Julie Nataas made a triumphant return to Randy Meyer Racing (RMR) this past weekend, driving the Hedinger’s Equipment Top Alcohol Dragster to victory at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series North Central Regional at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.
RMR fielded a full three-car dragster lineup, with McKenna Bold in the Diezel Excavating dragster and Matt Cummings returning to the seat of the GUNK dragster. Cummings entered race day as the No. 1 qualifier with a 5.232 ET at 276.75 mph and received a bye run in round one after Jared Dreher did not make the call. After struggling to make a quick pass in qualifying, Bold put down one of her best runs of the weekend with a 5.248 ET at 275.17 mph, but came up just .009 seconds short to Severance in a tight race.
Nataas, who reunited with the RMR team’s A/Fuel Dragster for the first time since 2024, qualified fifth with a 5.284 at 263.15 mph and lined up against Melanie Johnson. In round one, Nataas posted her quickest pass of the weekend with a 5.276 at 273.39 mph to take the win. The round one victory also helped her teammate Matt Cummings, who is in the hunt for the regional championship.
Round two saw a wild matchup between Nataas and her teammate Cummings, as both drivers lost traction early and fought for the win in a pedal-fest battle. Nataas was able to hook back up after half-track and held on for the win with an 8.490 at 164.55 mph, advancing to the final against multi-time champion Joey Severance.
The RMR crew worked feverishly between rounds after damaging the engine in the semifinal, swapping engines in less than an hour to make the call for the final round. Nataas delivered a near-perfect .001 reaction time and took the win with a 5.393 at 268.87 mph, while Severance lost traction early.
“We came to St. Louis to test and get ready for Dallas, and each round threw something different at us,” said Nataas. “I wanted to make the thrash between rounds worth it and got lucky in the final with a .001 reaction time. It felt good to be back in the car, it was like I never left the team or the dragster. I can confirm I’m still a very competitive person and feel race ready for this week.”
The win comes as a strong confidence boost for RMR before heading to Dallas this weekend to compete with all 3 dragsters again. The St. Louis event marked Nataas’s first win since reuniting with RMR and set the tone for her highly anticipated appearance at the NHRA Texas FallNationals and JEGS Allstars at Texas Motorplex this coming weekend.
