Race Coverage – Competition Plus

THE TEN – PRO TEST SESSION IN GAINESVILLE EDITION

Bobby Bennett — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:00:20 +0000

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The Professional Racing Organization [PRO] Testing in Gainesville, FL

1 – THE STAR OF THE SHOW – Shawn Langdon didn’t just headline testing — he reset the conversation.

During the Professional Racers Organization preseason test, the Kalitta Motorsports driver produced both the quickest elapsed time and the fastest speed of the week – and perhaps establishing himself as the one to chase entering the new NHRA season.

First came the number that carried historical weight: 3.621 seconds to 1,000 feet. The run was not an official national record, but it was the quickest pass recorded during preseason testing and immediately tightened the focus around Top Fuel performance.

“Feels very rewarding,” Langdon said. “Very, very happy for my team, happy for the guys.”

If the 3.621 demanded attention, the speed number changed the tone.

On a later run, Langdon blasted to 345 mph — the fastest speed recorded during the test session, as well as the highest speed every by an NHRA vehicle. In a category where gains are measured in thousandths, pushing into the mid-340s suggests more than incremental progress.

The runs came on different days, but they combined to frame the week. One highlighted elapsed-time precision, the other showcased raw power and efficiency.

Langdon did not treat either as a finish line.

Earlier in the test, he trailed teammate Doug Kalitta on the speed charts before blasting to the top. That progression reflected a team dialing in combinations rather than chasing headlines.

“It’s always nice to come out testing in good shape,” Langdon said. “We worked hard in the offseason.”

Testing offers the first public indicator of winter development. For Kalitta Motorsports, the numbers suggested readiness.

The 3.621 run underscored how refined current Top Fuel combinations have become, with clutch management and power delivery producing controlled aggression rather than volatility. The 345-mph blast hinted that teams may be exploring the outer edge of aerodynamic balance and engine efficiency.

Gainesville has a history of milestone moments. This one arrived before qualifying for the upcoming, season-opening Gatornationals began.

Langdon, however, sounded less interested in the history and more interested in the ceiling: “There’s some left. There’s definitely some left.”

He didn’t say it like a warning. He said it like a promise for the Gatornationals, set for March 5-8.

2 – TEST WEEK: FROM DATA GATHERING TO DECLARATIONS – Three days. Three different tones. One performance bar that kept moving.

Tuesday opened the Professional Racers Organization test session with Doug Kalitta setting the early Top Fuel standard. His 3.691 at 315.56 mph led the first 65 runs of the day and marked the quickest elapsed time of the session.

Shawn Langdon joined his Kalitta Motorsports teammate with a 3.699 later in the afternoon. They were the only dragsters to dip into the 3.60 range on opening day.

Josh Hart countered with top-end muscle, blasting to 340.47 mph on his first full pull and backing it up at 340.22 mph. The early tone was clear: elapsed time belonged to Kalitta, speed to Hart.

In Funny Car, J.R. Todd paced the category with a 3.861 at 338.00 mph in his Toyota GR Supra. Alexis DeJoria (3.994), Matt Hagan (3.958), Ron Capps (4.000), and Dan Wilkerson (4.062) focused on measured shutoff passes as teams worked through early setups.

Wednesday escalated.

On pass No. 87 of 102 runs, Langdon delivered a 3.621 at 341.85 mph — the quickest elapsed time ever recorded in preseason Top Fuel testing. The number was unofficial in record terms, but it instantly reset the bar.

“Feels very rewarding,” Langdon said. “Very, very happy for my team, happy for the guys.”

Doug Kalitta followed with a 3.668 at 339.45, while Justin Ashley added a 3.707 at 337.07. Billy Torrence (3.713), and Antron Brown (3.724) remained in the mid-3.70s as the class tightened.

Funny Car saw Jordan Vandergriff lead Wednesday with a 3.866 at 331.69 mph. Jack Beckman (3.867) and Todd (3.871) kept the category tightly stacked.

Thursday turned into a finishing punch.

Austin Prock delivered the quickest Funny Car run of the day at 3.878, 329.91, mph in his new role for team owner Bob Tasca III. Jordan Vandergriff, new to the John Force Racing stable, followed at 3.886, with Beckman close behind at 3.887.

“Really proud,” Prock said after the run. “Worked through some difficult times over the last few months and especially these last two days with this race car.”

In Top Fuel, Kalitta reclaimed the elapsed-time lead for the day with a 3.659 at 340.47 mph. Langdon answered with a 3.695 — but at 345.62 mph, the fastest speed of the entire session.

Tony Stewart (3.718), Billy Torrence (3.726), and Justin Ashley (3.727) remained in the 3.70 window as teams stretched combinations deeper into full pulls.

Across three days, the numbers moved from exploratory to declarative.

Kalitta set the opening tone. Prock delivered the Funny Car breakthrough. But the week ultimately belonged to Langdon, who owned both ends of the spectrum — the quickest elapsed time and the fastest speed.

3 – THE ‘OL ROPE-A-DOPE — It never looks smooth at first.

A Jimmy Prock-tuned Funny Car will show its teeth in testing, fight through visible issues, and then — almost on cue — lay down a run that reminds the pit area why patience matters.

That reminder came Thursday.

Austin Prock delivered the quickest Funny Car run of the day in the Tasca Racing Ford Mustang, halting two days of uneven results and signaling that the rebuilt combination is beginning to respond. The number followed overnight adjustments and steady refinement rather than wholesale changes.

This version of the “Prock Rocket” is not a carryover program from the family’s tenure at John Force Racing. Prock and his group effectively rebuilt Tasca’s operation over the winter, compressing what he described as nearly a year’s worth of development into two months. New components and new processes replaced reliance on an established tuning notebook.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Prock said, “but we’re going to make this operation really nice and we’re going to put it in the winner’s circle for them.”

Early runs showed the growing pains.

Severe clutch issues marked the opening attempt, followed by another pass that was complicated by a hanging throttle. The team responded by working through the data rather than chasing numbers.

“Never count us out,” Prock said. “If we’re struggling, this group is really intelligent and we can work through about anything.”

By Thursday morning, the Mustang was on pace for a 3.84-second elapsed time before Prock shut it off at 660 feet. Even with the lift, the car ran to an 3.87 at the stripe, the quickest Funny Car pass of the day.

“Worked through some difficult times over the last few months and especially these last two days with this race car, and really proud of this team,” Prock said. “That’s quite the feat to be able to roll out here this morning on track to run 84 and finish the day with an 87.”

Tasca Racing owner Bob Tasca III views the early gains as validation of the offseason move.

“It’s about winning, it’s about bringing the best people together, and that’s what we’ve done here,” Tasca said.

Testing sheets don’t award trophies.

But when a Prock-tuned car finds its footing, history suggests the rest of the field pays attention.

“We’re going to keep our heads down, keep working,” Prock said. “But this is an outstanding start for this Ford.”

4 – SHE’S A BONA FIDE TOP FUEL DRIVER – Maddi Gordon climbed out of her dragster grinning, not gasping – and that might be the clearest sign she belongs in Top Fuel.

The rookie secured her license Thursday with a 3.834-second pass at 318.89 mph – her first career 300-mph blast.

Four veteran drivers — Ron Capps, Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican, and Brittany Force — signed off on her credentials. NHRA requires licensed competitors to approve rookie applicants as part of the process.

“Oh my … I’m just so stoked,” Gordon said. “I had confidence we’d get it done, but it’s just so nice to have it done.”

The milestone capped a week that began with Gordon driving a Top Fuel dragster for the first time. Monday introduced the cockpit, and Tuesday delivered her first full hit under power.

