Second generation driver Megan Meyer, daughter of Alcohiol Dragster world championship-winning team owner, crew chief, and driver Randy Meyer, will move to the Super Comp rabnks this season after seven 7 years behind the wheel of her Jr. Dragster. She will attend the Super Comp class at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School March 16-17 at Gainesville Raceway.
 
Although 16-year-old Meyer is still a couple of years away from competing at an NHRA national event (the age minimum is 18 years), Meyer will get her feet wet competing at NHRA divisional events and local track events in Kansas over the next few years. Eventually she hopes to slide into the driver's seat of her dad's A/Fuel Dragster.
 
"I am just incredibly excited to have the opportunity to race and pilot such a beautiful and amazing Super Comp dragster," she said. "With the help of my family, friends and sponsors, I will hopefully have a successful launch with it. I am most excited about attending Frank Hawley's school and learning new information about drag racing. With a bit of luck, you will see me in the winner's circle soon!"

Ashley Force Hood, the first woman to win drag racing’s most important Funny Car event and one of America’s most popular drivers, will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, March 17, at 7 p.m. EDT on www.PowerUpChannel.com.  This will be Force Hood’s second appearance on The Race Reporters.

Host Michael Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by Holly Cain, of AOL Online Sports and AOL Fanhouse; and Corinne Economaki, president and publisher of National Speed Sport News.

The Race Reporters can be heard live, downloaded to an iPod, or accessed for listening on a delayed basis by clicking on the show icon at www.PowerUpChannel.com. Listeners can bookmark the show and sign up to receive a free e-card with news on upcoming guests at the show’s home page, www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1549 . The show reairs several times later in the week (check PowerUp’s daily programming listing).
 

Shirl Greer, who won the 1974 NHRA Funny Car world championship in dramatic fashion, died March 12 from complications of colon-cancer surgery. He was 75.

Greer, formerly of Warner Robins, Ga., but most recently living in Kingsport, Tenn., is best remembered for his heroic efforts at the 1974 World Finals at Ontario Motor Speedway in California, the final event of the season. Greer was locked in a tight championship battle with Don Prudhomme, Paul Smith, and Frank Hall when his Mustang Funny Car suffered a massive engine failure on a Saturday qualifying pass and the resulting fire destroyed the entire rear half of the car's body.

Fortunately for Greer, Smith and Hall failed to qualify, but Greer suffered painful burns to his hands and figured that his championship bid was through; however, overnight a multitude of people jumped in to repair the body with a patchwork of tin and fiberglass, and Greer decided to give it a go anyway. Al Hanna loaned Greer his firesuit and helmet to replace Greer's damaged equipment, and Prudhomme displayed sportsmanship by providing a set of gloves to cover Greer's burned hands.

Greer won his first-round match with Leroy Chadderton, but a blower explosion in the lights further damaged the body. Again, Greer's fellow competitors leapt into action, but before they could complete the work, Prudhomme was upset in round two by Dale Pulde to secure the championship for Greer.

Earlier that year, Greer had won his first and only NHRA national event title, at Le Grandnational in Montreal, but also used key wins at divisional races to boost his score.

Greer began his racing career in 1952 with a flathead-powered '39 Ford that he ran while serving in the Air Force. He later competed in Super Stock with a 413 Dodge and in A/FX with a Hemi-powered Dodge, campaigning under his familiar Tension name. As FX transitioned into the Funny Car class, Greer was right there with a series of Mopar entries and in 1970 even held the national record at 7.40 with a Charger-bodied entry. After a brief stint in Billy Holt's car, he built the Mustang with which he won the world championship. He campaigned his own equipment through the end of the decade before partnering with Larry Coogle in the early 1980s, then returned again to his own equipment. A mid-1980s fire at his business forced him to the sidelines for several years, but he returned to racing briefly in 1989 with an experimental B-4 overhead cam engine before retiring.

Greer is survived by wife Deborah and sons Van, Rusty, and Brian.
 

"Smokey Joe" Lee, a popular Funny Car racer in Southern California in the 1970s, died March 8 after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

Lee, who lived in Lemon Grove, Calif., near San Diego, raced in Top Fuel in the late 1960s, driving the Shifter dragster for Leonard Abbott of Lenco Transmissions, where he worked for many years.

Lee transitioned into his own Funny Car in 1970 and campaigned a series of mostly Dodge- and Plymouth-bodied cars until the middle of the decade.

Lee is survived by his wife, Barbara, and brothers, Jack, Jim, Jerry, and Jeff. No date for services has been set.