Capitol Raceway Nostalgia Funny Car Thriller RESULTS!

WoW...... I think those three letters really sum up a spectacular show! The 2nd Annual Funny Car Thriller at The NEW Capitol Raceway was billed to the max and would not disappoint! Jimmy Bradshaw and the crew at Capitol Raceway gave us a great track to perform on! The facility was beautiful, the fans were very interactive and appreciative as they stood up and cheered as the teams passed the grand stands on the return road after each pass! Just stepping back and checking out the pits really brought you back in time! We had TWELVE Earth Shakers lined up against the same fence all parked next to each other! Just seeing so many beautiful machines together on the same property was impressive in its self!

Earth Shaking Entertainment and Steve Musser would put together a $200 burnout contest. All teams were aware that the contest didn't start until 2nd round, but that would not be holding many of them back! Who would take the 2014 Event Championship? Who would win the burnout contest?

1/8th mile -vs- 1/4 mile controversy? Not here folks! With TWELVE teams to battle it out we made TWENTY TWO passes and all but FOUR were in the 4 second zone and the others in the 5 second range mostly due to tire shake! Not one driver abandoned a run with every car at full throttle through the lights!

The sun was out, the teams were in place and the fans were in the stands! Then.... Here came the Earth Shakers!!!!!!

We had very little wind for first round which started at 2:00pm. The air was sick! We were at -350 feet of air when rolling up to the staging lanes! The scene was set for some really exciting match ups! First to bring the fans to their feet would be none other than Chris Massarella in his show quality Monza "Total Insanity" up against past NETO Champion and DRIVE 4 COPD team owner and driver Joe Morrison in his mean '38 Fiat Altered! Massarella was up on the tires first and setting the bar high with his signature 1/8th mile burnout! Morrison wasn't to be showed up as he also laid some impressive rubber down to kick off the show! Straight out of the 70's we had Fan favorite Back Up Girl and Funny Car Pilot Krista Massarella back her husband to the line. The two machines rolled forward with Massarella chirping the tires with some killer dry hops! The two rolled in to the beams and when the lights came down it was Morrison out first and he would not be looking back with a stout 4.55 @ 149 MPH! Massarella was not too far behind with a wild 5.66 @ 148 MPH! Chris blazed the tires off the starting line trying to lay down the days first big number! Total Insanity looked like a bucking bronco but Massarella would ride it out and just about chase down Morrison! What a way to start the show!


Next up would be the only Injected Funny Car in the show with Frank Barnard's beautiful "Poison Arrow" entry up against the only female driver of the event in Bobbie Leigh Sweatland and her gorgeous 1971 Dodge Demon "Lil Miss Behavior"! The pair rolled through the water box side by side with Frank taking his burnout just a bit further than Bobbie! The two made their way back to the line with Barnard being escorted by a beautiful Back Up Girl of his own and then the two rolled into the beams! In the first rounds closest finish, Lil Miss Behavior would take the win light with a hole shot victory! A 5.00 to Barnard's 4.94 made for an incredible side by side race!




Third pair was one of the most beautiful rides on the property in John Cerchio's "War Path" Buick Regal! Lined up in the left lane would be George Reidnauer's slammed corvette "Excaliber" tuned by Alcohol Funny Car driver turned tuner Lou Sgro! Cerchio would give the fans a little more than even they asked for when in the middle of his burnout the "War Path" entry hooked up and slammed into the right retaining wall! The damage was minor and John was o.k. so he limped his machine down the track and made way for Reidnauer who was about to show the rest of the field who the possible King of this field was! "Excaliber's" motor came up and the tree came down! Reidnauer was on a tear with a .996 60' time! His beast would trip the beams with a MASSIVE 4.06 @ 177.53 MPH!!!! Everyone standing behind the car knew it was on a run when she got up on the tires and kept trucking! An awesome pass for a great group and an eye opener for the rest of the field!


