Back when there were just a handful of races each NHRA national event
season, Billy Meyer battled other Funny Car drivers for each and every
round win. He drove in 112 NHRA events and earned 12 victories in 22
final round appearances. Do the math – he was in the finals 20 percent
of the time. Not bad for a guy who was also racing in IHRA events,
doing match races as well as running any number of businesses Meyer has
started and owned throughout his lifetime. Want the short list of some
of his accomplishments? He finished in the top 10 each year that he
raced behind the wheel of a Funny Car, including turning in
second-place finishes in the final point standings three times; he was
the youngest person ever licensed to drive a Funny Car (16 years old);
he earned an IHRA Winston world championship (1980); was partner to Hal
Needham in the Budweiser Rocket Car – the car that set the land speed
record at the Bonneville Salt Flats, becoming the first land vehicle to
break the sound barrier; he helped create Racers for Christ; he's the
author for the Boy Scouts of America badge requirements for Automotive
Mechanics; he owned IHRA in 1988; he also owned and published Drag
Racing Today. On top of all that, Meyer has dabbled in areas outside
the racing industry too. He has started and owned businesses in
publishing, corporate jets, real estate and website design, to name a
few. Oh yeah, he also owns the Texas Motorplex, the site of this
weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly Fall NHRA Nationals. In this Q&A session
Meyer talks about what his dad contributed to his life, what his
weakness is as a track owner and what he considers to be his best
racing statistic. Back when there were just a handful of races each NHRA national event
season, Billy Meyer battled other Funny Car drivers for each and every
round win. He drove in 112 NHRA events and earned 12 victories in 22
final round appearances. Do the math – he was in the finals 20 percent
of the time. Not bad for a guy who was also racing in IHRA events,
doing match races as well as running any number of businesses Meyer has
started and owned throughout his lifetime. Want the short list of some
of his accomplishments? He finished in the top 10 each year that he
raced behind the wheel of a Funny Car, including turning in
second-place finishes in the final point standings three times; he was
the youngest person ever licensed to drive a Funny Car (16 years old);
he earned an IHRA Winston world championship (1980); was partner to Hal
Needham in the Budweiser Rocket Car – the car that set the land speed
record at the Bonneville Salt Flats, becoming the first land vehicle to
break the sound barrier; he helped create Racers for Christ; he's the
author for the Boy Scouts of America badge requirements for Automotive
Mechanics; he owned IHRA in 1988; he also owned and published Drag
Racing Today. On top of all that, Meyer has dabbled in areas outside
the racing industry too. He has started and owned businesses in
publishing, corporate jets, real estate and website design, to name a
few. Oh yeah, he also owns the Texas Motorplex, the site of this
weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly Fall NHRA Nationals. In this Q&A session
Meyer talks about what his dad contributed to his life, what his
weakness is as a track owner and what he considers to be his best
racing statistic.


Q: How did your dad's work as a motivation coach teach you?

MEYER: He based his work on goal setting whether it was in sales, your
personal, life or athletics. He had a huge impact on my life. I was
raised in an environment where you were never given any mental
recognition to the possibility of defeat. Losing was not an option. If
you have a bad week, that's just a learning experience. It's the way
I've lived my life.

Q: Why did you choose racing as a career?

MEYER: I raced Go-Karts from when I was 9 years old until I was 16. I
didn't have a way to get to the race track all the time, so I went with
different people until Grover Rogers took me with him. He raced my
bigger Go-Kart at national events. He drove the Steakley Chevrolet
Funny Car for the Waco and Dallas based Chevy dealership. He was a big
brother to me and at one point, he asked if I wanted to buy into the
car and all the stuff that came with it. I used money from some stocks
that my dad gave me when I was growing up. I was 16 years old and that
was my lucky break. I had been going to the races with the team and had
been making a pass here or there. Then he crashed in a Go-Kart and hurt
his hand and couldn't drive for a year. If that had not happened, I
would have never been given the opportunity to drive so soon. I got my
license and started match racing every weekend. As soon as I turned 18,
I went on tour full time. I left home about six weeks after high school
graduation to go racing.

Q: What attracts people to racing? Why are they die-hard fans?

MEYER: Drag racing is unique in that the atmosphere is considerably
different than any other sport. It operates off multiple senses –
smell, sounds, vibrations; a lot of different senses come out versus
other sports. People like to see crashes and see things on the edge.
But one of the reasons why drag racing unique is because the fatality
rate is so incredibly low. People like to watch something that looks
dangerous with lots of scary moments, but they also want to see people
walk away.

Q: What did being a race car driver help you with in your later
business ventures?

MEYER: Driving a drag race vehicle, especially a fuel car, I think you
learn to understand that preparation is extremely important from both a
safety and victory standpoint. Everyday is match play. In football a
team can fumble the ball but they have four quarters to make it up. In
tennis, even though it has the same ladder system as a drag race, they
have several games and sets to earn the win. If you have a bad set, you
still have time to make it up and win the match. In drag racing, you
have one shot and you can't make a mistake. It forces you to focus
extremely hard and I'd say Funny Car, having an extra element of
danger, helps illuminate the importance of preparation.

Q: Why have you stayed with the racing industry even after you stopped
driving?

