Earth Shaking Entertainment - Easter Results - Track Record Broken! Naves Crashes

April 4th 2010 East Side Dragway - Waynesboro, Virginia:

Warm temperatures and clear blue skies greeted Sunday’s near record crowd in attendance at Eastside Speedway for the 45th annual Coors Funny Car Classic.

After a quick round of eliminations for the regular Eastside point racers, the Coors Classic Funny Cars were called to staging. The legendary Bunny Burkett was the first to make her way into the burnout area while her opponent Jim Dickey took his spot along side Burkett in his 23- T Altered. Burkett left hard and had to pedal through tire shake but managed a 4.31 second pass while Jim Dickey lost traction shortly after leaving the line and was forced to let out and coasted to the finish line.

Up next was Dave Wilcox in the “Dirty Bird” took the win in the Jr’s Tire Center lane running a 4.70 against Delbert White who had to abort his run because of Tire Shake.

“Lil Bear” Pritchett wheeling Bunny Burkett’s second Funny Car lined up next to face Bill Naves and his Shooting Star entry. Pritchett launched first and got a slight advantage, which turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. Shortly after passing the end of the starting line guardrail which houses the starting light, Naves car tracked left and once in the grass lost control sending him towards the guard rail. Naves car hit the grass and smashed into the large mound of earth that begins the stock car oval. Naves car jumped high into the air kicking up clouds of dirt and dust and almost flipping the car. He then landed hard back onto the drag strip and headed toward the opposing lane. He was able to get the car back into his lane but the car slammed hard into the guardrail and finally coasted to a stop just past the finish line. Track workers rushed to the car where Naves informed them that he was ok but very disappointed. “ I just wanted to put on a good show”, Naves said as he climbed out the roll cage. One of the track workers replied, “You did do that” as Naves looked at his wrecked car with dismay. A shaken Bunny Burkett made her way to Naves and the pair of friends hugged as the crowd watched on.

After a few rounds of competition racing for the Eastside drivers, the Funny Cars made their way back to the starting line for their final matches of the day. Dave Wilcox made a bye pass after Naves car was to badly damaged to return. Wilcox did a sick 1/8th mile burnout and had the crowd going crazy!

It was then that the Eastside crowd stood to watch Jim Dickey in his 1923 Altered Roadster set a new track record. Dickey Launched his Keith Black Hemi powered Roadster. The crowd stood as Dickey stopped the timing light at a new track record pass of 4.012 seconds at only 161.1 mph. Dickeys computer showed that he lost his coil wire at 3.05 seconds into the run. He was flying! Delbert White again struggled with tire shake but made up for it with his monster burnouts!

The match everyone was waiting for finally took center stage as Gary “Lil Bear” Pritchett lined up in the Jr’s lane while Bunny Burkett took her favorite lane in the Coors Light lane. Following Pritchett’s very impressive burnout, Bunny Burkett once again wowed the crowd with one of her famous full eighth mile burnouts. As the lights dropped on the tree, the race was decided at the starting line as Bunny Burkett showed why she was former IHRA World Champion as she left before Pritchett and gained an immediate advantage. Although Pritchett did a great job of playing catch up, it was Bunny Burkett tripping the win light with a 4.36 second run at 169.5 mph. The stands erupted in applause as Burkett crossed the line for the win. Pritchett ran a quicker 4.29 second pass at 173 mph in a losing effort.

All in all it was a great weekend. I want to thank everyone who has called and emailed about Dad. He is a bit sore but otherwise o.k. The same can't be said for the car though. Wish us luck. We really don't know what the future holds right now.

Pics from the weekend (includes crash):


http://eastsidespeedway.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=95362&g2_page=14



http://eastsidespeedway.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=95362&g2_page=15