining, which handed the race to his opponent. Bartone received an elapsed time of 5.284 seconds, 210.87 mph to Beckman's quicker time of 4.803 seconds, 324.05 mph.

"Our Lucas Oil Funny Car outperformed our competitors in the marketplace and on the track today and we're proud to have accomplished that," said a proud Bartone. "Hopefully, we can do that a lot more often in the future. We went some rounds and took out some tough opponents, but you always want to make it to the final round. We ran well and flew our colors, which made it a good day for the Lucas Oil Funny Car team.

"I was up for the game today in our reaction times and that was what I was trying to accomplish in case we needed that little bit of an edge at the finish line. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the finish line under power, but I'm just glad I did my job and I just wish we could have pulled off that semi-finals round win."

Bartone's Top Fuel teammate, 22-year old Morgan Lucas missed his first race of his career snapping a 52-race qualifying streak since he began racing professionally in August of 2004. The next NHRA event will be the Auto Club NHRA Finals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, the last race of the season beginning on Nov. 9 - 12.