They say records can’t be set in testing, and they would be right. But then, that’s all dependent on the record in question.

Last weekend, reigning and four-time NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car national champion Sean Bellemeur piloted Bartone Bros. Racing’s brand new injected nitro car to the quickest and fastest pass in drag racing history by a non-supercharged, wheel-driven Funny Car in pre-season testing at the Gainesville Raceway.

Bellemeur, in the very first outing with the new combination, clocked a stunning 5.288 at 283.49 mph — 0.064 quicker than his own 5.352-second all-time NHRA national record with his supercharged alcohol combination.

The Killer B’s (The Bartone brothers, crew chief Steve Boggs, and Bellemeur) are going for a fifth championship with the new Murf McKinney-built car and engine combination that they’ve coined “Black Pearl.” The team will run a combination of the injected nitro engined car in Top Alcohol Funny Car as well as their supercharged alcohol entry throughout the season at select events. Beyond the potential performance advantage of the combination, the team also pursued the package as a more cost efficient alternative to blown alcohol.

Bellemeur, also a 27-time regional and 43-time national event winner, is looking forward to the new challenge the A/Fuel combination presents.

“There are a couple reasons for building the injected nitro package in Top Alcohol Funny Car,” Bellemeur says. “The first is Steve Boggs. He has decades of experience tuning this combination, so to apply it to a Funny Car is an exciting challenge for him and a potential performance advantage. At 81 years old it’s really cool to see him excited about this project. The second reason is simply performance. Tony has assembled a race team with the expectation of winning and we need to at least try this combination to see if there is an advantage.”

“NHRA’s rules will only allow us to switch combinations so many times so we’re going to build a game plan after testing and see what will give us the best chance for winning. It’s hard to walk away from the alcohol car that we were so successful with over the past couple of seasons, so it’s sitting there ready to go if needed,” Bellemeur explains.

“The injected nitro package will present some new challenges in the driver’s seat because of the different routine that is needed and I’m excited for that this season,” he continues. “However, there’s nothing quite like revving up a blown alcohol engine, dumping the clutch, banging a gear at 10,000 rpm, and then doing it again. Either way, I’m excited to get back to work with the team and venturing through this new combination.”

“I think once you see a few more injected nitro cars come out the floodgates will open and you’ll start seeing a lot more. I really feel that if we are are successful with this engine package and as more knowledge is obtained, people will begin to see the benefits of running that combination and more cars will be built. As they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,”Bellemeur says.

Drag racing veteran Tony Bartone, who has been in the sport for almost three decades as a driver and owner, has the team focused on the new challenge.

“As a driver I moved up the NHRA ranks all the way to the Top Fuel Funny Car class,” Bartone says. “Each step took some adjustment on my part. The team we have assembled, with Steve tuning the car, Sean driving, and our dedicated crew gives us the best opportunity to roll out this new package. I hope it will ‘inject’ some more excitement into the category and together, with the NHRA, we can grow this class and draw out more competition. Like Sean said, we still have the Top Alcohol Funny Car with the supercharger that we know so well.”

In the Gainesville test, Bellemeur smoked the tires on the first attempt, and had the car shut off at about 150 feet on its second lap. The third run, a planned 1,00-foot shutoff, produced a 5.41 at 247 mph. The following day’s run was a tire-smoker, but on Sunday afternoon the car made its first pull through the lights, a 5.34 at 280 mph. Boggs and company cleaned up the tune for the final run, the 5.28 at 283.

NHRA rules permit one engine platform/combination change per season without penalty. Additional engine platform/combination changes are allowed during the season, with 20 points deducted from the competitor’s total for each additional engine platform/
combination change.

The NHRA incorporated the A/Fuel injected nitro combination into the Top Alcohol Funny Car ruleset beginning in 2023; the combination has been slow to gain participation, with Mick Steele and Anthony Dicero’s Funny Car driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. largely carrying the flag.

Steele has led the way in performance thus far with a 5.459 — a number the Killer B’s look plenty capable of supplanting as the 2025 season begins.