Bartone Bros. Racing and driver Sean Bellemeur are ready to defend their NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car Championship in 2025.
The Killer B’s (Bartone, Boggs, and Bellemeur) posted a point total of 850 in Top Alcohol Funny Car in 2024 and are ready to turn the page and go for a fifth championship with a new car and engine combination — #StriveFor5in25.
The Tony Bartone-owned team is adding a new twist and challenge to the 2025 season with the build of an all-new injected nitro package for Top Alcohol Funny Car the team has coined the “Black Pearl.” The team will run a combination of the injected nitro engined car in Top Alcohol Funny Car as well as their Top Alcohol Funny Car with a supercharger throughout the season at select events.
Bellemeur, four-time Top Alcohol Funny Champion, is looking forward to the new challenge.
“There are a couple reasons for building the injected nitro package in Top Alcohol Funny Car,” Bellemeur said. “The first is Steve Boggs. He has decades of experience tuning this combination, so to apply it to a Funny Car is an exciting challenge for him and a potential performance advantage. At 81 years old, it’s really cool to see him excited about this project. The second reason is simply performance. Tony has assembled a race team with the expectation of winning, and we need to at least try this combination to see if there is an advantage.
“NHRA’s rules will only allow us to switch combinations so many times, so we’re going to build a game plan after testing and see what will give us the best chance for winning. It’s hard to walk away from the alcohol car that we were so successful with over the past couple of seasons, so it’s sitting there ready to go if needed.”
As a driver, Bellemeur has 27 regional wins to go along with 43 national victories and the 2024 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car Championship, his fourth.
“The injected nitro package will present some new challenges in the driver’s seat because of the different routine that is needed and I’m excited for that this season,” he continued. “However, there’s nothing quite like revving up a blown alcohol engine, dumping the clutch, banging a gear at 10,000 RPM, and then doing it again. Either way, I’m excited to get back to work with the team and venturing through this new combination.
“I think once you see a few more injected nitro cars come out, the floodgates will open, and you’ll start seeing a lot more. I really feel that if we are successful with this engine package and as more knowledge is obtained, people will begin to see the benefits of running that combination, and more cars will be built. As they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’
“This year is going to be tough. Maddie (Gordon) has another season under her belt. She’s done a fantastic job of dealing with pressure, and she’s had a lot of laps. The converter cars are getting faster, becoming more consistent, and there have been a few racers already firing some warning shots our way, telling us that they’re coming for us. Our job is to stay focused, don’t listen to the outside noise, and stay the course. We know what we need to do, and we’ll focus on coming out of the gate with guns blazing.”
For Tony Bartone, in the sport for almost three decades as a driver and owner, he has the team focused on a new challenge.
“As a driver, I moved up the NHRA ranks all the way to the Top Fuel Funny Car class,” Bartone said. “Each step took some adjustment on my part. The team we have assembled, with Steve tuning the car, Sean driving, and our dedicated crew, gives us the best opportunity to roll out this new package. I hope it will ‘inject’ some more excitement into the category, and together with the NHRA, we can grow this class and draw out more competition. Like Sean said, we still have the Top Alcohol Funny Car with the supercharger that we know so well.”
The team would like to thank team sponsors Red Line Synthetic Oil, Roger Dean Chevrolet, Talon Air, LLC, NGK Spark Plugs, and Mastercam, along with product sponsors Simpson Performance Products and Taylor Motorsports Products.
For more information on Bartone Bros Racing, including race recaps and photos, please visit the team site at www.BartoneBrosRacing.com.
This story was originally published on February 11, 2025. 
