The event featured Funny Car driver Buddy Hull executing a ceremonial race-opening burnout in a special 40th anniversary-themed Funny Car for this year’s Stampede of Speed. The car also featured the event logo. Photo courtesy of Werner Communications.

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

ENNIS – Aspiring drag strip owner Billy Meyer was dealing with house money in the mid-1980s, well before the first shovelful of dirt was turned for the Texas Motorplex.

Christie Meyer Johnson and Billy Meyer address the full house at the Champions Club today at Texas Motorplex. Photo courtesy of Werner Communications

“Actually, I got an NHRA date before I built it,” Meyer recalled during Tuesday’s “Stampede of Speed/Stars of Texas Media Day” event officially kicking-off The Plex’s 40^th anniversary season. “They (NHRA) trusted me enough to give me the date for September 1986 and I hadn’t even broke ground yet. They gave me the contract in 1985 to have the FallNationals in ’86.”

Indeed, NHRA officials were all-in on the stadium-style facility Meyer – then a Funny Car prodigy, today an International Drag Racing Hall of Famer  envisioned for the lucrative Dallas-Fort Worth market at 7500 US-287, Ennis, Texas 75119.

“I didn’t break ground until January of 1986,” Meyer, 71, said during an interview inside the facility’s expansive Champion’s Club. “I got a little behind on financing, getting it finalized. I was trying to break ground in November (1985) but didn’t break ground until January. So, we had to work two shifts to get it finished.

Memorabilia that was on display at the Texas Motorplex media event included a flyer that was handed out to area residents protesting the building of the Texas Motorplex in 1985. Photo courtesy of Michael Haag

“Having the contract is what helped me get the financing. The bank knowing I had an NHRA national event contract and it was on the schedule really helped me get the financing over the finish line – no pun intended.”

Booked for Oct. 9-12, the 40^th edition of the NHRA FallNationals is the pivotal Round 4 of the six-race Countdown to the Championship Playoffs.

The inaugural national event staged at Texas Motorplex and its touted post-tension, all-concrete quarter-mile – the NHRA Chief Nationals – was conducted from Sept. 25-28, 1986. A recap of the key moments in Top Fuel saw Darrell “The Kid” Gwynn record the first 5.20-second pass in Top Fuel history and the first pass over 275 mph, clocking-in at 5.280-seconds and 278.29 mph.

Fittingly perhaps, drag racing icon “Big Daddy” Don Garlits defeated Gwynn in the Top Fuel final.

NHRA Funny Car driver Buddy Hull prepares to execute a ceremonial race-opening burnout in a special 40th anniversary-themed Funny Car for this year’s Stampede of Speed. Photo courtesy of Werner Communications.

The Funny Car competition was highlighted by former Lubbock resident and University of Texas at Arlington student Kenny Bernstein posting the first 5.40-second pass in the “flopper” class with a 5.25-second run. Meanwhile, Mark Oswald broke the class speed record with a pass at 268.09 mph. 

Indeed, the Motorplex’s debut national event marked a significant moment in drag racing history as it showcased the advanced nature of the track’s all-concrete surface amid an array of spectator improvements.

Recall that Meyer began his racing career at age 16, the youngest person ever licensed to drive a Funny Car. Meyer’s barnstorming experiences with seasoned competitors, big-dollar potential sponsors – and their wives – shaped his vision for what became drag racing’s first “super-track.”

“I wanted to build a place with bathrooms and suites,” said Meyer, a native of Waco now living in Spicewood, a community approximately 35 miles outside Austin. “So I went to Texas Stadium, where the Cowboys played, in Irving. I was able to get in there during the week and walked through the whole facility and counted the bathrooms. And when I built this, I put in one more bathroom than they had _ I put 176 in and we’ve added since then. I wanted to be able to say we had more bathrooms than Texas Stadium.”

Texas Motorplex officials unveil the 40th anniversary logo for the upcoming NHRA drag races. Photo courtesy of Michael Haag

For the record, Texas Stadium, its ballyhooed hole in the roof and 175 restrooms were demolished via a controlled implosion on April 11, 2010 after serving as home to the Cowboys from 1971 to 2008.

The first NHRA national event at the Motorplex was preceded by what Meyer termed “an NHRA points race” conducted in the blistering summertime heat of Aug. 1-3, 1986. “Dan Pastorini (former Houston Oilers quarterback) raced somebody in a Top Fuel car,” said Meyer, who was involved in a Funny Car match-race that weekend. “Then we had the national event in September. It was promoted as being at the ‘Taj Mahal’ and was a huge event. If you look at some of the photos, we didn’t even have grass in place yet.”

Tuesday’s media launch, conducted by award-winning public relations specialist Elon Werner, included on-stage interviews with Tony Schumacher, an eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion, Texas Motorplex Legend and former Texas FallNationals winner from Austin; Houston native Erica Enders, six-time Pro Stock world champion and former Texas FallNationals winner; Steve Torrence, four-time Top Fuel world champion and Kilgore resident; North Carolinian Greg Anderson, a six-time Pro Stock world champion and Texas Motorplex Legend; Buddy Hull, Dallas-based Funny Car driver and business owner and Keller resident Spencer Massey, who is driving a partial Top Fuel schedule this season for Krista Baldwin Racing in-between a regimen of bracket racing.

Texas Motorplex PR rep Elon Werner talks to Steve Torrence and Erica Enders about their significant wins at the Texas Fall Nationals. Photo courtesy of Werner Communications.

The Motorplex has continued to evolve under Meyer and daughter Christie Meyer Johnson, the track’s co-owner/general manager and a prime mover behind the “Stampede of Speed” initiative.

“This is three years now that I’ve been in this role and I’m very fortunate to do this, follow in my dad’s footsteps,” said Meyer Johnson, 40. “It’s a different generation. My generation likes music festivals, so we have to be a multi-purpose facility. We’re not just a drag strip anymore. So, we’ve got to get creative and the ‘Stampede of Speed’ will bring in things younger generations like, and that way they will be introduced to drag racing and hopefully come back.

“Just yesterday we were having a pow-wow trying to come up with something kind of off-the-wall, change the rules a little. You know, trying to be creative as a promoter.”

The event featured Funny Car driver Buddy Hull in a special 40th anniversary-themed Funny Car for the 2025 Stampede of Speed. Photo courtesy of Werner Communications.

The 40^th annual NHRA FallNationals, set for Oct. 9-12, again will cap the 10-day “Stampede of Speed” set to begin Friday, Oct. 3, with the Stars of Texas Festival featuring headliners Pat Green, Chris Young and Clint Black. A full week of activities will spotlight the economic benefit of motorsports in Texas as well as provide a variety of entertainment options for sports fans from across the state and around the country.

Those activities include the country music festival, lantern release, BBQ cook-off, beer expo, bull riding, cornhole tournament, Champions’ Dinner (Oct. 8) and Fan Fest (Oct. 9). The Champions’ Dinner will officially fete 2025 Texas Motorplex Legends John Force, the popular 16-time Funny Car world champion from California, along with with Joe Luebano and T.J. Bailey – two Motorplex employees who passed away earlier this year.

“The Texas Motorplex’s 40^th anniversary is an exciting time not just for my family and the drag racing community, but for the state of Texas at-large,” Meyer-Johnson said. “Our ‘Stampede of Speed’ event is packed with unforgettable moments for the whole family and celebrates everything that makes Texas.“

A comprehensive, day-by-day schedule and more information can be accessed at www.stampedeofspeed.com.