Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 98

STEVE BOGGS
SINCE WINNING HIS FIRST NHRA
NATIONAL EVENT WALLY WITH BARTONE
AND BOGGS IN 2015, SEAN BELLEMEUR
HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST FEARED
DRIVERS IN TA/FC WITH 14 NATIONAL
EVENT VICTORIES TO HIS NAME.
going to do this anymore.’ Somebody went and
told Tony and Michael [Bartone], ‘Hey, Boggs is
looking for a job.’ I didn’t know them before then.
They had fired their crew chief a couple weeks
before that and were racing two cars, so I went
over and talked to them, and I ended up going
to work for them.”
Bartone and Boggs haven’t been glued together
over the years, but they always seem to find their
way back to racing together.
“We’ve stayed best friends forever,” Boggs says.
“Tony had a good saying when I first went to work
for him. He said, ‘You tune it, I’ll drive it.’ I never
got into his driving, and he doesn’t tell me how to
tune one thing. He doesn’t tell me anything, win,
lose, or draw. It’s worked out well for us.”
When Bartone tapped Bellemeur to fill in for
Mickey Ferro as a driver for one race, it swiftly
proved to be an excellent decision. In 2015 at
the NHRA FallNationals in Dallas, Bellemeur
drove the Boggs-tuned Bartone Bros. Top Alcohol
Funny Car to the first NHRA national event win
of his career in his seventh final round.
West Coast drag racer Bellemeur had been
piloting an alcohol Funny Car for more than a
decade before that Dallas event, racing with his
father Gregg and a few others, but his comfort
in the seat and chemistry with Boggs and the
Bartone Bros. team was glowingly evident from
the moment he walked into the pit.
“I didn’t really know Sean, but I watched him
drive a lot. I watch everybody,” Boggs says. “I
could tell, this kid’s a natural. He’s one of the
best, and that’s why we can win a lot. It isn’t just
the crew chief or the owner or the driver or the
crew – it takes all four of those things, and you
better all be on the same wavelength.
“Sean is a fantastic driver. When I miss the
tune-up, he saves me. When he misses a little
something, I save him. It’s give and take, but I
probably miss more than he does.”
They raced off and on together over the next
couple of seasons, with Bellemeur winning again
in Dallas in 2016 then picking up two more tro-
phies (Chicago and Reading) in 2017. When the
group committed to the full season last year, their
magic as a team culminated in the 2018 Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car
championship.
When they clinched the season title at the fall
race in Charlotte, Bellemeur was rightfully elated.
“The team that Tony Bartone put together, he
deserves to be a champion,” Bellemeur said at the
top end after winning his quarterfinals match
with DJ Cox to lock the title. “I’m just a kid from
California that loves to drive Funny Cars, and I
was lucky enough for him to pick me. I just try
to keep it between the guard rails, because Steve
Boggs makes that rocket go fast every time. It’s
such a pleasure to drive for them.”
It was Bogg’s seventh NHRA championship,
between NHRA’s Heritage and Lucas Oil series,
and he isn’t looking to quit any time soon. He’s
just as dialed in as ever.
“My wife will say, ‘What are you doing? You’ve
been looking at that book and writing stuff down
for days.’ I tell her I have to stay on top of it, be-
cause those young kids will go around you if you
don’t,” Boggs states with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Racing is a roller coaster. There are highs and
lows, and you have to be tough and hang in there
when it’s not good. You never have it perfect, but
I still go home every night and get that book out
and see how I can make it better. That’s what I’m
going to do for as long as I can.”
The respect that Boggs has earned over the
years is stated best by his most recent student.
“You just close your mouth and open your
ears,” says Bellemeur. “Everything Steve Boggs
says, there’s meaning behind it, and you’ll learn
something if you pay attention. He’s the most
methodical man I’ve ever met in my life, and he
is such a great teacher. He makes the car easy to
drive, he’s a professional, he’s a champion, and
he goes for the home run every time. I love that
about him.”
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Issue 148