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Tony came up with the term‘ The 2024 Vengeance Tour’ and all he said to his employees and his team was, look up vengeance in the dictionary and it’ ll make sense.
That was our motivation leading forward, and so it was printed largely on the back of the car so each of us could be reminded of it. For myself, it stemmed back to that round in Dallas that night, and I didn’ t want to feel like that again. We were out to absolutely dominate 2024. That was the goal.
Boggs: We had some bad luck in 2023, and so we ended up No. 2 in the points, which we had won three of the prior six world championships. Doug Gordon had won the other three, so we were even at that point.
Tony came up with this idea, and so we just said,“ Let’ s go get them.” Everybody stuck together, and it worked out to our advantage. Last year, we did fairly well at the beginning of the year, then at the end of the year, we came on real strong again and ended up winning [ the championship ] in Charlotte. Actually, they didn’ t even know we had won it in Charlotte. Then we went to Dallas, and [ NHRA ] realized that we had won it in Charlotte.
Even though you were celebrated and officially crowned in Dallas at the FallNationals, did it make the whole experience somewhat poetic after the devastating loss you experienced in 2023? Bellemeur: Dallas holds a really special place in my heart, both good and bad. I ran my family’ s Jr. Dragster at the national championships there in 1996. That’ s the first time I had been to the Texas Motorplex. I was overwhelmed by the facility just because of what it stood for, even back then.
My first-ever win in a national event came at Dallas in 2015 as a one-race deal for Tony. As special as every national event is, Billy Meyer and his team there go above and beyond. [ The FallNationals ] is just something special – everybody goes to it. So, for it to be poetically finished off in Dallas, that was sort of the closing of the book for me personally, on my own internal battle with the loss of 2023. Then to go and sweep Dallas and win the JEGS Allstars, win the race, win the world
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THE MENACING SKULL AND CROSSBONES ON THE BARTONE BROS. FUNNY CAR MIRROR THE TEAM’ S TAKE-NO-PRISONERS ATTITUDE THAT’ S NETTED THEM FOUR NHRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
championship – I felt like that was our way as a team, the entire family that is Bartone Brothers Racing, that was our way to get closure on the heartbreak of the year before.
When you started winning in 2024, did you think about the possibility of winning your fourth championship, or did you just keep your head down and stay focused? Bellemeur: We let NHRA count the points. That’ s not our job; that’ s theirs. I’ m so blessed to be with a group of individuals who are used to winning. They know what it takes to win, the focus, and the daily goals that it takes to be successful. We remind each other in the pits, at dinner and breakfast, and even away from the racetrack that our job is to turn on win lights.
We have a saying here, and that is, if we win everything, then nobody else can win anything. If we win everything, they’ re going to hand us a big trophy at the end of the year. It’ s an important way to look at it because when you start getting out of your routine and when you start thinking about things other than the task at hand, that’ s when mistakes get made. That’ s when you start making yourself vulnerable to
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the competition.
My guys don’ t tell me about them because I asked them not to, but maybe some of my guys have a better idea of points when it starts coming down the stretch there. But in the end, we all remind each other that our job right now is to turn on a win light, and if we would turn on this win light, our job in an hour and a half is to turn on another win light. Then we just kind of let the points fall.
Can you explain your performance increase from 2023 to 2024 without giving away any secrets? Boggs: I can tell you I know what I changed. In 2023, we did good at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, but in the middle of the year, when the tracks would get hot, I had the car too hopped up, I’ m going to say, for the first 60 feet. We were either heroes or zeros.
So, when we got in the middle of the year and we got in the heat, I tried to fix it a little bit in’ 23. In’ 24, we started out, and we got a couple hot conditions. I said,“ You know what? I’ m going to slow this car down in the 60 foot,” and we had enough power after 60 foot.
I said,“ When the tracks are killer
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, I look like a hero.” Then I said,“ When these tracks get hot, I think I’ m backing off, but I’ m not backing off enough.” I fixed one thing. You can fix it with gear ratio. You can fix it with ignition timing. You can fix it with clutch. You can fix it with a fuel system. I’ m not going to mention which one of them, but I took one of those categories, and I said,“ I am going to soften this car up,” and there were times where we could have run maybe one-hundredth or two quicker. But first of all, the win light is not at the 60 foot – it’ s at the finish line. They don’ t give you the trophy for the quickest 60 foot.
Sometimes you’ ve just got to say to yourself,“ You’ re trying to be too aggressive all the time. Back off.” I backed it down, and we ran maybe a hundredth to a hundredth-anda-half slower in 60 foot, but it almost went down the track every time when there wasn’ t some other malfunction.
How did winning your fourth championship compare to the first or any of the others? Bellemeur: I would put it number one, and the reason for that, gosh, what a special thing to get to say …“ compare it to your other championships.” I’ m a kid who just got
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