Julie Nataas took on the best of the best in the country for the JEGS AllStars and came out victorious after defeating Aaron Cooper, Jackie Fricke, and James Stevens on her way to the winner circle.
After two qualifying sessions, it was straight into the Jegs AllStars race for Julie Nataas. She came into raceday in the No. 2 qualifying spot with a first round matchup against Aaron Cooper. Nataas had an otherworldly .003-second reaction time in her OTG dragster with additional support from Right Trailers and MotoRad, and set low elapsed time of the event with a 5.162, 280.72 to defeat Cooper’s 6.124, 222.07.
Second round, No. 3 in the country Nataas staged up against No. 4 in the country Jackie Fricke. Fricke had the initial starting line advantage over Nataas but when Fricke went up in smoke shortly after, Julie was able to take advantage of the moment and take the win with a 5.439, 270.21.
For the finals of one of the most prestigious sportsman races of the year, Julie began her normal burnout routine against competitor James Stevens. By the time she backed up from her abbreviated burnout and rolled forward to stage, she was given the hand signal from the NHRA starter that she would be running a competition bye. Unfortunately for Stevens, his team was unable to get his dragster to fire and compete for all the glory. Julie breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled forward and staged for her first Jegs AllStars win unopposed in the final round. In true Randy Meyer Racing form, Julie was loaded for bear as she crossed the finish line with a stout 5.225, 278.06.
“The Jegs AllStars is huge and a dream to win for every sportsman racer and to do it at the U.S. Nationals made it even bigger of a win for me,” said Julie. “This is my first win with Right Trailers by my side. I’m glad we were able to get them in the winners circle.”
Coming off the high of the JEGS AllStars win for Julie Nataas, both Randy Meyer Racing drivers Rachel Meyer and Nataas were ready to keep that momentum rolling into race day at the 67th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals with help from their two college crew interns, Juliaun and Jeremy, who won the 6th annual Respect is Learned In The Pits program with Technician.Academy.
In the first round, Julie proved why she had won the AllStars the night before with a perfect reaction time and a 5.216, 277.49 to defeat Mick Steele’s 5.528, 261.78. Three pairs later, Rachel was awarded a competition bye when her competitor Steve Collier was disqualified due to his fuel being too cool in the lanes. Rachel powered her NTK Sensors, Technician.Academy, Ivy Tech dragster to her quickest pass of the weekend 5.225, 266.53.
Second round, Julie bettered her raceday performance with a 5.184, 277.03 to take the win over Mike Bucher’s 5.350, 242.54. In her pairing, Rachel and competitor Karen Stalba left almost identically on the starting line. As Stalba went up in smoke and tried to recover, Rachel never looked back as she went straight down the boulevard with a solid 5.274, 276.97.
In the semifinals, Julie ran a consistent 5.254, 275.22 but Matthew Cummings’ 5.196, 277.54 ended Julie’s quest of a double-up at the U.S. Nationals in the third round of eliminations. Rachel followed right behind with a stable 5.260, 274.11 but Jackie Fricke’s 5.188, 279.15 advanced past Rachel to the finals.
“Thank you to Technician Acadamy, MotoRad and Ivy Tech for brining us two amazing interns this year. I had Juliaun working on my car and he fit right into my team. He learned quick! I have no doubt that he will be out working on a race car again. Both Juliaun and Jeremy wanted to learn and understand, which is a big plus in my book. They took every chance they could to ask questions,” said Julie.
The next event for the team will be the Central Region event of the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series this weekend in Earlville, IA with Rachel Meyer.
