Top Alcohol Dragster Archives – Horsepower & Heels

Megan Meyer wins 2019 Top Alcohol Dragster Championship

October 14, 2019 // by Horsepower & Heels

This season proved to be a historic one for NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series TAD driver Megan Meyer. Not only did she carry home the win for the rain-delayed NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals in the quickest side-by-side pass on record in TAD, but she also secured the 2019 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Championship – becoming the first female in history to win a TAD Championship.

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via NHRA Facebook

In the final round, Meyer took on former teammate and points rival Troy Coughlin Jr. With the pressure on, Meyer drove to a 5.149, 281.48, her best run of the weekend, to squeak by Coughlin’s competitive 5.169, 280.80 mph run. The pair marked the quickest side-by-side TAD runs in history, and Megan’s win light gave her not only the win for the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals event, but also gave her the points needed to make the title official.

Megan Meyer officially clinched the 2019 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster national championship.

Last season, Meyer finished the 2018 championship season as NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster’s third-place finisher. This season, she was gunning for the championship out of the gate, appearing in 12 finals this season and scoring seven victories in her injected nitro dragster. She is aided and tuned by her father, Randy Meyer. Megan’s victories this season include four national event titles – with marquee wins at the prestigious 50th annual Amalie Gatornationals and the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.

Meyer is the fourth woman to win an NHRA Lucas Oil Series sportsman championship, joining class champions Amy Faulk (Super Stock, 1979), Jackie Alley (Super Stock 2011), and Mia Tedesco (Super Gas, 2016).

A big congrats to the new champ from all of us at Horsepower & Heels!

New website for Megan and Rachel Meyer

March 24, 2017 // by Horsepower & Heels

NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster drivers Megan Meyer and Rachel Meyer just launched a new website for their Randy Meyer Racing Team. The new site, www.randymeyerracing.com, shares the history and real life information about the Randy Meyer Racing team and their journey in the NHRA Drag Racing Top Alochol Dragster racing class.

The new website for Megan and Rachel Meyer is devoted to sharing their experiences on the road and on the track with fans by providing the most up-to-date information on the team, class point standings, qualifying and race results, and national, regional and divisional point earnings. Fans can keep track of where the team is with the up-to-date schedule of upcoming races, events and appearances.

“We are excited to be able to share so much information with our fans on our new website, randymeyerracing.com,” says Randy Meyer, team owner. “Our goal is to stay connected with our fans and keep everyone in the loop on all our driver’s latest happenings.”

Fans can access the site to read the latest news on the race team, watch the team’s videos for an up-close look, see photos and keep up with their outstanding stats. Easily follow the team and drivers on social media by following the team social link collection, and take advantage of the opportunity to sign up for their mailing list. Learn about the marketing partners that the team trusts and promotes at each event.

Stellar year for NHRA hotshoe Mia Tedesco

December 15, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

A stellar year for NHRA hotshoe Mia Tedesco, the NHRA multi-class driver who racked up an impressive collection of hardware at the season closing awards ceremonies. The 22 year-old Tedesco pulled double-duty all season between her Top Alcohol Dragster and her Super Gas racecars in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series National, Regional and Divisional events.

Three championship titles in one season

The Pittsburgh, PA native became the first female to win the ultra-competitive Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Gas World Championship in her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet. She captured two wins in Chicago in the class – both the divisional event in June and the subsequent national event win in July. She also claimed the Division 3 title for Super Gas in the class, making her only the second racer in history to double-up with a National and Division 3 win for the season.

‘Miss Mia’ also piloted her 275 mph CARS Protection Plus/Schepel Motors/NGK/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster entry to the North Central Regional Championship, while finishing in the Top Ten for the National Top Alcohol Dragster points chase, with a strong No. 8 standing. She earned three regional wins for the season – Gainesville, St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio.

Driver of the Year Accolades

In addition to her impressive class standings and championships earned, Mia was also named Super Eliminator Driver of the Year, which encompasses drivers from the categories of Super Gas, Super Comp, Super Stock, and Stock. But the top accolade earned by the NHRA hotshoe was the highly-coveted Person of the Year award in front of a large crowd of her peers, family and friends.

“Getting the Person of the Year award was very cool,” Tedesco said. “I wasn’t expecting it so I was surprised and also very honored to win.”
“We had a big group of us there,” Tedesco said. “It was nice to be able to win and to be able to share it with my family and crew members; none of it happens without their love, support and hard work.”

“It’s great to look back on the season now and see everything we accomplished, but you’re not really thinking about it at the time. You just want to race one round at a time and hope it works out. It worked out pretty well for us this year.”

Tough weekend in Norwalk for Megan Meyer

July 1, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

A tough weekend in Norwalk for Megan Meyer, Top Alcohol Dragster rookie and driver of the Racer’s Evolved/Randy Meyer Racing A/Fuel Dragster. The young driver had her hands full at the 10th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, OH as she fought her way into the field after a tough start in qualifying.

Mechanical Issues in Qualifying

In the first two rounds of qualifying, Meyer’s Racer’s Evolved Dragster was up in smoke right at the hit, resulting in aborted runs, leaving her outside the field from the bottom of the ladder. To make matters worse, scary incidents plagued both runs. In the first qualifying session, the throttle stuck open on Megan’s dragster as the tires went up in smoke, doing extensive engine damage to her A/Fuel powertrain. The Randy Meyer Racing team had their hands full swapping engines to their spare back up engine between rounds to prepare for the second qualifying session. With the spare in place, Megan again went up in smoke on the hit, and narrowly avoided a down track incident when her competitor’s rear tire came apart.

Lots of unnecessary damage done in Q1 due to the throttle stuck open while smoking the tires. We put the spare in for Q2, only to smoke the tires again. Fortunately, I didn’t get hit by the exploding tire in the lane next to me. Today was not our day, but tomorrow will be a different story,” Meyer said after a disappointing Friday in qualifying.

This gave Megan only one shot on Saturday to break into the field and qualify for eliminations. In a last ditch effort, Meyer was able to catapult her Racer’s Evolved Dragster from the No. 21 spot all the way to the No. 4 position, running a 5.373 second E.T. at 270.75 mph.

It wasn’t the best, but we made it. A tire shaking 5.37 at 270 mph put us in the top half of the field. I was so nervous to qualify, I almost left before the tree activated,” said Meyer of her stressful qualifying experience in Norwalk.

Eliminations – Norwalk, OH

During the opening round of eliminations Saturday evening, Megan Meyer would face No. 12 qualified John Finke. She would take the early advantage at the tree and never looked back, running a 5.346 second, 271.52 mph pass, her fastest of the weekend, to defeat John Finke for the first round win.

This would place her into round two against the other Finke car driven by Jackie. This time, Jackie would avenge the first round loss, as a distracted Meyer left late with an uncharacteristic 0.238 reaction time, giving Finke the holeshot – a 5.406 second, 274.11 mph pass to Meyer’s losing 5.367 second, 270.59 mph performance.

Though the weekend wasn’t what they expected, she ends the weekend still No. 2 in the 2016 NHRA Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings, trailing the leader Joey Severance by less than 100 points.

Meyer also enjoyed another special race weekend FitCamp provided by Megan Meyer Racing partner, Trinity Performance Wear. They kicked off Sunday morning with a great workout session, offering fans and other racers a chance to train with Megan and Trinity Performance Wear, and even extending some special offers on clothing and accessories.

Undeterred, Megan Meyer and her Racer’s Evolved/Randy Meyer Racing team are already looking forward to their next events: in Chicago for the Route 66 NHRA Nationals July 7-10; the Jegs All Star event th Meyer and her father, Randy will be racing.