We just received a notice from Richard Parks of the Celebration of Life that will take place for Bernie Partridge on Thursday, April 19th at 2:PM at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Bernie passed away on April 12th and Bernie's son, John, also passed away during this past week. John was a track announcer and track official at Irwindale and other drag strips.
John Partirdges memorial will be held at Irwindale Speedway, Saturday, April 21 at 10 am according to the NHRA Website.
Here is some of the content from the NHRA article:
Bernie Partridge, who during NHRA’s formative years was the voice of drag racing as the lead announcer at the organization's national events and later became one of its great leaders, died April 12. He was 79. Partridge, known affectionately as “the Bird,” had been in ill health the last several years.
The loss was the third suffered by one of the first families of NHRA in the last year; third son John died two days previously of a massive heart attack, and second son Gary died in mid-2011 of cancer. The younger Partridges worked on the NHRA crews at West Coast national events; John also did announcing at both the original Irwindale Raceway and the new Irwindale track, and Gary also worked tech and often was part of the starting-line crew, both following in the footsteps of their famous father.
Read the article here: http://www.nhra.com/story/2012/4/12/bernie-partridge/