“I am kind of speechless, to be honest,” she said after that initial run. “I think Ron and Rob did such a good job of preparing me and, ‘It’s going to be insane, insane, insane.’ So I felt like I was preparing for insane and it was all that they said it was.”

She admitted nerves surfaced before that debut pass.

“I would say about 45 minutes before we ran, I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up,” she said. “Oh, my gosh, I was so nervous.”

Early runs were deliberately short, with the engine shut off at 330 feet to focus on procedures.

“I got a lot to learn and we didn’t even get to the best part,” Gordon said. “Everything’s new on this car.”

By Thursday, the numbers matched the progression. The 318.89-mph speed confirmed she could handle the shutdown area and checklist cleanly.

“Go 300 miles an hour, I went faster than I’ve ever gone at the eighth mile,” she said. “It is amazing.”

Even after earning her license, Gordon was already thinking about reaction time.

“Now we can go out there and I can try to cut a light,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure I saw yellow when we got a time slip and we could keep it.”

Licensed at 318 mph, she left Gainesville sounding less like a rookie and more like someone already chasing the next improvement.

5 – WILKERSON’S ENERGY THEORY – “We’re trying to get rid of the energy.”

Tim Wilkerson isn’t redesigning his Funny Car to hold together harder, he’s redesigning it to let go smarter.

The veteran driver and chassis builder Murf McKinney unveiled a new body-tethering concept aimed at managing explosion force rather than resisting it. The idea is to allow the body to rise briefly, then control its return.

“So we decided we were going to try to get rid of the energy by allowing the body to blow up about three foot,” Wilkerson said.

The system anchors two Kevlar tethers at the nose of the car while retaining the traditional rear hinge. The design limits vertical travel without trying to clamp the body in place.

“… Like old-style blow ups,” Wilkerson said.

That reference is intentional. Earlier-era Funny Cars often lifted and settled instead of fragmenting under pressure, and worse, collapsing into the driver’s lap and on his/her hands and arms.

“If you ever remember seeing an old style blow up, it’d blow up in the body, come up in the air a little bit, mmm, back down, it would go, right?” he said.

The redesign follows a season in which multiple high-profile explosions reignited concerns about latch durability and body separation. In several incidents, front latches were destroyed while energy moved unpredictably through the structure.

Wilkerson questions whether reinforcing the latch addresses the real issue.

“I told them, I said, ‘How many times have you seen one of these things blow up bad when the front latches were still worth a crap?’” he said. “They’re always violated so bad, sometimes you can’t even get them out.”

Instead of asking the latch to absorb everything, Wilkerson expects the body to rise — and be restrained.

“If it blows up, that thing’s coming up in the air and we’re going to catch it on the way up, we hope.”

The material remains unchanged.

“Kevlar,” Wilkerson said. “They’re just a Kevlar rope.”

6 – HIGH HORSEPOWER JUGGLING ACT – Richard Freeman didn’t ease into full-time Top Fuel ownership. He launched it while managing six Pro Stock cars at the same test session.

Freeman’s new R+L Carriers-backed Top Fuel dragster made its first full runs in Gainesville with Tony Stewart behind the wheel. At the same time, the Elite Motorsports owner continued overseeing a half-dozen Pro Stock entries, splitting his days between nitro data and valvetrain checks.

The workload was relentless.

For four consecutive days, Freeman rotated between two categories, two sets of crew chiefs, and two completely different operating philosophies. The balancing act stretched both manpower and budget.

“Yeah, I don’t have enough money to eat,” Freeman said with a laugh. “We’re spending it like it’s water over here.”

The humor masked a serious commitment.

Freeman’s group built two new Top Fuel cars during the offseason, compressing development into a narrow window before preseason testing. The first full pass in Gainesville delivered a 3.71-second run at nearly 337 mph — the fastest Stewart has ever been in a dragster.

“Man, couldn’t be happier with the performance of that car,” Freeman said. “First full pull, it went 371 at almost 337.”

The early number validated months of preparation by crew chiefs Mike Green and Joe Barlam, along with Dustin Davis.

“Got the right group of guys over there,” Freeman said.

Freeman emphasized that the objective wasn’t immediate dominance.

“We’re not concerned with being No. 1 qualifier or hurting parts to do it,” he said. “We want to learn, and we want to try to do this a different way.”

Even as nitro entered the fold, Pro Stock remained his foundation.

“This is my passion, Pro Stock is,” Freeman said. “It’s what I’ve loved.”

The Top Fuel expansion came because of Stewart’s availability.

“My opportunity to do Top Fuel comes from having the opportunity for Tony to drive,” Freeman said.

Launching a fuel car is expensive. Launching one while managing six others is something else entirely.

“Those cars, they’re money eating, money hungry,” Freeman said.

7 – NOTHING LIKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION – Josh Hart didn’t ease into his John Force Racing debut. He opened it at 340 mph.

Hart made the first full pass of the Professional Racers Organization test session and immediately raised eyebrows with a 340.4-mph blast — the first run of the week and the fastest speed of the opening day. He backed it up with another 340-mph pass, turning a debut into a declaration.

“To be the first in the lanes, first down the track first, right out of the box, 340.4 – can’t put it into words, man,” Hart said. “It was smooth. It was straight.”

The run marked Hart’s first pass in a canopy-style dragster, a change that he said altered both the feel and awareness inside the cockpit. The difference was immediate.

“It was so much smoother and quieter,” Hart said. “Kind of feel like you’re more aware of what’s going on with the car. It’s not so loud and obnoxious.”

The most dramatic moment came after the finish line.

“You’re used to going with the thrust,” Hart said. “You’re not used to the chutes hitting that hard. So you almost see stars a little bit when the chutes come out.”

Even that didn’t temper his reaction.

“Epic feeling,” he said. “So it’s going to be a good year.”

Hart acknowledged that the 340-mph number had been looming. Reaching it on the first run of testing, however, wasn’t scripted.

“I knew it was going to be awesome,” he said. “No disappointment at all. I’m over-the-moon excited.”

The debut also marked a transition into a new cockpit environment, one he now says he wishes he had embraced earlier.

“Absolutely,” Hart said, when asked if he would have switched to a canopy car sooner had he known the difference.

The comfort and composure inside the car stood out as much as the number on the board.

“They’ve done a great job getting it ready for me,” Hart said. “So you slide right in there, and as long as I can do my job, I think we’re going to have an awesome year.”

For a driver making his first official laps with John Force Racing, the statement came quickly and cleanly.

“I think this is going to be my year,” Hart said.

8 – THE BIGGER PICTURE – Justin Ashley logged more than routine preseason laps.

He tested his own Scag Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster while also shaking down Will Smith’s Bluebird-sponsored entry as Smith recovers from a recent medical procedure.

The weekend marked Ashley’s first experience pulling double duty in the Top Fuel category. He approached it as an added opportunity rather than added pressure.

“Every lap I get a chance to drive a race car is a lap that gives me some kind of advantage over the competition,” he said.

Ashley’s primary focus remained his own team, which entered the test session under new leadership with crew chief Tommy DeLago and several new crew members. The personnel changes represented one of the most significant shifts of his Top Fuel career.

“This is definitely different,” Ashley said. “We were fortunate to keep a really good group together for a long time.”

He viewed the transition as part of the competitive cycle.

“This is the nature of the sport,” Ashley said. “This is a business and this happens.”

While adapting to internal changes, Ashley also provided feedback on Smith’s newly assembled car and crew.

“The car is essentially brand new, and they just put it all together,” Ashley said. “I have to give him credit. It’s pretty amazing that they made it here.”

Ashley emphasized communication as central to helping Smith’s program progress.

“I think that communication between myself and Will and the rest of their guys on the team is going to be crucial for them moving forward,” he said.

