Erica Enders

[67 Nova Boy]

Defending World Champion Megan Meyer to Step Away From NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster

After 2020 Season.

That's right, you heard it first. No it's not a typo or a miss print - I've decided to step away

from my driving duties at the end of the year…





Megan Meyer, the defending world champion in NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster, will step away from the class after completing the 2020 season, Randy Meyer Racing announced today. Meyer won the championship driving the NGK Spark Plugs A/Fuel dragster tuned by her father and team owner, Randy Meyer.



The second-generation driver grew up dreaming of one day winning an NHRA Lucas Oil Series world championship. Now that she’s accomplished that goal, she’s shifting her focus toward accomplishing other goals.



“I've been racing in Top Alcohol Dragster full-time for five years now and a lot has changed over that time,” Meyer said. “I've accomplished pretty much everything I've wanted to accomplish in Top Alcohol. I'm ready to take a break, focus on getting married, starting a family and working on my own business. I have other goals in my life right now that I want to focus on. I'll see where that takes me.”



Since making her Top Alcohol Dragster debut in 2016, Meyer has earned 10 national-event victories, 11 regional wins and three consecutive NHRA Central Region championships to go with her 2019 national championship.



“I’m very proud of everything Megan’s accomplished,” Randy Meyer said. “She’s handled herself very well from day one. Her hard work and dedication to not only my team, but to the sport in general, has paid big dividends. She’ll have that to look back on for the rest of her life.”



Megan was named the Division 5 Pro-Sportsman Driver of the Year three years in a row after earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2016, the same year she appeared on the Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 list. But it’s that world championship that will always highlight Meyer’s time in the class.



“It's always been my dream to be a world champion since I saw Alan Bradshaw become our first world champion driver in 2003,” Megan said. “I knew one day that would be me. I didn't know I could do it in four years. But thankfully we had a great car, great parts, great crew guys. We hoped for the best, put in the hours and got better parts every year with the help from sponsors, especially when NGK stepped up as my title sponsor. That's where things really improved for us.”



NGK Spark Plugs, a longtime associate sponsor of Randy Meyer Racing, became Megan’s title sponsor in 2018 when the spark plug manufacturer signed a two-year contract that was extended this season. Meyer used her college education in marketing and graphic design to design striking NGK wraps, crew uniforms and other branded materials. She even won the 2018 NGK Spark Plug NHRA Nationals and 2019 NTK Nationals in Charlotte.



NGK plans to continue its title sponsorship of one of Randy Meyer Racing’s A/Fuel cars and is working with the team to select the new driver. The NGK car will race alongside the team’s second car shared by multiple drivers in 2021.



“We're in negotiations with several other drivers to fill that void,” Randy said. “As a team and as a team owner, we plan on racing as much as we ever have and we're planning on running two cars next year with multiple different drivers like we've been doing. It's business as usual. Megan will still be around, she just won't be at all the races and won't be behind the wheel.”



Megan won’t give up racing altogether, as she plans to return to her bracket racing roots next year, sharing a Super Comp dragster with her sister Rachel.



“I've been driving for a total of 17 years, and for 12 of it I was bracket racing,” Megan said. “I still love that type of racing. I got to bracket race for the first time in years a couple weekends ago and had a great time.”



“We don't know what the future is going to hold, but we're pretty sure bracket racing will always be around,” Megan continued. “It's something that's available to me right now because of Rachel. I'd like to take that opportunity and see how I can use it to work with sponsors and social media. In my heart, I'm always going to be a sportsman racer. I want to keep working on ways to promote the sportsman classes and come up with more ways to help sportsman racers promote themselves and their sponsors on social media.”



As Meyer starts to wrap up her championship defense season with just a handful of races remaining, she looks back fondly on her experiences over the last five seasons while also looking forward to what comes next.



“I want to tell other racers to enjoy the ride, no matter how long or short they have to be a driver or a crew guy or whatever position they're in,” Megan said. “Make sure you have fun and have creative experiences because those can lead to skills and networking that can lead to big success later on. I'm just following the strides to fit my new goals now. I want to be able to help other racers, to serve with passion and to be known as the girl who became a champion but also made a difference in the industry.”



Meyer and the NGK Spark Plugs A/Fuel dragster will race next at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Sept. 3-6 at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis. Additionally, Megan will compete in the JEGS Allstars specialty race Sept. 5 as a Central Region representative alongside sister Rachel. Teammate Julie Nataas will also race in the Allstars event for the North Central Region.

