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 MECHANICSVILLE,
MARYLAND (December 14th, 2022) –
Former Spotsylvania County resident
Carol “Bunny” Burkett has been
elected to the International Drag
Racing Hall of Fame.
Burkett, who died in April 2020, was
a fan favorite who won International
Hot Rod Association and National Hot
Rod Association Top Alcohol Funny
Car titles in 1986, the same year
she captured an NHRA national event
win.
A West Virginia native, she once
worked in a Baltimore Playboy Club,
but began racing in the 1960s when
her husband Mo bought her a red 1964
Mustang, which she immediately began
racing on a local level. She soon
graduated to national competitions
in the U.S. and Canada.
A life-threatening crash in 1995 and
two bouts with cancer nearly ended
her racing career. She spent three
weeks in a coma after the crash,
which left her with two broken legs,
two fractured vertebrae and a
fractured wrist.
 “I
died three times that day; once on
the stretcher and twice more in the
helicopter on the way to the trauma
center, but they were able to bring
me back each time,” Burkett told
Drag Illustrated in a 2015 feature
story. “When I finally woke up and
saw all the flowers, I somehow
thought I was at my own funeral.” It
took her nearly a year to walk again
after the crash, but she continued
to compete until 2015, when she was
70 years old.
Burkett will be inducted into the
Hall on March 9, 2023 in Ocala,
Fla., as part of a class that
includes 20-time national Funny Car
champion John Force, plus drives
Shelly Anderson-Payne, Ron Attenbury,
Graeme Cowin and Herman “Sonny”
Messner.
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