Indy ORP: Tony Bartone preview

NEW COLORS, SAME DESIRE BURNING AT INDY FOR JACKSON RACING

Indianapolis, Ind. - When it comes to racing at the historic Mac Tools NHRA US Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, the focus of Rick Jackson's highly successful Top Alcohol Funny Car team is kicked up a notch. Add in the fact this is the team's first race in over two months and debuting a brand new paint scheme of their 2010 Ford Mustang body equals a group of die-hard racers chomping at the bit for the annual Labor Day gathering at the race known simply as "The Big Go".

Jackson's TAFC team has taken the past few months off to regroup in preparation for the home stretch of the 2010 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. The second half of the season begins this weekend at the 56th running of the Mac Tools NHRA US Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. The Centre Pointe Collision Center Ford Mustang TAFC team enters this weekend's race currently occupying the 11th position in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series National point standings. However, the spirited bunch from Santa Clarita, Calif. along with their 31-time NHRA National Event champion driver Tony Bartone expect the new-look Centre Pointe/FireIce.com Mustang to compete for the event title at Indy.

"We've have not had our most sterling season to date in the first half of our 2010 campaign," noted Bartone, who has captured Indy victories in Top Alcohol Funny Car twice. "Our car has run exceptionally consistent in our Divisional races, but we just haven't been up to par at the National Events this season. Our boys always step it up when it counts, and as far as races are concerned, it just doesn't get much bigger than "The Big Go". With Steve Boggs making the tuning calls, and Lew, Chris, Scott, Javier and Rick turning the wrenches this weekend, we'll look to continue to improve each pass and hopefully walk out of here with another Wally."

Team owner Rick Jackson, is also ready to get back to competing with the best-of-the-best in the highly competitive TAFC division at Indy with the new-look Centre Pointe Mustang. "This color scheme is something entirely different for our race team," noted Jackson. "The car looks fast with this solid color. Our crew has done a wonderful job getting the car ready to compete for the second half of our season, and nothing would make me happier than to return to our winning ways at Indy as we did in 2008."

-source: rick jackson racing