The latest update as of October 31, 2020

Dodge NHRA Finals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

7:00 AM Update

Due to an uncooperative (ie. crap) wi-fi at Motel "5.9", our photographer was only able to transmit two pictures from yesterday's Top Alcohol qualifying at Las Vegas. Thankfully they were images of the top cars in each class. Much more to come later today though and throughout the weekend. Stay tuned!

(LEFT) Normally you would expect these two cars to be the last pair in a qualifying session, but after 9- and 10-second runs in the first session, Brian Hough in the near lane, and Greg Bellemeur in the far lane, were the first cars out of the waterbox to start the second (and final) qualifier. They both improved dramatically, with Hough jumping from #15 to the top of the ladder with a 5.464 - 267.75 pass, while Bellemeur nearly matched his numbers as he leaped from #16 to #2, courtesy of a 5.487 - 264.96 clocking.

(RIGHT) The story for this pair is the opposite of the Funny Cars, as they finished the first session in the top two spots, and stayed there on the final qualifying sheets. To show the consistency of these teams, they were the quickest cars in both qualifying sessions. In the far lane, Megan Meyer followed up her 5.203 - 271.79 with an almost as good 5.236 - 269.56 pass, while on the near side, Shawn Cowie fell off slightly from his earlier 5.208 - 276.80 to a merely very good 5.258 - 276.13 in the final session. Interestingly, Cowie had the two fastest passes of qualifying at over 276-mph, beating out the BIG horsepower of the A/Fuel cars.

3:00 PM Update

Following the first PRO qualifying session, which was slowed somewhat by cone blasting, engine destroying, rearend locking, etc incidents, the Top Alcohol cars waited patiently in the staging lanes for their first round of eliminations. With two rounds of eliminations scheduled for today (second one at approx. 6:30 pm), there could be some major changes in the dragster championship before the day is over. In fact, Shawn Cowie could be crowned the new champion if his two pursuers from the Meyer Racing team, Megan Meyer and Julie Nataas lose in either the first or second round. To make that possibility a reality, Cowie would have to at least win his first round match with Dusty Green in the one-of-a-kind driver forward A/Fuel Dragster. The first pair of dragsters are in the burnout box, so stay tuned for an almost live update in a few minutes.