Beyond mechanics and data, Ashley noted similarities between their career paths.

“I spent a lot of time working through the sport looking for the opportunity that I’ve been blessed enough to have,” Ashley said. “Same thing with Will Smith.”

Ashley described Smith as humble and grateful, qualities he values in a teammate.

“He really is a great guy,” Ashley said. “He’s polite, he’s courteous, he’s humble.”

9 – MAMA SAID DON’T KNOCK YOU OUT – For years, the Oberhofer brothers settled disagreements the old-fashioned way.

Now mama said don’t knock you out — so they tune Top Fuel dragsters instead.

Rick Ware Racing has reunited Jim and Jon Oberhofer to lead its Top Fuel programs for Tony Schumacher and Clay Millican, pairing the siblings alongside veteran tuner Nicky Boninfante in what amounts to a three-crew-chief operation.

The brothers grew up in drag racing, working with their father before building championship résumés of their own, most prominently at Kalitta Motorsports. Between them are multiple NHRA championships and U.S. Nationals victories.

But hardware wasn’t the only thing forged early.

“Definitely Jim O,” Jon said when asked who won more fights growing up. “He was always bigger than me.”

Time and perspective reshaped that dynamic.

“Ever since our sister died, we decided that we’re never going to argue again,” Jon said.

Now the conversations revolve around clutch application and power management instead of backyard wrestling matches.

“We’ve got one goal, we want to put Clay and Tony in the winner’s circle,” Jim said. “We don’t care how we do it.”

The reunion carries a twist.

For years, Jim tuned the Connie Kalitta-owned dragster against Schumacher’s Army-sponsored vehicles, and too often watched Schumacher win.

“After all these years with Tony, we obviously had our rivalries back in the day,” Jim said. “So now to be on his side and him racing with us, I’m actually really enjoying him.”

Schumacher noticed the irony when he first walked into the shop.

“Tony’s like, ‘Boy, this is awkward,’” Jim said. “Because we might’ve threatened Tony once or twice over the years.”

Boninfante, who joined the team in 2024, now bridges both Top Fuel entries and, in Jim’s words, serves as the buffer.

“Nicky said that he had to be in between us in case my brother and I wanted to fight with each other,” Jim said. “But we’re too old for that anymore. My mom won’t allow it.”

For Jon, the opportunity nearly didn’t happen.

“I was at a point where I didn’t want to race anymore,” he said. “And then now that I’ve had the opportunity to come over here, it’s been special to me.”

10 – VALUE IN REPETITION, NOT DISTANCE – The scoreboard didn’t tell the Pro Stock story in Gainesville.

While nitro cars stretched to the 1,000-foot clocks, Pro Stock teams clicked their engines off early, gathering data in transitions and high gear without chasing full-track numbers. For Erica Enders, that was enough.

“We’re getting all of the data that we need from high gear on, it’s just horsepower,” Enders said. “We are fine-tuning down low in our transitions where we got our teeth kicked in last year.”

The six-time champion approached the preseason test as repetition over recognition.

After not racing Pro Stock since October, Enders said the session helped reestablish rhythm inside the three-pedal car.

“As grueling as testing can be, it’s definitely nice to knock the rust off, not just as a driver but as a team and get back in the groove of things,” she said.

Short runs still created meaningful moments.

On one pass, Enders drove through tire shake by pulling second gear, trusting feel over instrumentation.

“It’s just seat time that gets you to the point where you know what you can drive through and you know when to throw the white flag,” she said.

The veteran said that instinct cannot be simulated.

“My instruments are lying to me, now I have to use my butt, the feel of my butt and my brain to overcome what’s happening,” Enders said. “That’s what I love about testing is you just get to practice on all of that stuff.”

Between rounds, Enders remained hands-on, servicing the engine before reviewing data.

“Every run I service the motor with the guys and then I go up in the crew chief lounge to go over the run,” she said. “Despite what the internet says, I’m definitely, definitely a worker.”

The shortened distance did not change her preference for race length.

“No,” Enders said. “Real race cars go to the quarter-mile.”

But February testing was never about the finish line.

“This is my 23rd year and I feel like every run I learn something,” she said. “There’s something I could have done better and there’s something my crew chiefs could have done better.”

THE TEN – 2025 YEAR-END EDITION

Bobby Bennett — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 19:58:52 +0000

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From 2025 drag racing season.

1 – PROCKS ROCKET ON – The silence of a Friday night cracked when the Prock family rumor finally stopped whispering and started shouting.

The news appeared in the CompetitionPlus.com FTI Rumor Mill, where word spread that the Prock family was preparing to leave John Force Racing. What had circulated quietly all season suddenly moved to the foreground.

For months, pit talk suggested Jimmy Prock and his sons, driver Austin Prock and assistant crewchief Thomas Prock, were considering a future beyond JFR. The speculation ranged from joining another organization to launching a team of their own.

Confirmation came quickly and decisively. The Prock family and JFR parted ways after a run that included back-to-back championships, closing one of the most productive chapters in the team’s modern era.

The departure was notable not only for its timing, but for its scope.

Reports indicated the entire Prock-led crew would exit with them, signaling a clean break rather than a piecemeal transition.

Attention immediately shifted to Tasca Racing as a potential landing spot. Early assumptions framed the move as a simple addition to an existing two-car operation.

That narrative changed within days. Bob Tasca III released longtime crew chief Todd Okuhara and tuner Aaron Brooks, a move that reshaped the organization and added weight to the Prock connection.

The personnel changes suggested preparation rather than coincidence. What once looked like a supplemental hire began to resemble a foundational reset.

For JFR, the loss was significant. The Prock family had been central to recent success, and their exit created immediate questions about continuity, chemistry and direction.

For the Procks, the decision represented control over their future. After years of operating within one of drag racing’s largest organizations, the family positioned itself for a new chapter on its own terms.

Neither side framed the separation as contentious. Instead, it was presented as a professional parting after shared success.
An official statement is expected in mid-January regarding Tasca’s plans.

2 – LET’S MAKE A DEAL – IHRA BUYS UP TRACKS, EVERYTHING ELSE – The IHRA didn’t just reintroduce itself in 2025, it made a habit of creating a splash, then daring the industry to keep up.

What unfolded over the season was not a single headline, but a steady drumbeat of moves that kept the International Hot Rod Association at the center of conversation. The scope and frequency of those decisions made it clear the organization was intent on being noticed.

The foundation of that attention came from execution. With only months of preparation, the IHRA successfully launched and completed a full Outlaw Nitro Series tour, defying widespread skepticism about whether such an effort could be pulled together on short notice.

That series quickly became more than a racing product. It served as proof of concept that the IHRA could still organize, promote and deliver a professional-level touring program when the stakes were highest.

Leadership turnover had been part of the association’s recent history, but the hiring of Leah Martin marked a clear shift in posture. Widely viewed as the fifth president during a turbulent stretch, Martin oversaw an expansion that extended into other disciplines of motorsports.

The IHRA began spending aggressively, committing capital at a pace that surprised even longtime observers. The approach was unapologetic, prioritizing visibility and infrastructure over caution.

Track ownership became the most tangible expression of that strategy. The IHRA’s portfolio grew to include facilities such as National Trail Raceway; Milan Dragway; GALOT Motorsports Park; Maple Grove Raceway; Memphis Motorsports Park; and Heartland Motorsports Park. There are others, we just lost track.

Each acquisition reinforced the same message. The IHRA was no longer content to exist as a sanctioning option, it wanted control over venues, calendars and long-term direction.

The organization also invested in people. Bret Underwood was brought in to resurrect Drag Review, magazine, reconnecting the IHRA with its historical voice. Scott Woodruff was added to help translate ambition into action, a hire aimed at momentum rather than optics.

