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The latest update as of July 25, 2020
NHRA Central Region event at Heartland Motorsports Park, Topeka, KS
There's a small-ish turnout of Top Alcohol cars at Topeka this weekend, with eight dragsters and just six funny cars in attendance. Some of the top runners in the classes are there however, and appear to be tuning up for next month's Menard's NHRA Heartland Nationals at the same facility. Strangely though, only one entry in each of the Top Alcohol classes appears on the NHRA entry list page: Megan Meyer in TAD and Jay Payne in TAFC.
With the shortened 2020 season, NHRA has changed the points earnings rules for Top Alcohol at both national and regional events. Racers can only earn points at their best two of five regionals, and best five of seven nationals. Since the low qualifier in Top Alcohol Dragster at Topeka this weekend, Megan Meyer, has already notched two regional wins, she can't gain any more points at this race. The same situation exists in Funny Car, as points leader Doug Gordon has three regional victories already, and has likewise maxed out his regional points.
In TAD, there will be an interesting semi-final matchup, if both Megan and Rachel Meyer advance past the first round, with the sisters meeting head-to-head. Rachel has carded one win and one first-round loss this season, and has a chance to move into a tie with her sister for second place nationally if she can get past her sibling in this round, and go on to win the race. Knowing the professionalism of the Meyer team, I'm certain there won't be any "team orders" and it will be a real race, no matter what the outcome. Other racers that could move up in the national standings are James Stevens (currently tied for fifth nationally) and Robin Samsel who sits outside the Top Ten in the #15 spot.
The Funny Car class has several nationally ranked racers other than Gordon, with Bob McCosh in tthe #8 spot in the standings, and just outside the Top Ten, Kris Hool and Bryan Brown. Hool and and McCosh meet in the first round, while Brown has the formidable task of taking on Gordon in the first round. The winner of that matchup earns a bye to the final round due to the short six-car field.
Eliminations are running this evening, and we'll have the results and the updated national points standings posted tomorrow. Check them out and refresh this page for more updates on last weekend's Funny Car Chaos event from Amarillo Dragway.