Having to run behind such an impressive ET would be tough, but Nostalgia Funny Car pilots Rocky Pirrone in the "Screaming Eagle" Trans Am and Bob Toth driving Rocky Roxlau's "Time Bomb" Vega were up for the challenge! Another side by side burnout with the two fish tailing almost to the 1/8th mile mark! The crowd was treated to side by side back up girls as well! When Rocky and Bob rolled into the beams you knew this was going to be two heavy hitters going at it! The lights came down and it was Toth ripping that vega to a 4.223 @ 167 MPH! Pirrone was right there and kept it interesting running a 4.456 @ 155.90 MPH! This would be the Eagles only pass of the day as the motor went south and hurt itself just in the lights!



Next pair up would be the legendary Bunny Burkett's 1978 Corvette driven by well known Nostalgia Funny Car pilot Matt Stambaugh and NHRA's own John Headly who would be piloting Jim Danko's mean '69 Mustang! Stambaugh would not be outdone this round in the burnout.... The pink corvette was burning rubber well past the 1/8th mile marker in its first appearance of the day! The fans went nuts and excitement was in the air after both machines were backed up and ready to roll! When the tree came down the two left with almost identical reaction times but it would be Matt Stambaugh ripping a round low ET 4.03 @ 185 MPH! Headley would drive into some tire shake but stood back on her to hit the strip with a rumbling 4.64!



Last pair up in the first round would be Journeyman Alcohol Funny Car racer Bill Naves in his wild BK Rodz '34 Coupe "Extreme Pursuit"! North Carolina's fastest Police Car is up against 2013 Event Champion Kim McKean and his beautiful "Agent Orange" Duster! With all the huge burnouts, Naves would go back to his roots and lay down an 1/8th mile burnout of his own with flashing LED's and Police siren wailing! Kim McKean was right behind him with an impressive burnout! When the two rolled into the beams it was evident that McKean could NOT see the ambers due to the glare of the sun. Naves would stage and go up in immediate tire shake but would not be throwing in the towel! After a quick pedal job the '34 Coupe would still run a sideways 4.95 @ 145 MPH! As soon as "Extreme Pursuit" was off the track McKean would again roll into the beams and lay down one of the rounds quickest times with a 4.226 @ 161 MPH!



Two of Al Hanna's Jet Funny cars would run right behind the group of Funny Cars. The Jets as always were awesome, clocking 1/4 mile times in the 5.70 at 280 + MPH range! 1st round was in the books, and the Earth Shakers would be turning their rides around ASAP!



2nd round would start at around 3:45. The air was getting a little cooler and the track surface a little colder. The two quickest ET's from either round would be going to the finals. With George Reidnauer in the show as the fastest alternate with his 4.06, he had a strong chance if he laid down another number as a show car! Stambaugh's 4.03 had to be considered a favorite as well as Toths 4.223 and McKean's 4.226!

Out the gate first for round two would be Frank Barnard and Bobbie Leigh! The Poison Arrow and Lil Miss behavior would step up their burnouts from first round and really drag them out! The cars looked great and just when we thought no race would be any closer than their first round meeting, Barnard would take the stripe with a 4.95 @ 137 MPH to Lil Miss Behavior's 4.98 @ 140 MPH! It was side by side the entire 1/8th mile and had the fans on their feet!



Next up was Chris Massarella and Joe Morrison. Chris made a 2nd round statement with his burnout while the Total Insanity screamed to a full 1/8th mile burnout! The fans cheered their appreciation and the two would roll into the beams. It was close when the tree came down, Massarella would drive through some tire shake and try to chase down the '38 Fiat of Morrisons! It was another very close race with The DRIVE 4 COPD Altered taking his second win light of the night with a consistent 4.54 @ 150 MPH!



