Easter Sunday Funny Car Showdown RESULTS!

April 5, 2015 Easter Sunday, in the small town of Waynesboro, Virginia, the historic Eastside Dragway would put on its 51st Easter Sunday Funny Car Showdown, and folks…. They would NOT disappoint!

Gary Gore was back behind the reigns in a managerial position and he brought with him one of the most successful shows to date at this old track! With beautiful weather clear and in the 70’s, the THOUSANDS in attendance were ready for the 2015 year to kick off and the Earth Shakers of Earth Shaking Entertainment aimed to please! This would be a two round event, with the TWO quickest cars from first round, meeting in the second round as the FINALS.

SIX Earth Shakers were on the property and all were ready to battle! Who was going to come out on top of this annual showdown of horsepower? 2014 Event Champion Matt Stambaugh was ready and willing to take on all challengers in one of Bunny Burkett’s Dodge Avenger bodied floppers! Also in the lineup would be Eastside new comers Chris & Krista Masserella with the always entertaining “Total Insanity” Monza, the Jon Wall driven, Paul Zona owned “Danger Zone” Vega, the wild “Screaming Eagle” Trans Am owned and driven by Rocky Pirrone, North Carolina’s Fastest Police Car “Extreme Pursuit” piloted by journeyman Alcohol Funny Car driver Bill Naves, and newly licensed Top Fuel Dragster driver Gary “LB” Pritchett would be handling the driving in Bunny and the Boys 2nd Dodge Avenger Funny Car entry! Great weather, Great line up, HERE CAME THE EARTH SHAKERS!

“Total Insanity” and “Danger Zone” would open up the show with side by side 1/8th mile burnouts! Just as stunning as these two gorgeous machines would be their beautiful Back Up Girls! Krista Masserella would back up “Total Insanity” while rocking some festive bunny ears, and Maura McGonigle of Maura’s Embroidery Unlimited would do the honors of backing up one of the sickest nostalgia Vega’s on the planet! Old school dry hops to the beams, both men staged, the lights dropped and the two were off! Masserella would take the first victory of the day with a super tight 4.719 @ 150 MPH to Jon Walls 4.799! For those looking for a quality, nostalgic, side by side Funny Car experience….. THERE IT WAS! An awesome way to start the Event!






Next up would feature 2014 Event Champion Matt Stambaugh in the always competitive Bunny and the Boys Dodge Avenger entry taking on Rocky Pirrone in his tough 1977 Trans Am “Screaming Eagle”! Stambaugh would bring the fans to their feet with a monster smokey 1/8th mile burnout through the lights! Pirrone would run into some technical difficulties after his own burnout and the car was shut down. This meant Stambaugh would be on a solo run as soon as Pirrone cleared the track. Stambaugh would be a little hotter on the line than usual, by the time he swapped feet, the Bunny and the Boys Dodge Avenger would drive into some helmet rattling tire shake and muster a 5.42 run.






Rounding out the first round would be Bunny Burkett’s godson, Gary “LB” Pritchett. LB had just licensed in his wife’s (Leah Pritchett) Gumout / Dote Racing Top Fuel Dragster the week before in Charlotte North Carolina at Zmax Dragway. LB would take on North Carolina’s Fastest Police Car “Extreme Pursuit” owned and driven by veteran driver Bill Naves. “Extreme Pursuit” rolled through the water box and struck the tires with flashing lights and siren whaling! LB was right beside him as the too laid down some heavy rubber! After backing up and being rolled into the staging beams the motors screamed, when the lights came down both men blistered off the starting line as Pritchett took a commanding holeshot advantage! Naves had to pedal his beast once and valiantly gave chase but would not be able to overtake LB in the lights. Pritchett would take this round with an impressive 4.19 @ 173 MPH! Pritchett’s holeshot secured the win, but Bill Naves would put the field on notice with his LOW ET of the round, a 4.14 at 174 MPH! This meant that Gary “LB” Pritchett would again meet Bill Naves in the Finals as the two had the quickest ET’s of the round. The Young Lion - vs - The Experienced Veteran and Hall of Famer! This was going to be awesome!






Just when we thought 1st round was over, Rocky Pirrone rolled the “Screaming Eagle” Trans Am back around to the starting line refusing to only get a burnout first round. He came to give the fans a show and that he did! With a single pass Rocky would leg it out in the burnout. Back at the starting line and creeping into the beams, the tree dropped and the “Screaming Eagle” danced to a stout 4.47! The round was now finished and the 2nd round was set!




2nd round was again opened up with the East Coast Nostalgia teams of Chris Masserella and Paul Zona. With Jon Wall handling driver duties for the “Danger Zone”, as expected we had two killer side by side burnouts! More old school dry hops thrilled the packed house! This would be another great side by side race with Masserella out first and taking the win with a 4.68 @ 151 MPH to Walls close 4.81 @ 149 MPH! These two teams are a couple of the cleanest out there and Eastside was stoked to have them on board this year for this great event!






Next pair up would be Pirrone and Stambaugh. Though Stambaugh would not take back to back event championships, he was ready to show the fans why Bunny and The Boys are fan favorites! With another pair of side by side burnouts, the two were ready to get it on! With the legendary Bunny Burkett on the starting line cheering on her driver, the two floppers exploded off the starting line with Stambaugh driving through tire shake but never quitting! The Bunny and the Boys Dodge Avenger would take the win with a 4.32 @ 174 MPH! Luckily there was no rear view mirror in Stambaugh’s ride, as he would have seen the “Screaming Eagle” chasing him down…. In the SAME LANE! Pirrone would drive into some impressive tire shake as the car darted across the center line into Stambaugh’s lane well behind the round winner! Not a great number but Pirrone gave the fans another wild ride to jump out of their seats for!







The Finals were set. Both teams pulled into the water box and geared up for a great final round. They were given the signal and both beasts roared to life. Rolling through the water then lighting the tires up! You could hear “Extreme Pursuits” Police siren over the 3,000 horsepower engines! Bill Naves was ready to law down the Bunny and the Boys entry, but LB Pritchett is deadly on the tree and is driving one of the baddest match race cars on the east coast over the past 15 years! The two inched into the beams,

PRE-STAGE…. STAGE…..

Both Earth Shakers left hard and left strong! Pritchett again had the starting line advantage in his Dodge Avenger Funny Car but Naves was not going to be denied on this day! With fans on their feet, Naves would rumble down the 1/8th mile in his ’34 Coupe setting low ET of the Event with a monster 4.10 and top speed of the event at 176 MPH ( just 9 hundredths off the current track record held by Jim Dickey 4.01). Pritchett made a race of it running a 4.36 at just 157 MPH as his machine was edging ever closer to the grass to the left of his lane!








When it was all said and done, the fans got more than their money’s worth. The Gore’s put on an amazing event along with Earth Shaking Entertainment. The stands were over flowing with appreciative fans that let the teams hear it throughout the day! This event was made possible by an excellent group of track employees. With a few upgrades the Gore’s made before the event, and even more to follow, Eastside Speedway will again be one of the go to dragstrips on the East Coast today!

ESE would like to thank all of our teams, their crew, the track and their employees and most importantly the FANS for helping us put on such a great show! Thank you for allowing us to live the dream!

We would also like to give a huge thanks to Blue Ridge Pictures for the great coverage!

JAGGER NAVES
www.EARTHSHAKINGENTERTAINMENT.com

 

Nice write-up Jagger, really puts you there.