Two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world champion Megan Meyer bounced back from a second-round red-light at the Nitro Chaos season opener by racing to victory last weekend at Eddyville Raceway Park’s “Chaos in the Cornfield.” Driving one of two Gunk Cleaners A/Fuel dragsters, Meyer defeated two Randy Meyer Racing teammates before beating Dale Creasy Jr. in his NHRA Funny Car on a holeshot in the A-Field final round.
“After the red-light loss in Edgewater, I was so in my head about not red lighting again,” Megan said. “I was dead late on the tree every time and it almost cost me the race in first round. I got lucky all three rounds and finally cut a good light in the finals after getting out of my head. My husband, my sister, and my dad all gave me pep talks that I needed. I was also fighting a head cold, so I wasn’t feeling the best, but I knew I had to forget about everything and focus on my job.”
Chaos in the Cornfield was Randy Meyer Racing’s first time fielding four different cars: three A/Fuel dragsters – driven by Megan, Rachel Meyer, and Matt Sackman – in Nitro Chaos and the Julie Nataas-driven A/Fuel Funny Car in Funny Car Chaos.
“It was just like the series: chaos,” said team owner and tuner Randy Meyer. “We started out with chaos planning on running two cars, then adding a third, then a fourth. Our ultimate goal was to try to put on a good show for the fans that come out to support this series. It’s all about the fans. We wanted to support Chris [Graves, promoter] and what he’s done. It turned out to be a really good weekend. We had a few struggles, which we expected trying to run four cars. We knew we had our hands full, but I laid out a pretty good plan ahead of time. That’s what it takes to make something like this happen. It’s hard to run one car, much less two, then you add in three and four.”
Nataas, the current NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster national points leader, made her second appearance of the season in the RMR A/Fuel Funny Car. Unfortunately, parts breakage in the second qualifying session prevented Nataas from reaching eliminations. With just two Funny Car Chaos races left this season, the team plans to park the Funny Car to focus on the dragsters.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that the Funny Car didn’t do as good as we hoped,” Randy said. “We were showing good promise with it at Dallas. We have to regroup and start back over, but we’ll be back with the Funny Car in the future. When we do come out, it’ll be good and it’ll be fun and it’ll be fast.”
All three RMR dragsters qualified in the eight-car A-Field, with Megan qualifying No. 2 with a 3.51-second E.T. at 227 MPH. Rachel ended up No. 6 with a 3.72 E.T. at 212 MPH, and Matt qualified No. 7 with a 3.72 at 174 MPH.
In the opening round, Megan powered past Matt in the OTG dragster to win with a 3.62 at 221 MPH. On the other side of the ladder, Rachel used a weekend-best 3.61 at 219 MPH in her Gunk dragster to beat Todd Bruce in “The Bull” A/Fuel dragster, setting up a Meyer vs. Meyer matchup in the semis.
In the semifinals, Rachel went into aggressive tire shake, which shook out one of her parachutes, slowing her to a 3.67 at 199 MPH. Megan didn’t have any issues in her lane, charging to a 3.57 at 223 MPH for a spot in the final round.
The final round was a battle between the two quickest cars on the property, with Megan lining up against No. 1 qualifier Dale Creasy Jr. in his NHRA Funny Car. Megan was first off the starting line and drove through tire shake to finish ahead of Creasy with a 3.56 at 223 MPH to Creasy’s 3.54 at 192 MPH. It was a powerful win that put Megan back in championship contention.
“I believe this win will bump me into top 3 in points, and with the season already halfway through, it’s important we collect as many as possible and don’t slip,” Megan said. “What will really get us to separate from the pack is getting those No. 1 qualifier bonus points. If we can do that and win, we have a good chance at making the Gunk team and ‘Queen Bee’ the first champion of the Nitro Chaos.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the daily activities we do to make our operation run at a high level full-time, but when we captured team photos Saturday morning with all of our crew and cars together, we took a step back and saw that we’ve come a long way. My dad has sacrificed so much time and energy for this sport, and he deserves this win for all that he’s done for us and for drag racing. I’m also very proud of each of our crew guys, past and present, that have helped us win all of the titles and championships including our latest one. I had Andrew Holisky and Taylor Pflumm as my crew this weekend and they did an outstanding job with the car and stayed on top of everything to give me the best dragster to win.”
Rachel, who plans to run one more Nitro Chaos event this season, was thrilled with the team’s overall performance at Chaos in the Cornfield, even though her Gunk dragster struggled with wheelstands and tire shake.
“I would have loved to meet up with Megan in the finals, but unfortunately we were on the same side of the ladder,” Rachel said. “It’s still awesome we all even made it into the A-Field because I wasn’t sure I was going to get in after my first two qualifiers. The last one I had to pedal twice and luckily it was enough to land in the No. 6 spot.
“I barely took out ‘The Bull’ first round, had to pedal again, so I knew going up against Megan would be tough since we were struggling to get a solid pass down the track,” Rachel added. “We both missed the tree big time. The sun was hitting it just right that we couldn’t see the stage bulbs, but when I shook and pedaled, my parachute came out and I couldn’t catch Megan. I’m so proud of her for getting the win. She did a great job of driving in the finals and I’m happy she got over her fear of going red.”
The next Nitro Chaos race for the Meyer sisters is July 14-15 at Mo-Kan Dragway near Joplin, Missouri. The next stop for the RMR team is this weekend, June 2-4, at Summit Motorsports Park’s Cavalcade of Stars NHRA Lucas Oil Series regional event, where Nataas will compete in Top Alcohol Dragster.