Not every decision landed cleanly. The announcement of exclusive eighth-mile racing across all categories became one of the most-debated policy moves of the season, praised by some as bold clarity and criticized by others as unnecessarily restrictive.

Questions also linger about the future of Atlanta Dragway, Virginia Motorsports Park and Empire Dragway, facilities that are said to have been acquired but have not been officially announced.

What tied the year together was consistency of intent. The IHRA repeatedly chose action over restraint, headlines over silence.
In a season defined by splashes, the IHRA proved one thing beyond debate. It was no longer waiting to be relevant — it was forcing the conversation.

3 – THAT’S A WASH (NHRA FINALS) – The NHRA thought it was bracing for a sanctioning fight, but Mother Nature turned the Finals into a war of attrition.

As the season reached its conclusion, the National Hot Rod Association found itself under pressure from multiple directions. While navigating an increasingly active IHRA landscape, the series also ran headlong into weather that refused to cooperate.

The NHRA Finals have always lived on a narrow margin. The late-season Southern California date traditionally offers dry conditions and little tolerance for delay.

That assumption unraveled quickly. Rain began falling Friday and, instead of passing through, lingered in waves that disrupted every attempt to regain momentum.

Precipitation was only part of the problem. Cool temperatures compounded the challenge, working against track preparation and consistency even during brief dry windows.

NHRA officials found themselves in a no-win position. Each delay reduced options, and each attempt to reset the surface carried increasing safety concerns.

As conditions deteriorated, NHRA made the decision to set qualifying by points. That move allowed Doug Kalitta to clinch the Top Fuel world championship without making a run.

The decision underscored the seriousness of the situation.

Championships were now being determined by circumstance rather than competition — a scenario the series has long tried to avoid.

By Sunday, the outlook had not improved. With no realistic path forward and no immediate rescheduling option, NHRA officially canceled the remainder of the event.

The cancellation confirmed additional champions. Austin Prock, Dallas Glenn, and Richard Gadson all secured their titles as a result.

NHRA President Glen Cromwell said the decision came down to a lone factor. Safety, he emphasized, outweighed television commitments, financial considerations and even the championship banquet.

The call did little to soften disappointment in the pits, but it clarified priorities. With marginal track conditions and persistent moisture, risk had eclipsed reward.

The Finals have seen weather challenges before, but rarely with such limited recovery windows. This time, the calendar offered no escape hatch.

In the end, NHRA wasn’t beaten by logistics or competition. It was beaten by rain, cold asphalt and the realities of a schedule with nowhere left to go.

For a sport built on precision and preparation, the 2025 Finals became a reminder that control only goes so far. Sometimes, the last word belongs to the weather.

4 – POINT-COUNTERPOINT, PRI SHOW EDITION – What looked like a routine trade-show weekend turned into a sanctioning-body skirmish that reshaped the Countdown calendar in real time.

The flashpoint came on the second day of the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, when the International Hot Rod Association announced it had purchased Maple Grove Raceway from the Koretsky family. The move landed without warning and immediately altered the balance of offseason conversation.

The timing mattered. Maple Grove had long been scheduled to host an NHRA Countdown to the Championship event in September, and the purchase raised questions about whether that race would proceed as planned.

By Saturday, the IHRA moved to address those concerns directly. A delegation of executives, including Larry Morgan, sought out NHRA officials still at the show to convey the association’s willingness to allow the NHRA to run the Countdown event at Maple Grove without IHRA branding.

Morgan later described the offer as genuine and made in good faith. “We were trying to do the right thing,” he said. “There was no agenda beyond letting the race happen.”

The window for compromise closed quickly. On Monday morning, the National Hot Rod Association announced that U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, would replace Maple Grove on the Countdown schedule.

The speed of the decision raised eyebrows. Just days earlier, NHRA had announced U.S. 131’s move to NHRA sanctioning from WDRA, which had recently been acquired by the IHRA.

Initially, NHRA officials had quietly indicated the Michigan facility was being positioned for a national event as early as 2027. Elevating it immediately to a Countdown opener signaled urgency rather than long-term grooming.

Morgan questioned the timing of NHRA’s announcement, suggesting the offer regarding Maple Grove had not been fully considered. He maintained that IHRA’s intention was cooperation, not confrontation.

From NHRA’s perspective, the move ensured control and certainty. By shifting the event, the organization removed any interpretation surrounding ownership, branding or execution.

What followed was less a public argument than a quiet escalation. Both sides stuck to measured statements, but the sequence spoke louder than press releases.

By week’s end, the outcome was clear. The IHRA owned Maple Grove, but the NHRA owned the date.

5 – SHAWN REED’S AGONY OF DEFEAT AND THRILL OF VICTORY – Shawn Reed learned in 2025 that attention comes fast in drag racing, but sometimes it arrives the hard way.

Reed drew more notice this season than at any point in his career, not because of hype or prediction, but because of survival and resolve. The year became a study in how thin the line can be between disaster and redemption.

The defining moment came during qualifying at Seattle, when Reed’s Top Fuel dragster lost a tire at speed and slammed into the wall. The failure, which Goodyear engineers have said they still cannot fully explain, turned a routine run into a violent crash.

Reed left the facility injured but fortunate. Among his injuries was severe damage to a finger that later required amputation, adding a long recovery to an already sobering incident.

The accident sidelined Reed temporarily and forced a pause few drivers welcome. During that stretch, Jordan Vandergriff was placed in the car as Reed focused on healing and adapting to life after the crash.

Reed’s recovery extended beyond physical repair. He spoke openly about adjusting to daily tasks, retraining muscle memory, and rebuilding confidence after an incident that could have ended far worse.

When he returned to competition, expectations were measured. Instead, Reed delivered results that reshaped the narrative around his season.

He drove to an IHRA national event victory in Columbus, Ohio, marking a milestone that carried weight beyond the trophy. The win confirmed not only his readiness to return, but his ability to compete at the same level.

Reed followed that performance with another national event victory in Reading, Pennsylvania. The win capped one of the most improbable stretches in recent Top Fuel competition.

What made the sequence remarkable was not just the timing, but the context. Few drivers return from significant injury and immediately convert opportunity into wins.

5B – SAFETY IN THE CROSSFIRE (FUNNY CAR TETHERS) – Funny Car safety took center stage during the summer of 2025, with the debate over tethering systems erupting into the open after a series of violent explosions at Sonoma Raceway.

The flashpoint came when Daniel Wilkerson suffered an explosion that renewed concerns about whether current tether rules were containing damage or contributing to secondary failures. The incident cracked open a conversation that had simmered quietly in the pits for years.

Days later, the issue escalated when Buddy Hull was injured in a separate Sonoma explosion. Hull’s injury sidelined him for much of the season and added urgency to a debate that was no longer theoretical.

Drivers quickly moved from private frustration to public criticism. Matt Hagan became the most outspoken voice, warning that the tether system, as written, risked creating new dangers instead of preventing them.

As the discussion intensified, attention shifted toward solutions. Veteran tuner Jim Head began working on potential safety fixes, reinforcing the belief that meaningful changes were achievable without abandoning the intent of the rule.

The controversy followed the tour. An explosion involving Ron Capps at the Carolina Nationals further amplified scrutiny and kept tether enforcement in the spotlight through the heart of the season.

By year’s end, competitors took matters into their own hands. Tim Wilkerson and Hull both confirmed they had submitted proposals they believed would make the tether system safer, drawing from firsthand experience and prior design concepts.

Wilkerson later said the NHRA approved a revised tether configuration for 2026 rooted in a design he developed more than a decade earlier, one that had previously been outlawed under earlier interpretations of the rulebook.

