As the Funny Car Chaos and Nitro Chaos series settle into Eddyville Raceway Park for a double event this weekend, May 26-28, Randy Meyer Racing is bringing all four cars in its stable to chase victories in both series. With three nitro-injected A/Fuel dragsters in Nitro Chaos and one A/Fuel Funny Car in Funny Car Chaos competition, “Chaos in the Cornfield” will be the team’s first time fielding four cars in one weekend.
Sisters Megan and Rachel Meyer will drive the team’s pair of GUNK-branded dragsters, with Rachel making her return to driving for the first time since 2021. Julie Nataas, who usually fields one of the RMR dragsters to compete for an NHRA Lucas Oil Series Top Alcohol Dragster world championship, will drive the A/Fuel Funny Car. Matt Sackman will return to the driver’s seat for his first Nitro Chaos appearance in the team’s third A/Fuel dragster.
“We want to try to put on the best show that we can for the fans that are coming up to Iowa for the Chaos races, so we decided to bring all four cars to try to maximize our experience and chances of winning,” said team owner and tuner Randy Meyer. “This is a first for our team and we’ve got our best crew guys coming in to put on a good show.”
Megan, a two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world champion, leads the charge with her GUNK dragster, which she’s running in the full Nitro Chaos series to contend for a championship. She started the season by qualifying No. 1 at the Edgewater race in early May, though she lost in the second round due to a red light.
“It felt great to get back behind the wheel at Edgewater for the first Nitro Chaos race, and it was a good reminder for me to understand how difficult racing can be,” Megan said. “I wasn’t 100% prepared in the second round, and to be a winning drag racer you need to be on your game at all times. It’s knowing when and how to react and not letting what other people say and do affect your outcome, and I did not perform at my best which, resulted in the red light, naturally. So I’ve been preparing mentally and physically to be at my very best for the Eddyville Nitro Chaos race because I know there is going to be a lot of tough competition, including my own teammates, and I want to show off the skills that my crew and this Gunk nitro dragster have.”
Rachel, the 2021 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world champion, is making her Nitro Chaos debut behind the wheel of the second GUNK dragster. She served as Megan’s crew chief at the Nitro Chaos season opener, and this weekend will be her first event back in competition since her championship-winning run at the end of the 2021 season.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous just because it’s been so long since I drove,” Rachel said. “Thankfully, I’m gonna go down Friday and hopefully I can get a test pass in just to get the rhythm back down of how to drive. I really did enjoy being the starter for Megan and helping try to tune her car because I still really enjoy that aspect of it, but I’m pretty excited to drive again.”
Nataas currently leads the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster national points with one national event win and two regional event wins. She’ll make her second Funny Car Chaos appearance of the season driving RMR’s A/Fuel Funny Car. At the first race of the season, she qualified third out of 51 cars and reached the semifinals of the A-field.
“We made some great progress (and passes) in the Funny Car both in testing and at our last Funny Car Chaos event in Texas,” Nataas said. “It’s not perfect yet, so I look forward to working on it and seeing how much more progress we can make this weekend.”
The RMR A/Fuel Funny Car first hit the track last season. It’s a unique learning opportunity for Nataas as a driver and Meyer as a longtime tuner of nitro-fueled dragsters. Though they’re not competing for the Funny Car Chaos championship, Nataas and her team still take their handful of appearances in the series seriously.
“The FCC races and the Funny Car is a fun project for the driver, crew chief, and team, so we are probably more relaxed at the races,” Nataas said, “and right now we are happy with making progress every pass. With that being said: we might say we are relaxed, but I’m a competitive person and the whole team is the same. We want to win no matter what or where we are racing, so that’s our goal in the Funny Car too.”
Rounding out the RMR lineup at Chaos in the Cornfield is Matt Sackman, who previously drove this season at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. He’s also worked as a crew member on the RMR cars at several races, though he’s eager to get back to driving this weekend. He’ll drive the OTG dragster typically driven by Nataas.
“I’m looking forward to hitting the gas,” Sackman said. “Sometimes the opportunities to hit the gas in an injected nitro car are few and far between. This is kind of a last-minute deal. I was pretty disappointed after I red-lighted in the first round in Vegas, and I wasn’t sure when I’d get to drive one of Randy’s cars again. This is a great opportunity to try to redeem my mistakes there in Vegas and just have some fun this weekend. I have some really good friends that work on a few nitro teams in Indy, and they’re coming over to Eddyville to help work on Randy’s cars. Randy has one of the best operations out there, and I’m sure we won’t have any issues running all four cars.”
The four RMR drivers will get two qualifying sessions on Saturday, with a final third session set for Sunday. Eliminations are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Fans who can’t make it out to Eddyville Raceway Park for Chaos in the Cornfield can watch the race live on FloRacing.com.