The Rick Jackson Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car finds itself in the number seven qualified position
after two attacks at the O'Reilly Raceway Park quarter-mile. The qualifying for this marathon event
will continue tomorrow afternoon as 23 Alky Floppers will attempt to crack the sixteen-car field at
the 55th NHRA Mac Tool's US Nationals presented by Lucas Oil in Indianapolis, Ind.
The team was pleased to see an improvement from their previous event.
At last week's Division 5 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Topeka, Kan., the Jackson Racing
Ford Mustang had it share of problems with oil pressure issues. "We found every way to not supply
our engine with proper lubrication," stated Tony Bartone, the driver of Jackson's Center Pointe
Collision Centre sponsored flopper. "We got behind the eight ball per-say and couldn't catch up
during the weekend." The results were a semi-final loss to Roger Bateman.
The Jackson boys lead by crew chief Steve Boggs brought their Funny Car to the line for a first
qualifying session pairing against Chris Foster. Bartone negotiated his mount down the quarter-mile
in 5.672-seconds, placing the Center Pointe Ford in the fifth qualifying position. "We are not
entirely pleased with this effort, but it is a much better start than last week," noted Bartone.
"The key is to get down the track and steadily improve with each session. We hope to do this for
Q-2 later today."
Bartone would get his wish as the Rick Jackson Racing Alcohol Funny Car headed up to the staging
lanes for the second session. Cooler track conditions produced a minor improvement. A 5.650-second
elapsed time at only 251 miles per hour will place the team in the seventh qualified spot heading
into tomorrow's third qualifying attempt.
"We steadily improved, but this car is still a bit behind it's potential," noted the two-time US
Nationals winner Bartone. "I know Stevie and the boys will turn up the wick tomorrow and get this
hot rod back to comfortable territory.
The Top Alcohol Funny Car category will hit the track for round 3 of qualifying tomorrow morning.
The Rick Jackson Racing team will also be announcing a new marketing partner in a press release
scheduled to be posted on http://www.rickjacksonracing.com tomorrow afternoon after the third round of
qualifying.
Stay tuned to http://www.rickjacksonracing.comfor updates during the weekend for the 55th
US Nationals.
