NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Reigning NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster champion Shawn Cowie made history this past weekend, recording the quickest run ever for a blown alcohol dragster with a 5.115 pass during qualifying at the West Region event at Mission Raceway Park. Cowie also went on to win the event, defeating Kim Parker in the final round.

Cowie’s historic pass in the supercharged-on-methanol Mundie’s Towing entry not only bettered the 5.121 pass he ran at the Texas NHRA FallNationals in 2023 — a run that tied fellow world champ Joey Severance’s 5.121 pass in 2019 in the J&A Service blown alcohol dragster — but was the quickest pass in Top Alcohol Dragster history regardless of combination in nearly four years.

“It was a combination of us rubbing on the car and the conditions being really good,” said Cowie, who earlier this year got his title defense off to a good start with a win at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. “Mission Raceway has a fantastic race surface, so everything all came together and the dots all lined up. I give all the credit to the guys at Mission. They’ve ground the track, and it’s a real flat race surface. 

“I knew it was a pretty quick run when I pulled the ‘chutes, but I didn't think it was a 5.11; it's so hard to tell. We tested there a couple of weeks ago, and so we've mustered up 11 runs from a 5.19 to that 5.11, so we've been just kind of rubbing on the car, and the conditions are really good, so we saw the opportunity to go for it, and it ended up working out for us.”

Two-time past world champion Megan Meyer still holds the best elapsed time for the class, a run of 5.090 (backed up by a later 5.097) at the 2020 NHRA U.S. Nationals in her injected nitro-fueled dragster.

Cowie’s historic blast came with a speed of 281.25 mph, the seventh fastest ever for a blown alcohol dragster. Cowie also holds the combination’s fastest speed, 281.54, set at Texas Motorplex during qualifying for the Texas NHRA FallNationals in 2020. The fastest run in Top Alcohol Dragster remains 286.62 mph, recorded by Aaron Cooper's A/Fuel Dragster during qualifying at the 2021 FallNationals.