Hunter Green was crowned the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series winner at the final Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, KS. This was Hunter’s 10th national event start and his first final round appearance with the Kansas-based Randy Meyer Racing Team.
“I made some inexcusable mistakes in my last couple races which resulted in quick and early round exits,” said Hunter. “The first half of my season was not going so well and for a minute there my performance as a driver felt like it was getting worse. Some of it came from overconfidence. I’m going to say the same thing everyone else says, that the sport is humbling. I put a little more pressure on myself this time and took a different approach. I tried asking more questions to Randy and my crew. I played out different scenarios in my head that could happen during the staging procedure and the run, so that hopefully nothing would catch me off guard and rattle me. I tried to remember every mistake I’ve made to avoid repeating them. You can have the fastest car in the world, and the smallest mistake can result in defeat.
“Everything came together on race day and we did have the fastest car. Setting the two lowest ETs of the event. Randy and the crew sweated it out over three hot and rainy days and we could not have performed better as a team. It’s so awesome to win what might be the last race at Heartland Motorsports Park. Especially because the guys on my team all live within two hours of the track so it was like a home race for them. I’m so thankful to be working alongside them and for Randy and my Dad for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to winning another one with this team.”
Hunter Green, son of Funny Car and Pro Mod racer Chad Green, qualified the Bond-Coat Inc / BOXO USA Tools nitro injected dragster in the no. 5 position running a best time of 5.36 ET at 269 mph while teammate Julie Nataas in the OTG dragster, the reigning winner of the Heartland Nationals, qualified no. 2 with a 5.27 ET at 280 mph. Unfortunately, Julie’s car slowed down in the opening round of eliminations and lost by approximately 8 feet to James Stevens.
However, Hunter took the win over Bob Button, Shawn Cowie, and Mike Lewis in eliminations running a career-best time of 5.16 ET at 276 mph. Moving onto his first final round, the newcomer Hunter faced veteran Shane Conway. Shane is known for cutting nearly perfect reaction times, but this time Hunter got the holeshot advantage and powered to a 5.19 ET at 277 mph for the win over Conway’s 5.28 quarter-mile pass.
Hunter moved up to 14th in the national standings, out of 68 entries, and will compete in 4 more NHRA National events with hopes to move into the top 10 to finish his sophomore season in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. Hunter and Julie’s next race will be the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
