(By Jason Mazzotta) – The Shakedown at E-town was always an event that the racing world kept their eyes on; for the record runs, giant wheelies, and some of the most unbelievable wrecks ever seen. It is safe to say it was one of the most exciting races of the year. One of the fan favorite classes was Heavy Street which came from a similar rules package created at the Orlando World Street Nationals. The class saw big tire steel cars weighing over 3,200 pounds, with single power adders and no Pro Mod type cars allowed which made for an entertaining and all around cool class with the cars running in the low 7-second zone and even dipping into the 6’s.

In 2009 the competition in Heavy Street was stiff with many purpose built Heavy Street cars including; Sam Gottier’s nitrous Chevelle and Gary Naughton’s blown Camaro, but Mitch George driving Jack Boar’s Monte Carlo had other plans for the Heavy Street field that year. After strongly qualifying tenth in a thirty-two car field George made his way to the fifth and final round of the race.

As the cars staged and the tree dropped both cars were gone with fire filling the pipes as nitrous fed the engines. At about half track John Carinci had to abort the run and was disqualified after crossing the outer boundary. (Brian note: Ahhh… the famed E-Town outer boundary line. Years ago when the track was updated at Englishtown they paved it, on purpose, wider than NHRA specs so that they could hold swap meets on it. Because of that there are outer boundary lines which you cannot cross. These are a good 5-6ft from the wall but it is a no-no to go out there.) But George who unknowingly had just won the race was still full throttle through 1000 feet where his engine started trailing smoke. Just before the finish line George lost control and went through the lights sideways, eventually rolling the car and coming to a stop on all fours. After exiting the car he was able to get back to the starting line to gather the trophy and big check which went all back into fixing the car.

Check out the win, wreck, and mixed emotions from the winners circle interview with Mitch George in multiple angles below: