Randy Meyer Racing returned to Summit Motorsports Park for the 48th Annual Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire and left with another Wally, a race they won in 2024 with driver Gary Pitchett, as McKenna Bold captured her first-ever NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wally and her second win at Norwalk this season for her rookie year.
Bold entered the event fresh off her national event victory in June, where she defeated Shawn Cowie in an all-Canadian final. Determined to go back-to-back, she overcame early struggles in qualifying and ran flawlessly through eliminations to secure the win in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,000 fans.
“Qualifying got off to a hairy start having shook the tires in both Q1 and Q2,” said Bold, “but Randy made some changes and had a solid pass in Q3 to put us in the 3rd spot. From that point on, every run was flawless.”
Bold qualified third with a 5.227 at 273.72 MPH in the Meyer-Hemi dragster, while teammate Matt Cummings stormed to the No. 1 spot with a 5.215 at 266.58 MPH in the GUNK A/Fuel Dragster.
In Round 1, Cummings ran low E.T. of the event with a 5.170 at 272.94 MPH to chase down Corey Michalek, while Bold posted a 5.267 to defeat Jared Dreher. Mechanical issues discovered during warm-up prompted a thrash in the pits for Bold’s crew, but they had the car ready and confident for Round 2.
She responded with her best run of the weekend, a 5.215 at 274.39 MPH, to take out Melanie Johnson and move into her first NHRA LODRS final. Meanwhile, Cummings came up short in a close side-by-side race with Angelle Sampey, running a 5.278 to her 5.251.
The final round paired Bold against Sampey under the lights. Sampey left first but lost traction early, and Bold powered straight down the groove with a 5.258 at 275.90 MPH to earn her first LODRS North Central Region Wally in her first final round appearance.
“This was my first experience at Night Under Fire, and I don’t have enough good words to say about the show that Bill Bader Jr. and the entire staff at Summit Motorsports Park put on,” said Bold. “Racing at night in front of a sold-out show and 40k fans and then coming back down the track for a winner’s circle ceremony where the fans all lined in the lanes was amazing. This is a race I don’t want to miss in the future!”
Cummings’ weekend also marked the return of Hedinger’s Equipment as an associate sponsor on his dragster. The Randy Meyer Racing team now shifts focus to the next stop on the NHRA tour with two drag races in Brainerd, MN with a strong start to the back half of the season.
