Completing the list of NHRA's Top 25 Top Alcohol Drivers
NHRA’s 75th Anniversary salute to its racers continues with the next collection of great racers, a list of NHRA’s Top 25 Alcohol Drivers.
Much in the same way as the previously released Top 75 Drivers and Top 50 Sportsman Racers lists, the celebration of more than two dozen of the sport’s greatest Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car racers was created by a panel of racing experts from all walks of the sport, including journalists, historians, and former racers.
These amazing talents are being celebrated with a special medallion presented at future NHRA national events. Here's the fifth and final group, presented alphabetically.
RANDY ANDERSON
The son of fellow Top 25 Alcohol Driver and world champion Brad Anderson carved his own legacy after following his father into the family’s Top Alcohol Funny Cars in 1992 after his dad retired.
Between 1992-96, he won 14 national events and two world championships (1993-94). His breakthrough win was perhaps his biggest of all, capturing top honors at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in 1992. In his 14 wins, he defeated some of the best in the business in the final round, including fellow Top 25 racers Frank Manzo, Pat Austin, Tony Bartone, Bob Newberry, Vern Moats, and Bucky Austin. He also collected 15 runner-ups in the class.
Anderson also scored 10 divisional wins spread across Divisions 4, 5, and 7 and was the 1994 division champion.
The second-generation Anderson then joined his sister, Shelly, in the Pro ranks, moving up to nitro Funny Car in 1997, where he collected two victories, defeating NHRA legend John Force to win both.
DALE ARMSTRONG
Although he is best known for his mechanical genius, which shaped Kenny Bernstein’s historic success, including four NHRA Funny Car championships in the 1980s and the first 300-mph run in 1992, Dale Armstrong won 12 NHRA national events and the 1975 NHRA Pro Comp championship during the 1970s with alcohol-burning dragsters, altereds, and Funny Cars.
Armstrong’s storied career began in Canada, where his Chevy Z-11 ran 11-second e.t.s in the early 1960s. After moving to Southern California, Armstrong’s career skyrocketed in Pro Comp in 1974. Partnering with Ken Veney, Armstrong won the NHRA Winternationals and later the NHRA U.S. Nationals with Jim Foust’s AA/Altered. In 1975, driving Foust’s Alcoholic BB/Funny Car, Armstrong dominated Pro Comp, breaking the 6.7-, 6.6-, and 6.5-second barriers en route to the world championship.
Armstrong added eight more national event wins before joining the nitro Funny Car ranks in 1980 then began his long association with Bernstein in 1982.
JAY PAYNE
Jay Payne’s achievements in either Top Alcohol Dragster or Top Alcohol Funny Car would make him worthy of inclusion on our Top 25 list, but taken as a whole, Payne’s career rises to a Hall of Fame level.
A Southern California class racer in the 1970s, Payne eventually made the jump to a supercharged methanol-burning dragster and won 16 events between 1988 and 1997. Payne also won the 1995 Top Alcohol Dragster championship. A move to Top Alcohol Funny Car required an adjustment, but Payne eventually went on to win 29 more national events for a total of 45.
Payne won two divisional events in the 1970s in Super Stock and then went on to claim 71 more divisional and regional titles as an alcohol racer, earning wins across each of NHRA’s seven divisions. Payne and his wife, Shelly, represent one of NHRA’s most successful husband-wife duos, and their children, Madison and Toby, are also forging their own path as successful Sportsman racers.
RICK SANTOS
Rick Santos is considered one of the all-time Top Alcohol Dragster drivers for a number of reasons. Santos holds the most championships (five), a feat equaled by Bill Reichert and Joey Severance. He was the first to do so, and he defined an era by winning in every season that the category had Federal-Mogul as its naming rights sponsor.
Santos was the first driver in the class to win the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals twice (1993 and 1999) when potential repeat winners in the category were notoriously snake-bitten.
Prior to his run of five consecutive titles in Jack O’Bannon’s Hemi-powered dragster beginning in 1997, Santos already had a career worthy of inclusion on this list driving his family’s iconic small-block Chevy-powered S&S Automotive dragster tuned by late father George. They did so much winning under the weight-per-cubic-inch sanctions that rules changes essentially forced their hand into selling the operation in the mid-1990s.
Santos is one of the best pure driving talents the class has ever seen. When elapsed time wasn’t enough, his razor-sharp reaction times and feel for the car when it needed to be pedaled or short-shifted to make it to the finish line often provided the winning edge. His craftsmanship as a chassis builder should also be noted.
JIM WHITELEY
Both on and off the track, Jim Whiteley’s impact on NHRA Drag Racing, and the Top Alcohol categories in particular, is practically immeasurable.
As a driver, Whiteley won 23 national events from 2007 to 2016 in Top Alcohol Dragster and claimed back-to-back world titles in 2012 and 2013. Whiteley’s victories include an Indy title in 2013 and five wins in both Las Vegas and Pomona. Tack on an additional 26 regional and divisional titles for all the makings of a Hall of Fame career.
After a brief stint in Pro Mod, where he captured two more wins, Whiteley made the move to Top Alcohol Funny Car, where he won the 2025 Las Vegas race, becoming one of just 10 drivers to win in both categories.
Currently, Whiteley is also a co-owner of KB Titan Racing, which fields a multitude of successful entries in Pro Stock and Pro Mod. He also fields a TAFC entry for his wife, Annie, a six-time national event winner, and backs numerous others through his J&A Service company.
Previously named
Group 1
Pat Austin
Bucky Austin
Doug Gordon
Blaine Johnson
Joey Severance
Group 2
Shawn Cowie
Cy Chesterman
Vern Moats
Bob Newberry
Shane Westerfield
Group 3
Tony Bartone
Sean Bellemeur
Frank Manzo
Ken Veney
Bill Walsh
Group 4
Brad Anderson
Tom Conway
Chris Demke
Bill Reichert
Duane Shields