Capitol Raceway Event Results

No matter which facet of Drag Racing you gravitate towards, Nostalgia, Modern, Funny Car, Altered, Stick shift, competitive, exhibition, 1/4 mile or 1/8th mile etc…. On July 19th, 2014 at the NEW Capitol Raceway, Earth Shaking Entertainment along with Capitol Raceway put on a show that any and all would be proud to be a part of! You could feel it in the air…. On a beautiful sunny day, temps in the high 80’s and the weather station showing us at 1,700 feet, you had to know this was going to be a fantastic Event!

The first rigs started rolling in at 10:00 along with fans trickling in just as early. Round times were scheduled for 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm and the Finals at 9:00 pm. On hand for the first of TWO killer events this year at Capitol Raceway were TEN of the baddest show cars on the east coast, alongside two of the fastest Jet Funny Cars on Mother Earth! With only one objective on every teams mind…. ESE was going to SHAKE THE CAPITOL! East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame Inductees Bunny Burkett with the “Bunny and the Boys” 1978 Corvette being piloted by Matt Stambaugh and Bill Naves with “North Carolina’s Fastest Police Car” were in the lineup. Chris & Krista Massarella with the beautiful “Total Insanity” Monza, Bumbling Bob Toth in the Rocky Roxlau owned “Time Bomb” Vega, the “Young Lion” Mike Hall driving the Rocky Pirrone owned “Screaming Eagle” Firebird, Joe Morison in the ever consistent COPD Fiat Altered, “Hollywood” George Reidnauer in the Lou Sgro tuned “Excalibur” Corvette, Drew Sweetman in the “Sweetman Bros.” Chevy Citation flopper, John Headley in his “Thunder” Mustang Funny Car and ESE new comer John Hadyniak in his beautiful “HellBound” Extreme Blown Altered! Also on hand was Ken Hall piloting the “Top Secret” Jet Funny Car owned by East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame Inductee Al Hanna, along with Rich Hanna in the beautiful GoJo Jet Firebird funny Car! In attendance was Special Guest JUNGLE PAM! A huge treat and surprise for everyone at the track! To put on a show in front of an individual who helped create “The Show” was mind blowing!

This Event was run in 1/8th mile format Chicago Style. All teams would get two shots. The quickest two cars from those two rounds would go on to the Finals.

ESE wanted to start this show with HUGE burnouts and a close side by side race to grab the attention of the great fans at Capitol Raceway! It was a no brainer to line up Chris Massarella and Joe Morrison as the very first pair of show cars to christen the asphalt! Massarella treated the crowd to one of his signature ½ track plus burnouts to get things started with Morrison not trailing far behind. With the beautiful Krista handling back up girl duties for the “Total Insanity” Monza, both cars were backed to the starting line, with a couple dry hops into the beams the show was under way! Both cars left hard with Morrison taking an early lead. When the two hit the stripe it was the fiat altered taking round one with a 4.55 @ 148 MPH just barely holding off the hard charging 4.56 @ 153 MPH by Massarella!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VBHXszPm8o

ESE new comer John Hadyniak was up next to take on Drew Sweetman and his awesome Chevy Citation. The two rolled into the water box and as they started their burnouts, Sweetman’s car shut down just past the starting line. The citation was pushed back behind the water box and Hadyniak would have a solo. True to Altered form, “HellBound” left the starting line hard and drove into some gnarly tire shake that would move Hadyniak towards the left jersey barrier. After some great driving, only the left rear slick kissed the barrier and motored to a 7.274. “HellBound” would get another shot in the second round.



With all the friendly shots that George “Hollywood” Reidnauer and Rocky Pirrone took at each other on social media, it was only fitting that the two would go head to head in round one. Mike Hall, son of legendary owner / driver Harry Hall of Shenandoah fame was the hired gun in Pirrone’s “Screaming Eagle” Firebird. Reidnauer’s sleek Lou Sgro tuned vette sounded as if it were loaded for bear! Awesome side by side burnouts were complete and the two were backed up by a couple of beautiful back up girls. More old school dry hops to the beams and the two were staged. Both cars thundered off the line but it would be the “Eagle Slayer” Excalibur taking out Screaming Eagle and at the same time putting the field on notice with a monster 4.15 @ 174 MPH! Hall would run a tire shaking 4.41, still a stout pass that, for the time being, put both cars in the finals.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQJ8-119h3E