6 – WHO SAW THIS COMING AT JFR? – John Force didn’t leave the driver’s seat with a victory lap, he left it by reshaping his team’s future.

After a violent crash during the 2024 season, John Force officially retired from driving in November 2025, ending a five-decade career that defined Funny Car racing. The announcement closed months of uncertainty around the sport’s most recognizable figure.

Force’s decision followed an earlier move by his daughter, Brittany Force, who stepped away from full-time competition to focus on starting a family. Her departure, combined with Austin Prock leaving the organization, dramatically altered the internal balance at John Force Racing.

Veteran Funny Car driver Jack Beckman was initially brought in as a temporary substitute following Force’s crash in August 2024. By December 2024, Beckman was effectively named Force’s successor, and with the departures of Brittany Force and Prock, he emerged as the most senior active driver on the team.

The reshaping of the roster continued in deliberate order. Josh Hart was first added to replace Brittany Force in Top Fuel, stepping into one of the most-scrutinized seats in the sport.

Next came the addition of of Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria, who joined the organization as part of a planned expansion rather than a one-for-one replacement. DeJoria said the move represented a new opportunity within a proven structure.

The most recent addition was Jordan Vandergriff, brought in to fill the vacancy created by Prock’s departure. The move signaled a continued shift toward blending youth with experience inside the organization.

Force framed the changes as evolution rather than reaction. “You don’t stop building because one chapter ends,” he said. “You build the next one.”

In stepping away from driving, Force did not slow his team. Instead, he orchestrated one of the most comprehensive roster resets in modern NHRA history, ensuring John Force Racing remained competitive well beyond his time behind the wheel.

7 – WELCOME TO THE SHOW, BUDDS CREEK, VALDOSTA, U.S, 131 – While one sanctioning body was buying tracks, the other was quietly redrawing the national map.

As the International Hot Rod Association moved aggressively into facility ownership, the NHRA expanded its national event footprint at a pace not seen in decades. The result was one of the most significant schedule shifts in decades, including three first-time national event venues.

The expansion echoed the NHRA’s historic “Super Season” era, when rapid growth reshaped professional drag racing’s geography and ambition. This time, the approach was more selective, but the impact was no less pronounced.

Among the new additions was U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, which was tapped to open the 2026 Countdown to the Championship. The move reinforced NHRA’s willingness to place playoff stakes on emerging and reinvigorated facilities.

Another new national event home came at South Georgia Motorsports Park, a facility long regarded as national-event caliber. Track owners Raul and Jennifer Torres described the moment as validation of years of investment and patience.

“The reality of a dream come true is not lost on us,” Raul Torres said. “This didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen by accident.”

The most intriguing storyline unfolded in Maryland. Early in 2025, the IHRA announced it had reached a letter of intent to purchase Maryland International Raceway, a claim the track publicly denied.

Shortly thereafter, the IHRA announced the return of the historic President’s Cup as part of its 2025 schedule. That event was later canceled, leaving questions unanswered and the track’s future unresolved.

Then came the pivot. NHRA announced a national event at Maryland International Raceway, instantly reshaping the narrative and closing the door on speculation about the facility’s direction.

The sequence underscored the contrast between the two sanctioning bodies. While the IHRA focused on ownership and revival, the NHRA emphasized placement, prestige and competitive continuity.

NHRA officials framed the expansion as strategic rather than reactive, pointing to market strength, fan reach and facility readiness. The additions also signaled confidence in drag racing’s ability to support new national stops without diluting the product.

By season’s end, the takeaway was unmistakable. The IHRA may have been buying real estate, but the NHRA was buying relevance — one national event at a time.

8 – WHEN DQ’S GO WRONG – STEWART’S UNAPPROVED DEVICE – What began as quiet pit talk in Charlotte turned combustible once Antron Brown said what everyone else was already thinking.

The controversy surfaced during the second NHRA Four-Wide event at zMAX Dragway, where teams questioned how a discovered rules violation had been handled. For two days, the discussion stayed mostly private until Brown spoke publicly and traced the issue back to Reading, Pennsylvania.

At the center of the controversy was the discovery of an unapproved device on a Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel dragster during the event at Maple Grove Raceway. The presence of the device raised immediate concerns about enforcement, transparency and whether the situation was addressed appropriately.

Brown made clear the issue went beyond the device itself. “The problem isn’t just what was found,” Brown said. “It’s what happens after it’s found.”

According to Brown, the handling of the situation created frustration among competitors who believed similar infractions would not have been treated the same way. “If that was any of us, it would’ve been a different outcome,” he said.

The comments resonated throughout the pits because many teams had already been discussing the incident quietly. Brown’s decision to speak publicly pushed the issue into the open and ensured it would not disappear.

From that point forward, the controversy followed the tour. Questions about consistency, enforcement and competitive integrity surfaced repeatedly as teams wondered where the line was being drawn.
Brown stressed his comments were not personal. “This isn’t about attacking a team,” he said. “It’s about protecting the integrity of the class.”

NHRA officials responded cautiously, opting for restraint rather than public escalation. That approach, while deliberate, left room for speculation to grow rather than fade.

The longer the season continued, the more entrenched the discussion became. What might have been contained early instead lingered, shaping how competitors viewed inspections and enforcement decisions.

By season’s end, the incident had become a reference point whenever rules and penalties were discussed. It was no longer about one device or one weekend.

Brown stood by his decision to speak. “If you don’t say something,” he said, “then you’re saying it’s OK.”

The episode served as a reminder that in professional drag racing, confidence in enforcement is fragile. Once shaken, it can follow a series for an entire season.

8B – WHEN DQ’S GO WRONG – LANGDON’S “NOW YOU WIN IT, NOW YOU DON’T” – Move over the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Drag racing staged its own endurance test in Richmond, where the Top Fuel final of the Virginia Nationals lasted nearly a full day longer than anyone expected.

Almost 24 hours after Shawn Langdon defeated Justin Ashley in the final round at Virginia Motorsports Park, the outcome was reversed. Ashley was officially declared the winner following a post-race inspection ruling by the National Hot Rod Association.

Langdon’s run was disqualified after NHRA’s technical department determined that the Kalitta Motorsports dragster failed to meet a required safety specification. During post-run inspection, officials found missing bolts on the bellhousing cover.

According to the NHRA Rulebook and SFI Spec 6.2, a minimum of 12 bolts must secure the bellhousing cover. Inspectors determined that Langdon’s car did not meet that requirement, prompting the disqualification despite the on-track result.

What made the situation unusually drawn out was timing. The Top Fuel final round was placed under review only after winner-circle photos had been taken, the post-race press conference completed, and NHRA’s official post-race press release had already been distributed.

The delayed ruling turned a routine national event finish into a prolonged procedural marathon, echoing endurance racing more than drag racing’s traditional immediacy. The finish line had been crossed, but the race was far from over.

Kalitta Motorsports acknowledged the violation shortly after NHRA issued its decision. Team general manager Chad Head accepted responsibility, explaining that the issue developed during the run.

“Some of the bolts rattled loose during the run and fell into the belly pan,” Head said. “The bolts were in place before the run, but some were not in place after because they came loose and fell into the belly pan. That’s on us.”

Head emphasized the team’s respect for the sanctioning body and the rulebook. “We respect NHRA as the sanctioning body and understand that safety is always the most-important thing,” he said, adding an apology to partners, fans and competitors.

The episode reignited debate in the pits about timing, transparency and process.

9 – FIRST THERE WAS HYPE, THEN THERE WAS FOUR – FX AND THE DEATH OF A CLASS – The NHRA’s Factory X class, short for Factory Experimental, didn’t just fail to launch — the longer it lingered, the more obvious the collapse became.

