First-year teams don't usually contend for a national championship, but someone forgot to tell Alan Bradshaw and Randy Meyer. Bradshaw, who before this season had never won an NHRA national event, won four straight with Meyer's A/Fuel Dragster and runner-upped at another en route to the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster title.

Bradshaw, who last year won the Division 5 championship with his own blown alcohol dragster before teaming with Meyer in the off-season, became the second A/Fuel driver in as many years to win a national title. In fact, A/Fuel drivers captured this year's top three spots; preseason favorite Morgan Lucas finished second, and early season points leader Tony Bartone took third.

"I knew the potential of Randy Meyer Racing, and I knew my potential as a driver, so I knew we were capable of great things," said Bradshaw. "I was very impressed with the team of players Randy put together [Myron and Craig Schmidt, Ted Lake, Stacey Lindensmith, and Darren Couture]. He picked a solid, dedicated, committed crew that worked very well together, and that was one of the key ingredients in our success.

"We also had the support of some great sponsors - Tony Owens with 1-888-CAR-WRECK, MAR Leasing, Meyer Truck Center, Valvoline, Fram, Aeroquip, and Bradshaw Chiropractic Center - that helped make this possible. We're honored to win the title for them. And I have to thank from the bottom of my heart my wife, Melissa, and my daughter, Jacque, for their unconditional love and support of my dream chasing."

A former bracket and Super Gas racer, Bradshaw broke into the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks in 1993. He won his first NHRA race in 2001, at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Denver, and finished third in Division 5 that year. Last year, he scored a pair of divisional wins en route to the Division 5 title and was runner-up twice in national competition.

As for Meyer, he won the AHRA Alcohol Dragster championship in 1983 and campaigned a Top Fuel dragster in the late 1980s before dropping out of the sport. He returned with an A/Fuel Dragster in 1998 and won his first and only NHRA event as a driver at the Division 5 race in Earlville, Iowa, in 2001. Meyer put Gary Ormsby Jr. in the car last year, and, in addition to winning in Columbus, recorded the two quickest runs in Top Alcohol Dragster history (5.135, in Topeka, and 5.172, in Chicago).

This year, Meyer's dragster carried Bradshaw to six wins in a nine-race span from April 27 to Aug. 17, including national event victories in Topeka, Seattle, Sonoma, and Brainerd. Bradshaw also made the fourth- and fifth-quickest runs in class history (5.194, in Houston, and 5.207, in Seattle).

After an inauspicious start - he lost in the semifinals when the car wouldn't fire at the Division 4 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener in Houston and lost in the first round at the Division 2 event in Memphis - Bradshaw runner-upped at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston.

"When the car wouldn't start [at the divisional race] in Houston, that's the only time in 16 races this year that it didn't go to the starting line," said Bradshaw. "We made 90-plus laps, and we were never shut off. That's a real testament to the team."

Bradshaw followed his runner-up at the national event in Houston with back-to-back divisional wins in Dallas and Topeka. Three weeks later, he returned to Topeka for the O'Reilly Summer Nationals and defeated Bill Reichert in the final in one of the quickest side-by-side races in class history for his first national event win.

After a first-round loss at the divisional race in Brainerd and a semifinal finish at the Denver divisional, Bradshaw scored back-to-back wins at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Seattle and the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, where he moved into the points lead.

From Sonoma, Bradshaw went to Scribner, Neb., for the Division 5 event and failed to qualify, but he bounced back with his fourth straight national event win, at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd.

"The DNQ in Scribner was definitely the low point of the season," said Bradshaw. "That really hurt. There we were with the meanest hot rod on the planet and we couldn't get down the racetrack. It was pretty humiliating."

At the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Bradshaw was the No. 3 qualifier when rain forced the event's postponement. It was rescheduled for the following weekend, but instead of staying in Indy, Bradshaw and Meyer opted to go to the Division 5 finale in Earlville.

"It was tough to leave Indy," said Bradshaw. "I think we had just as good a shot as anyone to win that race, and it's a real bummer that it was rained out. Our goal from day one on this team was to win the Division 5 and [national] championships, and if we hadn't gone to Earlville, we would have given the division championship to David [Wells]. It was the last divisional event we could claim, so we really had no choice."

Unfortunately for Bradshaw, he lost to Ed Schmeeckle in the final, leaving the door open for Wells, who a month later clinched the Division 5 title with an out-of-division win in Noble, Okla.

"We knew we'd left the door wide open for David to go win a race out of the division and take the championship, and that's what he did," said Bradshaw. "We're thrilled to be [national] champions, but losing the Division 5 championship left somewhat of a bitter taste in our mouth. That was an important goal for us."

Bradshaw then lost in round two at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Chicago but clinched the national title a week later when Bartone was defeated in the semifinals at the Division 2 finale in Darlington, S.C. Even if Bartone had won in Darlington, he would have had to win in Dallas or Pomona to overtake Bradshaw.

With the national championship in hand, Bradshaw lost in the first round of the O'Reilly Fall Nationals in Dallas before capping the season with a semifinal finish at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona.

"As far as next year, I have a few irons in the fire regarding fuel rides in the POWERade series," said Bradshaw. "But make no mistake about it, if those don't materialize, Randy and I will continue our assault on the alcohol ranks again next year, and we'll be even more aggressive." [bug]

Bradshaw's 2003 track record
716 points
Houston Raceway Park (Div. 4): Semifinals
O'Reilly Spring Nationals: Runner-up
Texas Motorplex (Div. 4): Won event
Heartland Park Topeka (Div. 5): Won event
O'Reilly Summer Nationals: Won event
Bandimere Speedway (Div. 5): Semifinals
Lucas Oil NHRA Northwest Nationals: Won event
Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals: Won event
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals: Won event
Tri-State Raceway (Div. 5): Runner-up