Up next would be the 2013 Event winner, Matt Stambaugh driving the legendary Bunny Burkett’s “Bunny and the Boys” ’78 vette up against 2013 Event Runner Up “Bumbling” Bob Toth in the Rocky Roxlau owned “Time Bomb” entry. This has been a great battle over the last year with two drivers that don’t know the word “lift”. After two impressive burnouts, the two were staged and the RPM’s were through the roof! Toth would shake off the line and recover quick, but it was Stambaugh crushing the field with a nasty 3.93 @ 184 MPH! Toth would break the beams with a solid 4.43 @ 158 MPH, but the Bunny Team had the fans on their feet with that first shot!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saH5OSO0VqA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsC9Lojq54U

The last pair of the round would be Drag Racing Journeyman Bill Naves in North Carolina’s Fastest Police Car “Extreme Pursuit”. Naves would take on fellow NHRA big show racer John Headley in his impressive 2003 Ford Mustang “Thunder” entry. Headley wanted to be a part of the show so bad, that he drove 13 hours from New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire Friday night to be at Capitol Raceway Saturday afternoon! These two are no strangers, meeting numerous times in competition. The blue lights were flashing and the siren was screaming as the two friends roasted the tires. After backing up, it was Headley staging first with Naves bumping in last. These two beasts exploded off the starting line with Headley covering the first 60’ in just .947 seconds! Naves was all over the “Thunder” entry and North Carolina’s Fastest Police car caught Headley at the stripe with a very clean 4.22 @ 169 MPH to Headley’s 4.38 @ just 124 MPH.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5PWGOfUmho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZauP0PJdIA

Just after the last pair of cars, Drew Sweetman in the Sweetman Bros. entry rolled back into the water box. Where many teams would have to pull their ride back to the pits after having the mag almost come off of the car in the burnout, experience and years in the sport allowed the team to tighten the mag, start their ride, adjust the timing in the water box and still make their first round pass! With all of this going on, Drew was still able to run a clean 4.89 @ 147.78 MPH! The commitment the team showed towards the event was awesome and appreciated by all!


To cap off the first round of show cars, Rich Hanna in the Gojo Jet Funny Car and Mike Hall in the “Top Secret” entry would both make single passes for the crowd. As usual they did not disappoint putting on a jet clinic with after burner pops and massive flames! It was Rich up first running a 5.78 @ 274 MPH, followed by team mate Hall giving the crowd a 5.79 @ 278 MPH!



After the dust settled, it was Stambaugh’s 3.93 and Reidnauer’s 4.15 as the two quickest times. Would these be the two teams in the finals?

Second Round started off just as the first round did. Morrison’s beautiful yellow Fiat Altered up against the “Total Insanity” entry of Chris Massarella. With the two running just one hundredth of a second apart first round, we would have been foolish not to pair them up again! Two nasty burnouts down, the two then staged them up. Morrison was out first and never looked back with the events first hole shot win! The COPD Fiat would run a slower but winning time of 4.75 @ 129 MPH to the quicker but loosing time of 4.71 @ 149 MPH! Another very tight race between two beautiful Nostalgia rides!



The next pair would pit “Excalibur” against “Time Bomb”. Both had impressive numbers first rd, but it was Reidnauer with that 4.15 that let everyone know he wasn’t there to just look good, he was there to race! These two teams always put on a killer show. Two side by side killer burnouts and the “Time Bomb” licking flames out of the headers! The two staged and when the tree dropped it was Toth with a huge starting line advantage! In the events 2nd hole shot victory of the night, Toth bettered his first round time of a 4.43 to a very game 4.19 @ 171 MPH! But it was “Excalibur” who would still have bragging rights running another stellar 4.15 at 171 MPH! Hollywood was still qualified for the finals with just two pairs left to try and take him out!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPmpMhffprA

Matt Stambuagh, who in the first round had the field by almost two tenths, was up again. This time taking on Mike Hall in the “Screaming Eagle”. Burnouts were complete, would the runs be just as impressive? The two were out of the gate side by side as Stambaugh pulled away with another very impressive 4.05 @ 179 MPH! But the story here was Mike Hall, thundering to a career best 4.147 second elapsed time @ 173 MPH which would better Reidnauer’s time by just one hundredth of a second and now put Mike Hall in the running for a final round spot with just two cars left in the second round!



