Back when there were just a handful of races each NHRA national event
season, Billy Meyer battled other Funny Car drivers for each and every
round win. He drove in 112 NHRA events and earned 12 victories in 22
final round appearances. Do the math – he was in the finals 20 percent
of the time. Not bad for a guy who was also racing in IHRA events,
doing
match races as well as running any number of businesses Meyer has
started
and owned throughout his lifetime. Want the short list of some
of his
accomplishments? He finished in the top 10 each year that he
raced behind
the wheel of a Funny Car, including turning in
second-place finishes in the
final point standings three times; he was
the youngest person ever licensed
to drive a Funny Car (16 years old);
he earned an IHRA Winston world
championship (1980); was partner to Hal
Needham in the Budweiser Rocket Car
– the car that set the land speed
record at the Bonneville Salt Flats,
becoming the first land vehicle to
break the sound barrier; he helped create
Racers for Christ; he's the
author for the Boy Scouts of America badge
requirements for Automotive
Mechanics; he owned IHRA in 1988; he also owned
and published Drag
Racing Today. On top of all that, Meyer has dabbled in
areas outside
the racing industry too. He has started and owned businesses
in
publishing, corporate jets, real estate and website design, to name a
few. Oh yeah, he also owns the Texas Motorplex, the site of this
weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly Fall NHRA Nationals. In this Q&A session
Meyer talks about what his dad contributed to his life, what his
weakness is as a track owner and what he considers to be his best
racing
statistic.
Jeg Coughlin Jr., impressed with
