“ I ’ ve been a driver with my dad for 13-ish years now , so he knows what to say to help me out . If I need to change how I ’ m doing something , he knows how to say it versus if it was someone else driving .”
a narrow holeshot victory in a 5.567-to-5.564 race .
“ Going into Gainesville , we didn ’ t expect to be number-two qualifier and make it to the final round , but we did expect to be qualified in the top half and at least go a few rounds of eliminations ,” Meyer says . “ It was just kind of a dream weekend and then we were able to follow that up with another final round in Belle Rose [ Louisiana ], which was a track that none of us have ever been to before .”
After reaching the final round at the Gainesville national and Belle Rose regional , winning at least two rounds became the norm for the first half of Meyer ’ s 2016 season .
“ From Belle Rose , things never really slowed down . It was exciting to head to Charlotte , get the win , take home the Best Appearing Crew award , and then to have a semifinal finish in Houston , followed up by another runner-up at Topeka and being number-one qualifier at my home track . Everything just fell into place . It was just really the best year that we ’ ve had in a really long time for our team .”
The optimistic 23-year-old can ’ t look past the rough patch she entered toward the end of the summer . A demanding schedule with two , sometimes three , A / Fuel cars put a dent in the Randy Meyer Racing parts supply , usually stocked full of the freshest engine blocks , cylinder heads , engine components , clutch disks , tires and more . Both Megan ’ s car and Randy ’ s entry , driven mostly by “ rent-a-ride ” drivers , began to suffer by the time the Brainerd race came around .
“ We were running two cars at a lot of the races at the end of the season . It took away from the opportunities as far as motors , parts , and tires . We ran into little issues with that but we tried to make the best of it . There wasn ’ t really one thing causing it , I think it was just a bunch of little things that added up . We changed motors about five times in my car , which is kind of unheard of . I think we went through four or five cranks and oil pans this year . We got really limited on parts as the year went on . When we went on the five-week tour , we were really struggling . By that point it was too late to order new parts or go back to our inventory because we just about used everything up .”
With a similarly busy schedule in mind for 2017 , the Randy Meyer Racing group has bulked up their parts supply and thoroughly inspected and refreshed their Copeland dragsters with intentions of chasing the national championship and Central Region title .
“ We spent a lot of time in the offseason changing a lot of stuff on both of the cars ,” Megan notes . “ We ’ ve noticed that it ’ s weird how my car did really well at the beginning of the season and then fell off at the end , whereas my dad ’ s car was doing OK in the beginning and middle of the season , then it picked up quite a bit at the end of the season .
“ We ’ ve made some changes to the chassis , made quite a few changes just on little stuff , plus we do our normal maintenance in the offseason . Basically we replace all of the wiring and hardware . Literally , we take off every single nut and bolt on the car and replace it with a new one . That ’ s where our partnerships with companies like ARP Bolts , Racepak , and Taylor Cable come into play . So we ’ ve made a lot of changes in the offseason and that ’ s why we ’ re out here at Phoenix testing , to see if everything that we ’ ve changed is going to work in our favor .”
That brings us to dusty Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park , just outside of Phoenix . Pros like Courtney Force and Matt Hagan are making laps in preparation for the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona , California . Meyer is helping her father set up the pit area for a few days of testing before finance guru-turned-driver Bill Litton arrives to drive Megan ’ s Copeland-built dragster . Between duties , Meyer has time to reminisce about the years she ’ s spent on the road racing with her family , an opportunity not lost on the reserved young star .
“ Working with my dad is definitely a positive but there are some downfalls , I guess you could say . We have a great relationship with our dad . I work for my parents . I still live with my parents . I see my parents 24 / 7 . I ’ m on the road with them all the time , which is awesome to have that time together , especially since my dad was gone quite a bit when I was little . So to be able to get all this time with him now is awesome .
“ But I do kind of get sick of him every now and then ,” Meyer laughs . “ It ’ s a different relationship than how most kids grow up . When we got started with the Junior Dragster racing , like I said , we had no experience with it and we would go to our local track in Kansas City every Wednesday night and test and learn as much as we could , then go out the following Saturday and race . But as soon as we turned 16 , we were on our own if my dad was gone racing . We were old enough to stay home alone and if we wanted to go racing , then we would have to get the truck and trailer and take it to the track ourselves and find our own help there to have someone start us . It ’ s a really good working experience , but there ’ s also those periods of times where we ’ re not together as a family . When we ’ re working together now , sometimes it ’ s a family relationship with us and sometimes it ’ s a work relationship . It goes both ways for us .”
Racing as a family has created a driver-crew chief bond between Megan and Randy that cannot be matched by a standard combination of driver and tuner . The two can communicate openly about what needs to happen .
“ I ’ ve been a driver with my dad for 13-ish years now , and so he knows what to really say to me to help me out . If I need to change how I ’ m doing something , he knows how to say it versus if it was someone else driving . It all works out for us and it ’ s great to have that time with my dad and to be comfortable and just having that time out , working out in the shop and working at the track .”
Even as Megan continues to improve as a driver , she also has the opportunity to mentor other upand-coming A / Fuel drivers who didn ’ t grow up with the same hands-on lessons . She ’ s helping her father train Rachel , 21 , as well as Justin Ashley , the 22-year-old son of former Funny Car and Pro Mod driver Mike Ashley .
“ I ’ ve been able to help mentor a few drivers , and that ’ s one of the ways I ’ m following in my dad ’ s footsteps . He started the rent-a-ride program way back in the early 2000s , starting off with Alan Bradshaw and Gary Ormsby Jr . driving the cars when we won a world championship and broke the world record to be the first car to run in the teens . It ’ s just cool to be able to follow in my dad ’ s footsteps and be a mentor to my sister , to Justin Ashley , and to Marina Anderson , who is one of my best friends , and she is doing her part to get started in Top Alcohol . It ’ s just a good feeling inside , to be able to give back what I ’ ve learned over the years and help someone do the same thing .”
The father-daughter duo make a formidable team as trainers for the rising stars who begin
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