Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020 | Page 78

The Champions of 2019
[ NHRA TOP DRAGSTER ]
F
our event wins, one run-
ner-up finish, and a semifinal
appearance is what it took for
Danny Nelson to get his hands on
the 2019 NHRA Lucas Oil Series Top Dragster
world championship. He also finished No. 2 in
NHRA’s Division 3, and No. 2 in the Mid-West
Pro Mod Series Top Dragster points. Nelson is
the first driver from Arkansas to win a world
championship, making sure that his name will
be in the history books.
Nelson has been a drag racer pretty much his
entire life, starting in the late ‘70s, and has been
a self-proclaimed professional bracket racer since
1985. He started building chassis in 1987, and has
since built more than 1,000 from his home-base
in Batesville, Arkansas. He started to compete
in Top Dragster in 2015, and it only took a few
years for him to prove that he can consistently
win in the class.
In 2019, Top Dragster fields grew quicker and
tighter than ever before, with 6.10 as the quickest
E.T. allowed. There have been talks about rule
changes to lower that E.T., but Nelson has another
rule change in mind, one to do with who gets lane
choice. Currently, the faster car from the previous
round ends up with lane choice. This works well
for the NHRA professional categories like Top
Fuel and Pro Stock, but Nelson says it isn’t the
same for Top Dragster or Top Sportsman.
“This class often requires you to drive the
finish line, and right now you can get punished
for doing that by losing lane choice,” Nelson
starts. “If your opponent red lights or some-
thing happens, you can’t just coast across the
finish line. That could cost you lane choice in
the next round.”
While there isn’t a perfect answer to this, he
said awarding lane choice according to the qual-
ifying order would be the easiest way to try and
alleviate this issue.
Nelson plans to defend the NHRA Top Drag-
ster world championship, and will be competing
in the full points schedule, both in his division
and nationally, in 2020. – ALLYSON JOHNSON
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Clair Stewart I I
78 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
NMRA COYOTE STOCK
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Randy Conway
NMRA TRUCK & LIGHTNING
Issue 152
Danny Nelson