Phil Hutchison Drag Racing Action Online

Images  Bob Reed

After a week of rain brought by Hurricane Debby, racers and fans alike were watching the weather to see if Beaver Springs would hold the much-anticipated race on Saturday. By Friday evening the rain had left the area and Saturday was sunny with perfect conditions for a drag race.

The event included gassers, front motored dragsters and altereds, but the stars of the show ere the four Funny Cars the track brought in to headline the show.

Jon Wall was driving Ed Parkers’ Cape Codder, Drew Sweetman in the Frantic Ford Mustang, Rocky Pirrone in the Screamin Eagle Pontiac, and Chris Massarella behind the wheel of the Total Insanity Monza kept the fans on their feet with long smokey burnouts and dry hops.

All four cars made two passes for the crowd. Wall raced Rocky in R1 and laid down a 4.29 to Rocky’s 4.08. Sweetman put down a 4.46 to Massarella’s 4.33.

After a cool down period, all four were back at it on the track. Massarella ran a consistent 4.35 to Wall’s 4.12 and Rocky laid down a 4.15 to Sweetman’s 4.43.

After the race Rocky Pirrone said, “With my son Joey Pirrone doing the majority of the driving the past two seasons, it was neat for me to get some seat time behind the wheel of the Screamin Eagle. We made two solid hits, setting low ET of the day with a 4.08 we got two solid wins and had a great time racing at Beaver Springs.”

“I also did double duty making two passes in the Time Machine supercharged Willys before putting long time crew member and good friend John Signorelli in the seat for his first pass ever in a race car. John did awesome. Plans are to have John get his NHRA license by the end of the year.”

“John is now the 20th driver we have put in a Pirrone Race Team race car! Many have licensed and/or upgraded, others were already accomplished drivers that came on for numerous reasons. All did a great job.”

Another racer make test passes was New Jersey racer Frank Barnard. Barnard recently ungraded the power plant in his Arrow to a blown alcohol combo after years of running an injected setup. Barnard put down some 4.50’s in the car.

Dave Cressley was also on hand at Beaver putting some laps in the Hemi Hunter. Nostalgia Top Fuel car. The famous Chevy powered dragster had a new motor between the rails and threw the team a few curve balls.

“Not a good outing on Saturday,” Cressley, who has performed machine work on the car since the early 2000’s said.  “We have a new engine combination in it and it’s making a lot more power than our old motors, so we are trying to get a handle on it. It will come around.”

“What a great weekend,” track owner Mike McCracken said.  “We were so worried about mother nature, but we hung in there and had a fabulous  weekend. The Funny cars were spectacular long smokey burnouts and  lots of dry hops. 

“Rocky and his crew were awesome.  Put on a great show. Troy Liebi and crew were great as well. All the dragsters and funny cars part of a great show .   Mike Etchberger’s Willys wheelie was one of the best .  Mikey McCracken had the track on kill and my staff and crew did an awesome job getting  everything done to make a great show. Carylon Rhoads in the concession stand did a good job of feeding all the people. I’m very lucky to have one of the best crews in drag racing.”  

“New track owner Mike McCracken has done a great job of making improvements to the facility,” Chris Massarella, owner/driver of the Total Insanity car said.  “Adding shows to his schedule, like this Funny Car show, is a great step to reliving some of the history this track has with match racing.”