Third pair would be two of the quickest cars from first round! Bob Toth, 2012 runner up at this event would take on the 2012 Event Champion in Kim McKean! McKean surprised the crowd with his own full 1/8th mile burnout that put him in the running for best burnout right along side of Chris Massarella. After the two backed up and rolled into the beams the fans would be treated to an old school pedal fest! Both cars had a little more than the rapidly cooling track seemed to be able to hold! It would be Toth taking this win light with a wild 4.60 to Mckean's 5.57!




4th pair would pit George Reidnauers awesome corvette against John Cerchio's "War Path"! The engines were screaming in the burnouts with the Excaliber even getting a small wince from tuner Sgro as the motor went sky high for just a second! The fans loved every minute of it! When the two backed up and staged it would be Excaliber out first but would drive into some nasty tire shake! As Cerchio zipped through with a 4.82 @ 139 MPH the show was just behind him with the Excaliber doing everything it could to lay down another low ET. It wasn't to be this run, with the car sideways at one point taking out a timing cone! The ET not as impressive as the 1st rounds, but the show was amazing!



When Stambaugh started up during the next pair, John Headly would run into problems. The "Thunder" Mustang just would not light so it would be Matt on a single. He would use this to his advantage laying down the largest burnout of the night well past the 1/8th mile SIDEWAYS and getting his corvette stopped just before the 1/4 mile cones. After a long trip back to the starting line Bunny Burketts team had something special for the fans THUNDERING to low ET of the event 4.01 at 180 MPH! The car would actually shake the tires a bit and break the blower belt before the stripe and was just off the 1/8th mile track record of a 3.98!


With Pirrone out for the night, Naves would get a single in the last run in the 2nd round! Having more than enough power to get into the finals, he had to run quicker than the impressive 4.223 of Bob Toth. Naves would again look to his inner showman and put up a great 1/8th mile burnout for the fans! With lights flashing and siren screaming the tree came down and Naves immediately ran into tire shake again! But Naves would man handle North Carolina's Fastest Police Car and after another great pedal job rumbled to a 4.71 @ 171 MPH!


Another great round was in the books and the Finals were set! Matt Stambaugh in Bunny Burkett's beautiful '79 Corvette would take on 2012 Runner up Bob Toth in Rocky Roxlau's "Time Bomb" Vega!


The finals were held at around 6:00 pm. The sun had gone down and track temps were in the 45* zone! There was a buzz in the air and many figured this would be a wild pedaling show to the finish line! These two Drag Racing Warriors would NOT disappoint! The vette laid down another impressive burnout but the fans and the announcer were all pointing to and talking about the three foot flame show popping out the headers of the "Time Bomb" Vega! Using a little Rocky Pirrone magic, the fans could care less about the fuel in the tank and more about how cool of a show they were witnessing! Two of the quickest teams on the property were rolling into the beams, Stambaughs vette was screaming and the "Time Bomb" was licking the night sky with its fire show! The tree came down and the two launched hard!!!! Both drivers were fighting tire shake and pedaling the entire 1/8th mile! Bob Toth would kill another timing cone as he dipped into Stambaugh's lane but corrected while Stambaugh was out front and took the 2013 Event Championship with a WILD 4.45 to Toth’s losing 4.77 in one of the craziest rounds of the event!





The fans were awesome, the track and track personnel were second to NONE!

With a great event, even in the cooler weather, ESE hopes to bring this show TWICE to Capitol in 2014! A Spring show and a Fall show for the 3rd Annual Funny Car Thriller!

ESE could not thank the track, track personnel, photogs, fans and all of our teams for an amazing Event enough. Without them this "rain date" never would have been as successful as it turned out to be! Keep posted for exciting news and Event dates for the upcoming 2014 season!

Jagger Naves
Earth Shaking Entertainment

Photo Credits to Blue ridge Pictures, Edge of Speed and Dan Moore!

For more photos or to buy prints go to:

http://drchop.smugmug.com/

http://blueridgepictures.com/sports2/index.php/2013-Photo-Galleries/CapitolCity