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The latest update as of October 24, 2020


BIG News from Baytown - Megan Meyer will NOT run in eliminations

A bolt out of the blue came over the video feed from Houston Raceway Park when NHRA's lead announcer, Alan Rinehart announced that Megan Meyer had left the track to attend her wedding. Presumably that happy event had been scheduled far in advance and prompted her to only make a qualifying effort at the SpringNationals, and not run in eliminations. Rinehart reported that she would receive first round loser points, and still stay ahead of her closest challengers for the national championship, Shawn Cowie (32 points behind), and team-mate Julie Nataas (53 points in arrears).

However, and we're still waiting for confirmation on this point, but the NHRA website states "All remaining event non-qualifiers or no-shows in eliminations will automatically receive 10 points". If that caveat applies in this case, then Meyer is running a serious risk of losing her lead in the championship standings. Even if she is credited with the 31 points awarded to first-round losers, she could still find herself in second place by the end of tomorrow's eliminations.

Looking further down the standings shows that even Duane Shields (75 points back), and Jackie Fricke (86 points behind), could signifcantly close the gap on Meyer heading into the final national event of the season at Las Vegas next weekend. Only Fricke (of the aforementioned names) is not entered in that race... so far. And speaking of Las Vegas, there is a Western Regional event running there this weekend, with nine Top Alcohol Dragsters and six Funny Cars competing. The only Top Ten racer in attendance at that race is Joey Severance (#7) and he can only gain 21 points with an event win. On the Funny Car side, the highest racer in the standings is Chip Beverett and he's way down in the #14 spot with no chance to challenge for the championship.

First round of eliminations for the alky cars is at the end of the day (5:30 or 6:00 pm) at Houston, with the balance of eliminations tomorrow. At Las Vegas, the first round is scheduled for 2:00 pm, with the semi-finals at 5:00 and the finals at 7:00 pm. If you're a real hardcore fan, you can follow the action on a live feed from The Strip at LVMS through this Drag Racer TV link, courtesy of Competition Plus.