NHRA's Top 25 Alcohol Drivers: Five more greats join the prestigious list
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 will be celebrated with a special medallion presented at future NHRA national events.
The list will be unveiled on five consecutive Tuesdays, continuing today, with five drivers added each time. Here's the second group, presented alphabetically.
SHAWN COWIE
By any measure, Shawn Cowie has lived through more adversity than most racers will ever face. The British Columbia driver, who was terribly hurt in a devastating April 2011 motorcycle accident, has rebuilt himself, rebuilt his racing program, and rebuilt his place atop one of NHRA’s most grueling Sportsman categories as a back-to-back world champion in Top Alcohol Dragster.
Cowie and his Mundie’s Towing team have finished in the national Top 10 of the standings every year since 2014, his first full year back after the accident, and to date, has collected 27 NHRA national event wins at eight different venues, none bigger than his conquest at last year's Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals. Earlier that year, Cowie made the quickest run in blown alcohol dragster history, a 5.11, at his home track in Mission, B.C.
Cowie has won seven of the last 10 West Region championships (including the last three) and also has 45 regional and/or divisional wins, including his first in Top Comp in 2005 before he moved into the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks.
CY CHESTERMAN
For more than a decade, Sioux City, Iowa-based Cy Chesterman was able to more than hold his own in the extremely competitive world of Top Alcohol Funny Car racing. In his prime years between 1993 and 2004, Chesterman found the winner’s circle 16 times at national events, including a stunning five victories in Brainerd. Chesterman also tacked on an additional 29 titles at regional events during his career.
In 2004, Frank Manzo was riding a streak of five straight world titles, but Chesterman, with the help of tuner Les Davenport, put a stop to that with a dominant season that included national event wins in Gainesville, Las Vegas, and Brainerd as well as five wins at regional events.
A successful businessman who operated Coca-Cola bottling plants, Chesterman claimed his final win in Topeka in 2007.
VERN MOATS
The late Division 5 Hall of Famer was there from the beginning before alcohol-burning Funny Cars even had a place with the advent of the Pro Comp category in 1973, and he competed in Comp eliminator. Though credited largely for his longevity by the time he hung up his driver’s boots in 2012, the 16-time national event winner made a major impact in the category.
Perhaps no other racer is as synonymous with the geographic division they claimed in NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition as the Iowa native is with Division 5. Despite a career of competing in the challenging division that covers the largest geographic area of the seven divisions with drastic elevation changes between tracks, Moats won an unprecedented 15 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championships, a record that stood until Frank Manzo equaled it more than a decade later. His 56 career divisional victories rank him fourth of all time among drivers in all classes behind only Manzo, Bob Newberry, and Jay Payne.
Moats had some iconic entries with a series of beer sponsorships from Olympia (“the Oly Roller”), Hamm’s, and Pabst Blue Ribbon, along with partnerships with Mopar and Kendall Motor Oil. Though a national title is the only major accomplishment missing from his résumé, he narrowly lost to Fred Mandoline in 1983 while scoring four consecutive seasons and to Brad Anderson by three points in 1985 during a six-win season.
BOB NEWBERRY
In a case of iron sharpening iron, the Schenectady, N.Y., driver held his own competing in the same division as Manzo to the tune of 44 wins and two world championships. His title seasons occurred in highly competitive climates, with his 1992 championship being sandwiched between seasons of consecutive titles by Pat Austin and Randy Anderson and his 2005 triumph being the final decision a driver scored against Manzo before Manzo reeled off eight straight championship seasons until retirement.
Newberry made his living with his own racing efforts and by supplying his parts and expertise to customers throughout the class. He is immortalized for being the first driver in either category to break the five-second barrier and collected a pair of NHRA U.S. Nationals wins. Perhaps an even more impressive run was when he was the first to break into the 5.6-second range at a Division 4 event in Houston years later while still utilizing a Roots-supercharged combination.
He retired from driving in 2007 after 35 years competing in Comp eliminator (where he collected his first five national event wins and a world championship) and Top Alcohol Funny Car, netting a combined 50 wins and 11 Division 1 championships.
SHANE WESTERFIELD
Shane Westerfield’s accomplishments as an alcohol racer easily fit the criteria for our Top 25 list, but that barely scratches the surface of what he’s been able to do during a long and prosperous career. In addition to his 2017 NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car championship, Westerfield also holds multiple world titles in Blown Gas Flatbottom drag boats. Westerfield has also carved out a reputation as a top-notch racer in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series, and he’s got experience in a “big show” nitro Funny Car.
His diverse résumé aside, Westerfield’s bread and butter is NHRA alcohol racing, where he’s got 18 national event wins, including, most recently, the 2025 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.
Frank Manzo didn’t lose many finals in his career, but Westerfield got the best of the 17-time champ in Dallas in 2013 for his first NHRA national event win.
Previously named
Group 1
Pat Austin
Bucky Austin
Doug Gordon
Blaine Johnson
Joey Severance