There has been no official announcement, but the reality is clear: Factory X is effectively dead for 2026. What debuted as a bold experiment now sits dormant, with no visible preparation, no off-season activity and no confidence it will return.

The class was envisioned internally as more than a supplement. It was discussed as a long-term replacement for Pro Stock, a modernized factory-based category built around late-model platforms, electronics and power adders. That ambition never came close to materializing.

Participation problems were only the surface issue. Four cars appearing at marquee events highlighted a deeper breakdown in structure, purpose and credibility.

As the season progressed, the category unraveled. Rule inconsistencies multiplied, enforcement became uneven, and controversy followed nearly every meaningful appearance. What began as gray areas evolved into flat-out cheating accusations, with little clarity on where the line was — or whether it existed at all.

Teams were asked to spend without knowing what would be legal race to race. Cost containment, a stated pillar of the class, evaporated as development escalated and confidence eroded.

Factory X also failed to define its role. It was not positioned clearly as a feeder class, nor protected as a destination category with championship gravity. Instead, it drifted between concepts without committing to any of them.

The result was confusion in the pits and indifference in the stands. Without rivalries, identity or trust in the rulebook, the class never gave teams or fans a reason to invest emotionally or financially.

By season’s end, Factory X felt less like a work in progress and more like damage control. The offseason silence has only reinforced that perception.

As one insider said, “You don’t need an announcement when nobody’s getting ready to come back.”

Factory X promised reinvention but delivered instability. In a sport built on precision and trust, that proved fatal.

10 – MERGING RESOURCES, ACQUISITIONS AND TOP FUEL LICENSES FOR EVERYBODY – The move didn’t come with fireworks or a countdown clock, but it landed with weight: Elite Motorsports finally went all-in on Top Fuel.

The Pro Stock powerhouse expanded into drag racing’s premier category by purchasing Josh Hart’s Top Fuel operation, a step that had been discussed quietly. The acquisition put real inventory behind intent and turned speculation into infrastructure.

Team owner Richard Freeman framed the decision as the natural extension of a program that had already stretched across Pro Stock, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Comp and Sportsman racing. “Top Fuel has always been the goal,” Freeman said. “If we were going to do it, we were going to do it the right way.”

Buying Hart’s team gave Elite immediate access to chassis, parts and data, but it also removed the startup guesswork that often cripples new nitro efforts. It was less a splash than a foundation, signaling Elite’s intent to build something sustainable rather than chase headlines.

That foundation widened quickly with a strategic NHRA alliance between Elite and Tony Stewart Racing, pairing Elite’s scale with TSR’s nitro experience. The partnership brought shared marketing, hospitality and sponsor leverage, a business-first approach that reflected how modern Top Fuel teams are assembled.

Freeman made clear the alliance wasn’t about control but compatibility. “This isn’t a merger,” he said. “It’s two organizations finding ways to be stronger together.”

Behind the scenes, the scope grew larger. Freeman confirmed plans for a three-car Top Fuel program targeted for 2026, with veteran tuner Mike Green deeply involved in the build. “The work is already happening,” Green said. “Chassis are in progress, and we’re focused on doing this safely and correctly.”

One of the most intriguing layers is the potential driver lineup, which could include Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield alongside established nitro talent. Enders said this time the conversation is different.

“Before, it was more of an idea,” Enders said. “Now there’s a plan, equipment, people — all the pieces.”

THE TEN – SNOWBIRD OUTLAW NATIONALS EDITION – BRADENTON, FLA.

Kevin Michaels — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 15:00:07 +0000

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The Snowbird Outlaw Nationals from Bradenton, Fla..

1 – HARRIS CAPTURES SNOWBIRD TITLE – Jason Harris closed out a dominant weekend by winning the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks on Saturday night at Bradenton Motorsports Park, one day after qualifying No. 1 in what officials called the quickest 32-car Pro Modified field in history. The four-time PDRA world champion sealed the $50,000 victory with a 3.561-second pass at 211.06 mph in his “Party Time” Harold Denton tribute ’69 Camaro, defeating Brazil’s Sidnei Frigo, who posted a 3.570 at 211.33.

“This is my pinnacle,” Harris said after the run. “I’ve been coming down here for years. I won it years ago in a nitrous car, but this right here is the baddest racers on the planet, and I just qualified No. 1 and won the race, so I can get the million and the Jerry Bickel car, but I’m telling you, I’ve gotta thank everybody. Harold Denton, thank you, Lord. He’s been riding with me all day. It was God’s will that this car was gonna make it. I can’t thank everybody enough.”

Harris’ No. 1 qualifying status didn’t guarantee an easy elimination ladder. The Drag Illustrated Winter Series uses random chip draws, pairing Harris with Mark Micke in the opening round. Micke, the top qualifier at all three Winter Series events last season, lifted early to a 4.345 at 121.29 while Harris advanced with a 3.579 at 210.64.

Harris next faced Jimmy Taylor, who entered the event after making doorslammer world-record runs in both eighth-mile and quarter-mile categories. Taylor also had to lift, posting a 4.365 at 149.02, while Harris moved on with a 3.607 at 209.79.

Harris then delivered low elapsed time in the quarterfinals and semifinals. He used a 3.584 at 210.28 to hold off Randy Weatherford’s 3.598 at 210.11 before running a 3.576 at 210.44 to eliminate Kevin Rivenbark’s 3.658 at 205.47.

The final paired Harris with Frigo, a veteran of Brazilian and U.S. Pro Mod competition. Harris left first and never trailed, though he later admitted the run felt closer than the numbers showed. “Truthfully, it was tighter than I thought it was,” he said. “I knew he was there and I wasn’t sure if I took the win or not because the car wheelstood a little bit and I was trying to pay attention.”

Harris credited his crew for steadying the program after early-week testing struggles. “We’ve worked really hard this weekend,” he said. “We had a bad test session the first couple of days, but it just fell together and my team is so great. We’ve been doing this a long time.”

2 – HARRIS STANDS TO WIN BIG – Jason Harris’ Snowbird Outlaw Nationals victory made him the only driver still eligible for the inaugural Elite Motorsports Million, a $1,000,000 bonus awarded to any racer who wins all three events in the 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service. To claim the bonus, Harris must also win the U.S. Street Nationals in January and the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in February.

Harris’ performance at Bradenton also put him in position to sweep another major prize. As the Snowbirds’ No. 1 qualifier, he is the lone driver still in contention for the Jerry Bickel Race Cars Clean Sweep Challenge, a program awarding a new Pro Mod rolling chassis to any competitor who qualifies No. 1 at all three Winter Series events.

3 – AND THEY WALKED AWAY – A frightening top-end crash paused Friday night’s second Pro Modified qualifying session at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks, as drivers Jeff Rudolf and Jim Halsey made heavy contact with the retaining walls in the shutdown area at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Track officials reported that both racers exited their vehicles under their own power before being evaluated on-site by EMS personnel.

Halsey was released after initial assessment. Rudolf, however, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation following the impact. His team later confirmed he was admitted to Blake Trauma Center, where doctors began managing significant pain while awaiting a full review of MRI results.

Rudolf’s camp has used his public social media channels to update supporters, noting there has been “no change in condition” since treatment began Friday night. The team originally anticipated clarity by midday Saturday on whether surgery would be necessary, but medical staff requested he remain hospitalized overnight for continued observation.

A subsequent update detailed early findings from imaging scans, showing a stress fracture at the T4 vertebra and a bulging disc at T11 affecting a nerve. Doctors are expected to brief the family on Saturday regarding next steps and the likelihood of surgical intervention.

Although the extent of Rudolf’s recovery timeline remains unknown, his team emphasized appreciation for messages pouring in from racers, fans, and teams across the country. “We appreciate everyone’s continued support,” the update read. “The drag racing community is one of a kind.”

