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NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car racers put on a heck of a show in 2024, with everything from new winners to record fields to perfect points totals. It’s difficult to single out the 10 most memorable moments from each NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season, but we’ve done just that. Presented in no particular order, here we go.

SEAN BELLEMEUR POSTS A RARE PERFECT SCORE

In the NHRA alcohol classes, a perfect score consists of 10 wins and 850 points, and it is one of the rarest and most impressive feats imaginable. Since the current points system was put in place in 1995, just four drivers have managed to run the table. That list includes Frank Manzo, who has done it five times, along with Rick Santos, Bill Reichert, and Sean Bellemeur, who has now done it twice.

Bellemeur compiled a perfect score in 2018, and he did it again this season with 10 wins, including seven national events. Bellemeur, who now has four titles as a member of the Killer Bs team, along with owner Tony Bartone and crew chief Steve Boggs, locked up the title in Dallas and finished more than 200 points ahead of championship runner-up Maddi Gordon.

JULIE NATAAS SAYS GOODBYE WITH A WIN

Julie Nataas had intended to end her alcohol racing career following her championship in 2023 but elected to stick with the Randy Meyer team for another season, and she’s certainly glad she did. This year, Nataas didn’t exactly have the season she expected but was able to officially end her alcohol career with an emotional victory at the season-ending In-N-Out Burger 91���� Finals in Pomona.

Nataas made her Top Fuel debut this season, and that certainly appears where her career is headed, but she did leave the door open just a bit after winning her fourth straight JEGS Allstars title in Dallas, where she hinted that she might be up to chase a fifth victory in 2025.

RECORD TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER FIELD IN POMONA

The record for the quickest bump spot in the Top Alcohol Dragster class got hit a couple of times in late 2023 as the class continues to grow in terms of both quality and quantity. In Dallas, the field stretched from Mike Coughlin’s 5.216 to Madison Payne’s 5.315, and every car in the field topped 270 mph.

Turns out, that was just a preview of what was to come at the In-N-Out Burger 91���� Finals, where the entire 16-car field stretched from Payne’s 5.161 to a 5.304 by Kim Parker, and it likely would have been quicker had teams gotten all three of their qualifying runs. In Pomona, 14 of the 16 qualifiers ran in the 5.2s or quicker, and it seems just a matter of time before we have a 5.2-second bump spot.

ANGELLE SAMPEY WINS IN READING

Until recently, Angelle Sampey was known as one of the Pro Stock Motorcycle classes all-time greats with three championships and 46 victories. Sampey isn’t afraid to admit that even she was skeptical when Top Fuel champ Antron Brown approached her about a move to four wheels. It may not have been the smoothest transition, but Sampey achieved a major milestone this season when she won the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals in Reading.

Sampey got to the final riding a string of low 5.2-second runs and then held on to win a close 5.304 to 5.307 final against Mike Coughlin, who is widely regarded as one of the best leavers in the class. Sampey was also a runner-up in Indy and finished a very respectable No. 7 in the standings.

JOE C. MAYNARD WINS GAINESVILLE IN FIRST START

Don’t call it beginner’s luck, because it wasn’t. When Joe C. Maynard won the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, it was more likely the beginning of a solid career in the Top Alcohol Dragster category. Maynard, the son of JCM Racing founder Joe Maynard, gave a preview of what was to come when he won the “Baby Gators,” the Eastern regional event held at Gainesville Raceway the week before the Gatornationals.

Brimming with confidence, Maynard drove the Samsel Racing entry to the final of the Gatornationals, where he defeated Jackie Fricke in the final round. With just 13 runs under his belt, Maynard managed to collect his first two Wallys.

MADDI GORDON BECOMES NHRA’S 100TH FEMALE WINNER

Going into the 2024 season, we all knew there was a strong likelihood that history would be made as NHRA was on the verge of crowning its 100th different female national event winner. As fate would have it, that winner turned out to be third-generation Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Maddi Gordon, who highlighted an impressive rookie season with her first win in Seattle.

Gordon had already won a pair of regional events and appeared in two national event finals, so the Seattle win was hardly a surprise. For the record, she’s just the fourth woman to win an NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car race, joining Bunny Burkett, Annie Whiteley, and Alexis DeJoria.

SHAWN COWIE GETS FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP

After far too many near misses, Shawn Cowie finally broke through for his first Top Alcohol Dragster world title in 2024. Cowie won his first national event title in 2009, and it wasn’t long after that he was considered a favorite to win a world title. Cowie’s career was nearly derailed by a serious motorcycle accident, but he refused to give up, and this season, he won four races in eight final rounds to hold off reigning champ Julie Nataas.

Cowie, of Langley, B.C., becomes the first Canadian to win the Top Alcohol Dragster title since Brent Bramley in 1976. He also joins fellow Canadian Jordan Lazic, who claimed the win in the Congruity 91���� Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by LearnEV+.

GARY PRITCHETT GOES TO FIVE FINALS IN FIVE RACES

From Super Street to Top Fuel, Gary Pritchett drove a number of different race cars this season, and he looked very much at home in all of them. Pritchett, who spent years as a key member, made just five starts in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, and he made the most of them by reaching the final round in all of them.

Pritchett confined his racing to just regional events, but he won races in Norwalk and Earlville, Iowa, to go with runner-up finishes in Norwalk, Columbus, and St. Louis.

STAN SIPOS RETURNS AFTER THREE DECADES

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Stan Sipos was a solid contender in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, posting national event wins in Englishtown, Memphis, Tenn., Pomona, and Sonoma. Sipos dropped off the tour following the 1992 season and then made a successful comeback more than three decades later.

Sipos, along with longtime tuner Les Davenport, made their return in Gainesville and capped off the season with a runner-up finish to world champ Sean Bellemeur at the sport’s premiere event, the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

MIKE COUGHLIN GOES BACK-TO-BACK IN CHARLOTTE

Years of experience in E.T. bracket racing and a variety of Sportsman classes have made Mike Coughlin someone to be respected in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, especially when it comes to reaction times. Coughlin is at his best when it comes to the often confusing four-wide format, and he proved it with a second straight win at zMax Dragway.

Coughlin’s performance in the final was a master class as he left first against Julie Nataas, Hunter Green, and Megan Smith and then turned on the win light with a 5.280 in his JEGS.com dragster. Green was quicker with a 5.26 but fouled, and Nataas was not far behind with a 5.289. Coughlin finished the season as the No. 5 driver in the class.

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