Last pair up in the second round would pit Extreme Blown Altered versus Extreme Blown Altered with “HellBound” taking on “Extreme Pursuit”! These two beautiful Altereds roasted the tires and were ready for battle when the tree came down! It was Naves out first with a great .974 60’ time and he never looked back! Hadyniak drove into some tire shake, but North Carolina’s Fastest Police Car was on a run! When the smoked cleared Naves’, with flashing lights and siren clicked off a 4.146 elapsed time at 172.59 MPH! The time would better Mike Hall’s time of 4.147 by just one thousandth of a second and would sneak Naves into the finals against fellow Hall of Famer Bunny Burkett and driver Matt Stambaugh!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1LP9kOPsOI

Finishing up the second round of the show cars would feature a head to head Jet Funny Car race between Rich Hanna in the GoJo Firebird against Ken Hall in the one of a kind “Top Secret” Jet Funny Car! After burner pops filled the air and the flame show was on as these two machines inched towards the staging beams. Once all staged up these two monsters crushed the quarter mile running one of the closest Jet races ever seen as Hanna took the win with a 5.775 @ 274.61 MPH to Hall’s 5.776 @ 277.94 MPH! It was incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfs-qxyAWVI&list=UUABt9Mp5l-3Os2euN-s7dgQ&index=12

After the second round, Naves would find he had oil pressure issues with the “Extreme Pursuit” machine, and though not wanting to disappoint the crowd, the decision was made to forgo the finals to keep from hurting the car before the issue was resolved. That put the hired gun, Mike Hall in the amazing “Screaming Eagle” entry into the Finals with the dominant “Bunny and the Boys “ entry piloted by Matt Stambaugh. You had that feeling in the air again, that feeling that the finals were going to be no different than what the show had brought all day long…. An AWESOME show! Hall in the left lane, Stambaugh in the right. They kicked things off in the only style they both know, massive burnouts past half track! Stambaugh’s vette sounded awesome and Hall’s ride cackled flames out the headers while it back up to the starting line. Most had their money on the Burkett entry as it had dominated this great field throughout the event. Did Hall stand any chance at becoming the Event Champion? We would soon find out! Both drivers were pre-staged, then staged. The Burkett car was screaming on the line but it would be “The Young Lion” Mike Hall out first with a small starting line advantage! Hall shook just enough to have to pedal once, and just when you though Stambaugh, the reigning event Champion was going to take two in a row, his ’78 vette drove into its own tire shake! A short pedal fest by both drivers and both cars were back in the race! Stambaugh was reeling in the Pontiac but it would not be enough as Mike Hall, the hired gun driving Rocky Pirrone’s “Screaming Eagle” entry would be the first to the stripe in a very exciting 4.72 @ 162.90 MPH WIN over a very game 4.77 @ 166 MPH!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajSHMS-dpz0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVAtEyOlH2Q&list=UUABt9Mp5l-3Os2euN-s7dgQ

This was by far one of the best events Earth Shaking Entertainment had the pleasure to be a part of! There were compliments throughout the day and evening about how great the show was, how great the cars and the teams were and how it looked like the Capitol Raceway of old! One fan said that Earth Shaking Entertainment brought back the old Capitol Raceway on this great night, but he was quickly corrected when we told him that ESE was just lucky to be a part of what track operator Jim Bradshaw, his incredible staff and ownership had brought back to Capitol!


A great track, superior track personnel and some of the greatest fans in the business! We will be back at Capitol on October 18th, 2014 with what hopes to be an even larger show than this! Will the NEW Event Champion be back in the saddle to defend his crown? Or will there be a new dog in this fight shooting for the win? We hope to see you there in just a few months to find out!

Special thanks to Capitol Raceway, Jim Bradshaw and his great crew, the owners who help keep this track alive, the great teams that showed their support and really did all of our work for us, and the videographers and photogs that bring these post race reports alive!
Steve Reece – Edge of Speed Productions, Kristen Woods, Sargeant Mofo, Dan Moore, Michael Rabenau, Jason Higgins, SS Nova Joe and crew and the many more that helped capture the action!

Some great video of all the teams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_9GrCXudc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od9MveqQgSw&list=UUABt9Mp5l-3Os2euN-s7dgQ