4 – FRIGO’S RUN TO THE FINAL – Sidnei Frigo delivered one of the strongest elimination-day performances of the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, driving his screw-blown Artivinco Racing ’23 Camaro from the No. 23 qualifying spot to the Pro Modified final. Frigo qualified with a 3.607-second pass at 210.08 mph before beginning a steady advance through a ladder stacked with past champions.

Frigo opened eliminations with a 3.620 at 209.46 to get past Isaias Rojas, who posted a 3.630 at 208.20. From there, the competition tightened as Frigo lined up against three of the most accomplished racers in the Drag Illustrated Winter Series.

Tuned by the Killin’ Time Racing group led by Jeff Pierce and Stevie “Fast” Jackson, Frigo used a 3.627 at 209.20 to defeat 2025 World Series of Pro Mod champion Steve King, who slowed to a 5.106 at 95.77. He followed by matching his qualifying effort with a 3.607 at 210.08 to edge defending Snowbirds winner Kye Kelley, whose 3.608 at 208.14 made for one of the closest side-by-side pairings of the weekend.

The semifinal round showcased Frigo’s best run of the event. He stepped up to a 3.594 at 210.54 to eliminate Ken Quartuccio, the reigning Winter Series champion and 2025 U.S. Street Nationals winner, who clocked a 3.601 at 207.69.

5 – A THIRD-GEN PRO MOD DRIVER MAKES THE FIELD – Samuel Peterson arrived at Bradenton Motorsports Park expecting to service a Pro Modified car, not drive one. When team owner Joel Wensley Jr. suffered a sudden back injury en route to Florida, Peterson — a third-generation member of a family rooted in Pro Mod history — was summoned to the starting line.

Peterson, 24, had never driven anything quicker than a 10.5 car before this week. He responded with a full-power 3.610-second pass at 209.95 mph to complete his licensing run and secure entry into the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, the opening race of the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Services.

“We barely made it to the track,” Peterson said. “His back got worse, so they threw me in there.” He added that the phrase “threw me in there” was literal. “It was pretty much like getting tossed in the deep end,” he said. “Definitely overwhelming, but I’m feeling comfortable.”

Peterson had previously tested Wensley’s 10.5 car, but nothing prepared him for his first Pro Mod launch. “First time I let go of that button, everything got real blurry,” he said. The run stabilized around 150 feet. “It cleared up and I could really see where I was at, and they told me if I felt comfortable to take it all the way.” The parachutes delivered their own surprise. “I was not ready for those.”

Despite limited seat time, Peterson said he feels prepared for the weekend. “Treading lightly here, keeping the equipment shiny and right side up,” he said. His biggest challenge has been avoiding automatic corrections. “Twice I pedaled it without thinking,” he said. “Then I’m like, ‘What are you doing, stupid? They told you not to do that.’”

What Peterson lacks in Pro Mod experience he offsets with lineage. He is the son of US 131 Motorsports Park General Manager Jason Peterson and grandson of two men with deep Snowbird ties. His paternal grandfather, Chuck Peterson, won Pro Modified at the 1994 Snowbirds, a landmark moment during Pro Mod’s IHRA boom.

On his mother’s side, his grandfather Steve Earwood promoted the Snowbirds from 1975–84, helping stabilize the event in a formative era. His great-uncle Terry Earwood reached the Super Stock final in both 1972 and 1973.

Peterson credited immersion over instruction for his path to the moment. “Being around tuners and drivers all summer long for years really gives a good insight to everything,” he said. He progressed through junior dragsters, radial cars, a front-engine dragster, and finally a 10.5 car before this unexpected step.

After qualifying No. 17 with a 3.601, he lost in the first round to two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion Stevie “Fast” Jackson.

6 – LUTZ WINS PRO 10.5 – Pro 10.5 joined the full three-race Drag Illustrated Winter Series lineup this season, and Ohio veteran Bill Lutz made the most of the expanded schedule with a $10,000 victory over NFL Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox in the final round. Lutz entered the weekend aiming to capitalize on past near-misses and delivered throughout eliminations in his screw-blown “Big Boost” ’67 Camaro.

“We’ve had a car to win here multiple years and either the driver messes up or something happened to the car,” Lutz said, crediting his team led by his son Kenny and tuner Patrick Miller. “The car was just phenomenal from the day we unloaded it, and I told them after the first run, I was like, ‘This is our weekend. We’re going to win this damn thing,’ and here we are.”

Lutz qualified No. 3 before posting low elapsed time of the first round with a 3.935-second run at 192.66 mph to defeat Jerry Morgano’s 3.966 at 195.79. He advanced through a quarterfinal bye, then recorded a 3.969 at 183.24 to move past Nick Agostino, who slowed to a 4.077 at 176.42.
In the final, Cox left first in his nitrous-assisted “Training Day” ’69 Camaro, but Lutz quickly reeled him in. Lutz posted a 3.886 at 193.88 to drive around Cox’s 3.951 at 182.11 and close out the opening weekend of the Pro 10.5 Winter Series campaign.

“To race somebody of his caliber, obviously an elite athlete, and I don’t care what anybody says, that all transfers over into this type of deal,” Lutz said. “He’s felt pressure, he knows pressure, and I have too. I’ve raced in every type of racing you can do and I feel we can excel at anything, so I never let pressure get to me, but to beat a guy that is quite possibly one of the best NFL linemen ever, it means more than just outrunning a typical guy.”

7 – LARSON WINS TRUE 10.5 N/T – Chassis builder Larry Larson extended his run of success in 28×10.5 slick-tire no-time racing with a $40,000 True 10.5 N/T victory Saturday night at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. The win follows his $75,000 triumph at the King of the South event at Shadyside Dragway in May.

Larson worked through a deep field at Bradenton Motorsports Park, advancing past Ryan Martin, Ryan Hendrickson, and Memphis Raines before receiving a semifinal bye when Cole Pesz was unable to make the call. He closed out the night by defeating Russell Stone in the final round.

“It was just a good day,” Larson said. “There’s some fast, fast cars out here. People would be astonished how fast you can go on that little bitty tire, but it’s a cool class. I think it’s going to be the up-and-coming thing.”

Larson said the Snowbirds win reinforced his growing confidence in the combination. “It’s cool,” he said. “I think we proved that the King of the South wasn’t a fluke.”

8 – HOSKINSON WINS LIL GANGSTAS – Two rising drivers from different corners of the sport met in the $20,000 Lil Gangstas final round Saturday night at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. The class, which keeps times hidden and imposes a 5.30-second eighth-mile minimum, saw Ohio’s Tommy Hoskinson and Florida’s Gage Burch navigate the format cleanly to reach the last pair.

Hoskinson wheeled his Gen 2 Garage Ford Falcon against Burch’s Motion Raceworks “El Toro” Mustang in a close race that ended with the win light in Hoskinson’s lane. The victory capped a weekend in which Hoskinson said he felt steady control over both the car and the moment.

“You don’t want to go out first round, but we made an awesome pass first round, took out a really tough competitor, and then it was just a domino effect,” Hoskinson said. “I didn’t lose on the tree a single time this weekend. The car did exactly what I told it to do all weekend.”

Hoskinson added that confidence carried him through the late rounds. “I expected my win light to come on every pass,” he said. “I didn’t think anybody could beat me, and the confidence was just through the roof. We felt like underdogs a little bit, but we’ve won some races locally at home. I felt like this was a big stage, I felt like I deserved to be here, and I felt like we did a really good job of proving it.”

