Chevrolet NHRA Funny Car/Tony Bartone/Post Race/Seattle

KENT, Wash., July 20, 2008 -- A remarkable double-up afternoon of racing victories for GM at the 21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals included Pontiac's eighth win of the season in the Pro Stock category, and Chevrolet's ninth victory of the year in Funny Car -- a red bowtie win that equals a mark set back in 1998 for the most by Chevy Funny Cars in a single season.

In Funny Car, Tony Bartone earned his first career national-event victory as a professional competitor by driving the Canidae All Natural Pet Foods Chevrolet past a formidable foursome of opponents that included two multiple POWERade championship winners.

"This is what you dream about, this is what you work for in your career -- to win in the pro ranks," Bartone said. "Winning was great in the alcohol classes, we won a championship and a lot of races, but this is a special moment -- a culmination of what you try to accomplish as a pro racer.

"Looking back last week in Denver we had an extreme amount of trouble getting down the track. We were able turn our program around, put together a pretty good race car to race with today and we went the four rounds and brought home the bacon. Even though we sat out Saturday qualifying, we were still able to come up with a good race day tune that wasn't perfect, but it went a lot of rounds."

Bartone entered race day with his Chevrolet qualified in the No. 5 position after running 4.092 seconds at 303.37 mph. In round one of Sunday's eliminator, Bartone defeated 2005 POWERade Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi with a 4.181 e.t. at 298.01 mph, Mike Neff in round two with a 4.367 second run at 241.58 mph and defending POWERade champion Tony Pedregon in the semifinals with a 4.252 e.t. at 287.29 mph. In the championship heat against Ron Capp, both cars struck the tires hard near halftrack, but Bartone's Chevrolet hooked up first and held on to take the win light with a 4.454 second run at 238.17 mph. Capps' Dodge finished with a 4.708 e.t. at 227.46 mph.
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