NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Zach Meziere, Alvie Merrill, C.W. Hoefer, James Paulson and Omar Leon were crowned Summit E.T. Racing Series national champions on Monday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Each of the five champions crowned in Super Pro, Pro E.T., Sportsman, Motorcycle, and Street EV has survived a year-long journey at began at their local NHRA member track and ended with a victory at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.

Beginning the season with thousands of competitors spread out across more than 100 member tracks in NHRA’s seven geographic divisions, the field was narrowed to 40 who came to Las Vegas to race at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals.

Super Pro

Meziere, the 2016 NHRA Finals champion and the reigning Division 6 champ, drove his dragster to a an easy final round win in Super Pro when Jeff Krushinske fouled with a -.022 reaction.

Meziere kicked off eliminations with a win over Division 7 representative David Myhre and a semifinal win against Tyler Vaughn of Division 5. In both rounds, Meziere was sharp on the Christmas Tree with reaction times of .005 and .015. 

Krushinskie, who got into the event as the Wild Card entrant from the Northeast Division, had a perfect .000 light in round one against Michael Carpenter of Division 2, and then punched his ticket to the final by beating fellow Division 1 racer Richard Copertino.

Pro 

There aren’t many racers who have won both a Summit E.T. Racing series national championship and an NHRA national event but newly crowned Pro E.T. champ Alvie Merrill is one of them. Merrill, the Division 4 rep, and winner of the 1997 Dallas event, defeated Tim O’Moore of Division 7 in the final by just .009-second

Merrill carded wins against Division 2’s Noel Cuevas and Paul Northrop of Division 1. O’Moore’s path to the final included victories against Andrew Innes, the newly crowned Division 3 champ, and Tony Price, the Division 6 Race of Champions victor.

Sportsman

C.W. Hoefer began his 2024 season by winning the Stock title at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, and he’s added a Summit E.T. Racing Series Sportsman champ to his already impressive resumé. Hoefer drove to a victory against wild card entry Josh Carroll in the final round. 

Hoefer’s road to the final included wins against high stakes E.T. veteran “Nasty Nick” Hastings of Division 3 and Charlie Bukevics, who is the Division 6 rep. 

Carroll defeated Division 5’s Andrew Quinn and Division 1’s David Harvey to reach the final.

Motorcycle

Wild Card winner James Paulson topped Jason Drnach of Division 3 in a double-breakout final in Super Pro Motorcycle. Paulson was 9.23 on a 9.27 while Drnach was further under with a 8.10 on his 8.16 dial.

Paulson defeated Jerry Turner of Division 2 and Heather Bamond of the Northeast Division on his way to the final.

Drnach almost earned a measure of redemption following a disastrous Las Vegas trip in 2023 where he was injured in an on-track accident. Motivated, determined, and fully healed, Drnach earned a return trip to Las Vegas by winning the Division 3 Summit E.T. Finals then defeated Division 5’s Gordon Fangmeyer and Division 6 rider Marty Reeves to earn his spot in the final. 

Street Legal EV

The Street EV class continues to gain in popularity and the class’s second-ever national champion is Omar Leon, who defeated Michael Webster in the final round

Leon, of Division 7 bested Division 4 runner Camron Nelson in round one and Division 5’s Todd Larson in the semifinals

Webster, of Division 6, defeated Division 3’s Scott Sheppeard in round one and Division 2’s Mark Horton in semi’s.