When it was announced that there would be one final race at Houston Raceway before they closed their doors, Randy Meyer Racing knew they had to honor their past success there and give it one more go with drivers Julie Nataas and Hunter Green. Nataas scored another No. 1 qualifier and reached her 11th national event final round while Green went to the quarterfinals at the NHRA SpringNationals.
Coming into raceday, Julie continued her dominating performance as she drove straight down Houston Raceway in the final session to grab the No. 1 qualifying position with a 5.208-second pass at 279.27 mph. Green qualified No. 10 with a stable 5.394, 262.90.
First round, Julie used a major starting line advantage and a 5.305, 272.01 to defeat Buddy Domingue’s 9.003, 109.90. Hunter Green followed right behind with his first career national event round win with an .024-second reaction time and a 5.401, 264.49 to take out Steve Collier’s 5.488, 266.11.
Second round, Hunter Green once again had a large starting line advantage over his competitor Madison Payne but his 5.437, 267.32 wasn’t enough to outrun Payne’s 5.316, 272.94. Julie broke the beams on her bye run and pushed back to prepare for Sunday’s eliminations in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Julie staged up against Madison Payne. Julie was .039 on the tree and never looked back. Her 5.216, 279.79 lit up her win light in her left lane over Payne’s 5.349, 273.11.
In her 11th career national event final round, Julie took on Joey Severance; the pair had both won three times against the other in elimination rounds in prior events. Nataas and Severance left together on the starting line and the battle was on. Julie had to pedal her dragster but recovered with ease and still managed to clock in with a 5.358, 278.69 but it wasn’t enough to edge out Severance’s 5.239, 276.35.