[67 Nova Boy]

https://www.facebook.com/meganmeyer....3575185741215/

[67 Nova Boy]

https://dragillustrated.com/nhra-ann...h-2020-season/

Dates for the remaining NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series are as follows:

Sept. 3-6 – Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
Sept. 25-27 – Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
Oct. 2-4 – Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Pennzoil, St. Louis
Oct. 14-18 – AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, Dallas
Oct. 23-25 – Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil, Houston
Oct. 30-Nov. 1 – Dodge NHRA Finals presented by Pennzoil, Las Vegas

[67 Nova Boy]

https://www.facebook.com/ericaenders...3528972724515/

Did not see the race as I was on puppy duty again...

[67 Nova Boy]

https://www.facebook.com/NHRA/videos/332908987762695/

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https://www.facebook.com/insidetopal...zNzMxNjMwNjkw/

[67 Nova Boy]

Unofficial points standings following the completion of the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals presented by Pennzoil, race six of the 2020 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Official points will be posted here once they are processed and verified. The totals and positions on this page may change.

Top Fuel | Funny Car | Pro Stock | Pro Stock Motorcycle

TOP FUEL
1 Doug Kalitta 492
2 Leah Pruett 442 -50
3 Steve Torrence 432 -60
4 Justin Ashley 370 -122
5 Billy Torrence 331 -161
6 Shawn Langdon 330 -162
7 Antron Brown 316 -176
8 Terry McMillen 305 -187
9 Clay Millican 279 -213
10 T.J. Zizzo 179 -313
11 Doug Foley 162 -330
12 Brittany Force 153 -339
13 Austin Prock 131 -361
14 Cory McClenathan 129 -363
15 Tony Schumacher 122 -370
16 Terry Totten 121 -371
17 Pat Dakin 105 -387
18 Lex Joon 98 -394
19 Shawn Reed 83 -409
20 Luigi Novelli 72 -420
21 Todd Paton 51 -441
22 Jim Maroney 48 -444
23 Kyle Wurtzel 46 -446
24 Joe Morrison 41 -451
25 Cameron Ferre 36 -456
26 Scott Palmer 32 -460
27 Brandon Welch 27 -465
28 Joey Haas 26 -466
29 Kim Davidson 10 -482
30 Rob Passey -5 -497

FUNNY CAR
1 Jack Beckman 517
2 Matt Hagan 482 -35
3 Tommy Johnson Jr. 460 -57
4 J.R. Todd 387 -130
5 Ron Capps 376 -141
6 Bob Tasca III 355 -162
7 Tim Wilkerson 348 -169
8 Alexis DeJoria 241 -276
9 Cruz Pedregon 234 -283
10 Paul Lee 225 -292
11 Blake Alexander 180 -337
12 Bob Bode 173 -344
John Force 173 -344
14 Jim Campbell 165 -352
15 Terry Haddock 162 -355
16 Dale Creasy Jr. 147 -370
17 Robert Hight 100 -417
18 Alex Miladinovich 93 -424
19 Mike McIntire 73 -444
20 Jeff Diehl 51 -466
21 Chad Green 32 -485
Daniel Wilkerson 32 -485
23 Dave Richards 31 -486
24 Steven Densham 26 -491
25 Justin Schriefer 5 -512

PRO STOCK
1 Erica Enders 453
2 Jeg Coughlin 446 -7
3 Jason Line 442 -11
4 Matt Hartford 291 -162
5 Greg Anderson 290 -163
6 Bo Butner 249 -204
Chris McGaha 249 -204
8 Alex Laughlin 243 -210
9 Kenny Delco 228 -225
10 Deric Kramer 197 -256
11 Aaron Stanfield 190 -263
12 Val Smeland 157 -296
13 Troy Coughlin Jr. 132 -321
14 Kyle Koretsky 120 -333
15 Alan Prusiensky 108 -345
16 Cristian Cuadra 102 -351
17 Fernando Cuadra Jr. 92 -361
18 Mason McGaha 91 -362
19 Steve Graham 72 -381
20 Bruno Massel 63 -390
21 Fernando Cuadra 61 -392
22 Joey Grose 41 -412
Robert River 41 -412
Marty Robertson 41 -412
25 Bob Benza 10 -443
John Gaydosh Jr 10 -443
Tom Huggins 10 -443
Richie Stevens 10 -443

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
1 Scotty Pollacheck 251
2 Andrew Hines 226 -25
3 Eddie Krawiec 225 -26
4 Matt Smith 224 -27
5 Angelle Sampey 221 -30
6 Ryan Oehler 204 -47
7 Hector Arana Jr 158 -93
8 Chris Bostick 154 -97
9 Angie Smith 145 -106
10 Steve Johnson 137 -114
11 John Hall 97 -154
12 Jerry Savoie 96 -155
13 Marc Ingwersen 95 -156
14 David Barron 72 -179
Kelly Clontz 72 -179
16 Cory Reed 52 -199
17 Ron Tornow 36 -215
18 Tiffany Butler 31 -220
Michael Phillips 31 -220
Jim Underdahl 31 -220