{"id":101001,"date":"2025-06-02T16:18:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/top-alcohol-legend-randy-meyer-gets-candid-on-nhras-blown-nitro-plan-for-2026-tad-tafc\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T16:18:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:18:21","slug":"top-alcohol-legend-randy-meyer-gets-candid-on-nhras-blown-nitro-plan-for-2026-tad-tafc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/top-alcohol-legend-randy-meyer-gets-candid-on-nhras-blown-nitro-plan-for-2026-tad-tafc\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Alcohol Legend Randy Meyer Gets Candid on NHRA\u2019s Blown-Nitro Plan for 2026 TAD\/TAFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Randy Meyer reached for his phone this week and, in a five-minute Facebook video<\/a>, unloaded his unvarnished view of NHRA\u2019s newest rules shake-up\u2014a 2026 option that will let Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car teams run supercharged engines on 85 percent nitro.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s been a new rule to allow old, I guess, lack of better words, worn out, used up Top Fuel dragsters and Top Fuel Funny Cars in our class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meyer said the announcement has \u201cthe phone\u2026ringing off the wall,\u201d mostly from racers wondering if mothballed nitro equipment now has a second life. NHRA bills the combination as a natural bridge to the professional ranks, mirroring Top Fuel and Funny Car architecture while capping blower overdrive and clutch tech to keep performance in check.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what the real thinking or reasoning behind this is, because I think part of the problem that we all have is that we race for little to no money.\u201d<\/p>\n

NHRA\u2019s pitch leans heavily on legacy: tuners like Del Worsham once climbed from alcohol classes to nitro without replacing every part in the trailer. Worsham believes the new blend restores that ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t have enough teams coming up through the alcohol ranks, which is how my dad and I and [Richard] Hartman and Dale Armstrong all got started,\u201d Worsham said. \u201cWith this new option, you\u2019re going to get teams that can and will transfer classes\u2026which should create a lot more people who suddenly can do this or want to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meyer measures the idea against today\u2019s economics. National-event purses are modest, and TV windows are fleeting\u2014realities that make sponsorship elusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t think a lot of these people take in consideration how little money that you race for compared to what you can do a low end or low buck\u2026on the Top Fuel side, and be able to be parked with the pros and be treated like a pro and everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think these people realize\u2026where we have to park and what time we run in the morning and what time we run at night, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Meyer\u2019s seat, the proposal creates as many questions as answers. Can tech officials effectively police three disparate engine-and-fuel combinations? Will retired nitro cars truly fill thin TAFC fields, or will sticker shock keep them in storage?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot different than it used to be in the old days. So I don\u2019t see that it\u2019s really going to go anywhere. I mean, it\u2019d be great if they could get some more cars, but they\u2019re going to have their hands full trying to police it with the rules and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I don\u2019t see\u2014you still have to have a shop. You still have to have a truck, a trailer, and it\u2019s just going to cost a lot of money to go out and run one of these cars. And unless you\u2019ve got a lot of money to burn up, there\u2019s no return on your investment at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in our class, it\u2019s hard to find sponsorship because we don\u2019t get any kind of prime time and we don\u2019t get great TV time or nothing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 18 months before the rules take effect, teams will weigh whether a blown-nitro setup is a bargain or a budget-buster. For now, Meyer\u2019s candid assessment underscores a simple truth: beefing up car counts might hinge less on new combinations and more on the dollars\u2014and daylight\u2014available to the racers already in the lanes.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on June 2, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Top Alcohol Legend Randy Meyer Gets Candid on NHRA\u2019s Blown-Nitro Plan for 2026 TAD\/TAFC<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Randy Meyer reached for his phone this week and, in a five-minute Facebook video, unloaded his unvarnished view of NHRA\u2019s newest rules shake-up\u2014a 2026 option that will let Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car teams run supercharged engines on 85 percent nitro. \u201cSo there\u2019s been a new rule to allow old, I guess, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}