Randy Meyer Racing (RMR) continued their dominance in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series with an all-Meyer final round at the Battle at the Beech in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Matt Cummings powered his Hedinger’s Equipment Top Alcohol Dragster to victory, defeating teammate Zach Fulcher in an exciting final showdown. The event marked Zac Fulcher’s debut in Top Alcohol Dragster competition, a special milestone as he earned his NHRA license at Bowling Green with RMR just one year ago.
Cummings entered eliminations from the No. 1 qualifying spot with a 5.268-second, 272.01 mph pass, while Fulcher impressed the Kentucky crowd by qualifying third with a 5.351 at 266.27 mph.
In the opening round of eliminations, Cummings delivered the low elapsed time of the event with a blistering 5.194 at 277.60 mph to defeat Jared Dreher’s 5.353 at 270.05 mph. Fulcher advanced as well, taking out rookie Melanie Johnson with a strong 5.478 at 256.60 mph for his first competition round win in the A/Fuel dragster, while Johnson’s car struggled to a 6.882 at 152.19 mph, setting up the all-Meyer final round.
In the final, Zac had the better reaction time and improved from the round before with a 5.404 @ 253.28. But Cummings charged hard to a 5.254 at 276.18 for the win, his eighth career Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wally and second this season.
“This was my first time racing at Bowling Green and I had positive emotions coming off our performance in Brainerd,” said Cummings. “The weather was the usual hot and humid and the track was challenging to figure out. In Q-2 we took the tire off again, and when I was getting picked up at the end of the track, I was very concerned but my crew chief, JJ, just said ‘don’t worry, we will figure this out’. For the last run of the day, Randy made a few timing changes after looking at the track and I know I had to perform. Randy just said to be ready for anything. Randy stayed aggressive in his tune up and we went to #1, a great way to finish the day going into race day.
“Coming into Sunday, my team had my car running fast again and I felt very confident about my chances to take home the trophy. We were the fastest dragster out there and at the end of the day, took home the trophy and made our sponsor, Hedinger’s Equipment very happy. We collected our 3 win of the year and fifth for RMR overall. We feel a lot of momentum going into the biggest race of the year, the U.S. Nationals.”
The excitement now shifts to the biggest race of the year; the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Cummings will carry Hedinger’s Equipment as his title sponsor for the prestigious event, while teammate McKenna Bold returns to the seat of her Diezel Equipment Top Alcohol Dragster to make her U.S. Nationals debut. With the full force of RMR behind them, fans can expect another hard-charging performance on drag racing’s biggest stage – an event the team has already conquered in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2024.