MEYER: I enjoy the friendships and relationships that I've made
throughout the years. Obviously a good second reason is that the track
has become an income producing company. A third reason is that if you
look at a lot of people, their true love is what they did first in
life, whether it's college football, a school they attended or anything
else they bonded with early in their lives. It describes them well.
Racing is just a part of me. I love the ability to be at the race
track, even if I am not driving a race car. We have what we consider
the finest racing surface at the Texas Motorplex. We provide great
corporate opportunities and the my business background has helped us
become a great partner for sponsors. It's a great blend of who I am.

Q: Who influenced you most while growing up?

MEYER: My dad was the most influential person in my life because of the
way we were raised. He simply taught us to never give up on anything.

Q: Why did you choose Funny Car when you were racing?

MEYER: That was a simple choice because that's what Grover Rodgers
drove and that was my first opportunity to drive. It's also by far the
hardest to drive and it is a much more popular vehicle with spectators.
When we were match racing, Funny Car was the most entertaining type of
racing.

Q: Your track was the first super-facility for drag racing. How did the
construction of the Texas Motorplex come about?

MEYER: I had been involved with racing for a while and I had a theory
that we had a much bigger sport than what was being showed. We
basically were playing in the sand lots. You wouldn't think much of the
Dallas Cowboys if they played in a sand lot. But if you have a
big-league park, it becomes more representative of what the sport
really is. I had so many sponsors over the years and the biggest
problem was tracks without proper amenities. I was the driver of the
first Skoal Bandit in 1981. Lou Bantle was the Chairman of the Board of
Skoal at the time. I remember he showed up to a race in Englishtown
(N.J.) with his wife. They showed up in a Gulfstream jet worth about
$20 million to a track that didn't have suites, bathrooms or anything
else to make them feel comfortable. That was their first and last drag
race.

In 1982 I had a partnership with Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds and we
all owned the car that broke the land speed record. So we bring all the
big shots out to Pomona and one of the wives rolls out of a chauffeured
Rolls Royce wearing a mink coat. We didn't have suites there either and
while they were walking to the lanes, tire rubber from a burnout got
all over her face, her coat, everything. It was a disaster and the last
time they came to a race too. That's when we decided to do what we did.
We wanted to build the best race track in America for racers so that's
why we built it with the all-concrete surface. We also wanted to build
the most comfortable place for spectators. When I built this facility
we had more restrooms than Texas Stadium. We have concessions
everywhere. We also wanted a place for corporate sponsors. We wanted to
be able to give sponsors a place to entertain their customers and
advertise their product. The Texas Motorplex was the first place to
accomplish all of those goals.

Q: What does the Texas Motorplex do well as a facility?

MEYER: Everything. The spectators have the most amenities of any
facility whether it's food, seating, bathrooms or suites. The racers
are treated well. We have more asphalt parking and the most consistent
track in the world. We never have one lane or asphalt issues. From a
corporate standpoint we have a phenomenal record of retention of
sponsors. That's because we have the ability to work with any type of
program they need. Over the years I've worn many hats in the racing
industry and throughout the 20 years I've owned the Texas Motorplex,
I've learned what it takes to make a race track work. It all has to do
with the people we have working here because they know the goals and
they know how to accomplish them. We have a great staff and that's why
when people do leave the Motorplex, they have a great record of moving
on to phenomenal positions in pro sports or elsewhere.

Q: What other jobs have you had in your lifetime?

MEYER: The only job that I had in my life where I was working for
someone else was when I was working my way through high school. I left
school each day at noon for my job at a printing company. I worked in
the lithography department, setting up pages and burning plates.

Q: You've accomplished several records, wins and honors in your career,
including setting the land-speed record in 1979. What are you most
proud of in your racing career?

MEYER: I had only one red-light in my racing career. I did not even red
light that time, either, which sounds really egotistical. It was the
first round in Montreal and I was racing against Kenny Bernstein. I had
really shiny front wheels and at that time, there were different beams
going across the track, not the inferred lights we have now. It almost
looked like a flood light and the sun was out and it hit the wheel at
the wrong angle and went back to the sensor. It wasn't the wheel that
moved, I was actually late, but I got the red light. We both knew it
and you could see it on the video tape. It was comical, but only
because the same exact thing happened to Bernstein against me at the
next race.

Q: Have you ever thought about not working in the racing industry?

MEYER: Yes, of course. In 1999, we tried to move the Motorplex up
Interstate 30 in Grand Prairie, right across from Lone Star Park. We
had a sales tax election asking for the $65 million needed to get me to
move up the interstate. We lost by 318 votes. Only a few months later,
at the NHRA event in 2000, we were rained out and had to run the
eliminations without qualifying. It's the only time in history NHRA has
run a race without qualifying and that was a very trying weekend. I was
pretty down for a while after those two things and I wasn't all that
excited about being involved with the sport. But it always comes back
to the friends and other aspects about racing that I love and that's
why I've stayed in it for so long.

Q: What do you do well as a race track owner?

MEYER: I empower our people to operate to the best of their abilities
and give them the tools necessary to do the job. I try to teach them
what I have learned. Owning something for 20 years you realize that,
like all things in life, wisdom comes from knowledge and knowledge
comes from making mistakes more often than not. We try to make sure our
people know they can learn from their mistakes, have knowledge and try
not to make the same mistake twice. That's how I've learned throughout
my career.

Q: What is your weakness as a race track owner?

MEYER: Too much love of the sport, which doesn't necessarily translate
into great financial decisions. I put a lot of the profits back into
the facility without enough concern for the financial statements.