9 – WEDDLE WINS LIMITED DRAG RADIAL – Brian Weddle continued his strong transition from PDRA Pro Street to Limited Drag Radial with a $7,500 victory at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. Weddle, who set a class E.T. record and scored wins on 33×10.5 slicks earlier this year, kept his screw-blown “La Flama” ’67 Camaro in the 3.90-second range through eliminations.

That consistency gave Weddle lane choice going into the final round against former LDR season champion Shane Stack. Weddle left first and delivered a 3.932-second pass at 186.87 mph to secure the win.

Stack, driving his turbocharged “Thrillbilly” ’86 Monte Carlo, lifted and slowed to a 4.960 at 101.28. The result marked Weddle’s first major LDR victory of the season and underscored the momentum behind his switch to radial racing.

10 – GREATHOUSE WINS ULTRA STREET – Joel Greathouse and Brian Keep appeared evenly matched entering the Ultra Street final, but Greathouse found the advantage when it mattered Saturday at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. Greathouse, driving Davey Hull’s turbocharged ’90 Mustang, left first and posted a 4.460-second run at 153.72 mph to defeat Keep’s 4.565 at 154.65 in his ProCharged ’98 Camaro.

The win capped a consistent day for Greathouse, who advanced cleanly through eliminations before edging ahead of Keep at the starting line and carrying that lead to the stripe. Keep remained close through the first half of the run but was unable to close the gap.

Four additional class winners also claimed hardware on Saturday. Hunter Patton won Super Pro, Malcolm Ricks scored in 6.50 Index, Peyton Shook prevailed in 7.50 Index, and Jeff Jones collected the 4.60 Bikes title.

The 2025/2026 Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service continues Jan. 22-25 with the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission at Bradenton Motorsports Park.

THE TEN – IN-N-OUT NHRA FINALS EDITION

Susan Wade — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:29:39 +0000

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA IN-N-OUT Finals in Pomona, Ca..

1 – RAIN RULES BUT CHAMPIONS NAMED – Not one pro car went down the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals the entire weekend. But Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Austin Prock (Funny Car) became two-time champions, and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) claimed their first titles as rain spoiled the party for the third straight day Sunday.

Despite the NHRA Safety Safari’s exhaustive effort Sunday to dry and prepare the storied Southern California racetrack in a feverishly dwindling window of time, NHRA President Glen Cromwell announced the sanctioning body had canceled the race and would declare champions based on the standings entering the weekend.

“While we explored every possible option to complete the event this weekend, the safety of our competitors, teams and fans remains the highest priority, which led to this difficult decision to cancel the event,” he said.

So as the Finals caved in to a stubborn storm front that loitered over Southern California and with more rain forecast for the next couple of days, safety factors played a part in the NHRA doling out championships Sunday to Prock, Glenn and Gadson. Doug Kalitta was granted his second Top Fuel title Saturday because when qualifying was washed out, he was seeded No. 1 for Sunday’s hoped-for eliminations as the points leader, and that sealed the deal.

Kalitta called the cancellation “kind of disappointing, really,” adding, “We were definitely hoping to get a shot at the track, but unfortunately, it needs a lot of work after all that rain. Even though the sun came out, the forecast still just isn’t looking good. It’s disappointing, because this is definitely a race everybody wants to win, including me, at the end of the year. It’s just one of those deals.”

Top Fuel racer and two-car team owner Tony Stewart, whose Funny Car driver, Matt Hagan, will never know if he could have upset class phenom Prock for a fifth crown, summed up the feeling for most racers.

Stewart said, “There is one thing that is undefeated in this world, and that’s Mother Nature. It’s unfortunate, but it is the right decision. I don’t think you are going to hear anyone in the pit area get upset about this call. This is one that is out of our control, and, as racers, we always want to be in control of everything.”

2 – KALITTA TEAM 1-2 IN TOP FUEL – Shawn Langdon, the 2103 Top Fuel champion, finished second to Kalitta Motorsports champion Doug Kalitta, making the organization only the second in the sport’s history to finish 1-2 in the final Top Fuel standings. Don Schumacher Racing was the first to accomplish that in 2012, when Antron Brown won the title and Tony Schumacher was runner-up.

Langdon, the Kalitta Air 25th Anniversary dragster driver, said, “We finished as well as we could as a team. It’s awesome to see – we’re all very happy for Doug and his team. Second is no reason to hang our heads. We had a great season and only lost to our teammate, which is a good problem to have. We’ll be excited to come back next year and go after that No. 1.”

It was Langdon’s best pro-level finish since his 2013 title.

3 – PROCK, TEAM ‘ALWAYS WANT MORE’ – Austin Prock said he and his Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro team at John Force Racing “never let up. I feel like none of us on the team were ever satisfied. When we’re holding the trophy, it’s awesome, but you always want more.” He earned more victories this season than last en route to his second straight Funny Car championship. He won nine times in 12 final rounds and started first seven times – and marveled at it all after Sunday’s eliminations were called off because of unrelenting rain and unsafe track conditions.

“To win one championship is one thing, and to win two is another and it puts you in a select group,” he said. “I think there’s only seven of us who have ever done it, and to add my name to that list …” He joined Don Prudhomme, Raymond Beadle, Frank Hawley, Kenny Bernstein, John Force, and Ron Capps as multiple Funny Car titleists. Prock is the 11th Funny Car racer to earn two or more championships, and the list includes Cruz and Tony Pedregon, Matt Hagan, and the driver whom Prock replaced, Robert Hight.

“I wish my entire team could be added to that list. I get all the praise and the glory from the media and from the fans, but it’s not just me,” Prock said. “I couldn’t accomplish what I’ve done in the last two years without the people behind me, and I’m really proud of them.”

“Everybody on the Cornwell Quality Tools team is doing a phenomenal job, and they’re putting in that 110-percent effort,” he said. “We had a dominant race car all year long. Last year, a lot of people told me, ‘It’s not going to come as easily next year after the season that you had.’ We came in there and ended up getting the championship. I think that says a lot about this race team, and says a lot about me as a driver, and I’m looking forward to 2026 already.”

4 – GLENN BLAZES TO ‘SPECIAL’ TITLE – Dallas Glenn parlayed eight victories in 13 final rounds across 17 races into his first Pro Stock championship, besting his mentor and boss Greg Anderson, a six-time champion. “It definitely feels good. I get to race all next season with No. 1 on my car. I get to take it from Greg, take it off of Greg’s car and put it on mine. We get to swap numbers.” That sounded especially gratifying to hear, as he came away from Pomona last year disappointed about finishing second to Anderson. This time he might leave Southern California disappointed that he didn’t get to duke it out with Anderson on the race track. But he certainly can’t be upset about posting a 50-9 eliminations record for the season or team with Anderson to give KB Titan Racing 14 victories in the category’s 17 appearances on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour.

Glenn took the RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to victory in the season-opening Gatornationals, as well as a sweep of all three four-wide events. He was victorious at his home track at Seattle, won the regular-season crown, and triumphed at four of the five completed Countdown races.

“It’s definitely really special, especially getting so close last year,” Glenn said. “It feels good. I honestly don’t think it’s really hit me yet. Maybe it will hit me on the long four-day drive home later in the week. But it feels really good right now. You know, there’s a lot of just a lot of stuff, a lot of emotions, and you’re just trying to process everything.

“It’s almost one of those seasons that you don’t really want to end, even though you’re in the points lead, and, you know, ending means you’re the champion. We’ve had the car to beat. We’ve had the team to beat. We’ve been doing our job, on and off track,” he said.

5 – ‘I CAME HERE TO GO TO WAR’ – Newly crowned Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Richard Gadson said he and tuner Eddie Krawiec are “just finding our stride, finding our groove.” And the formidable tandem has something significant in common – each claimed his first series crown in non-traditional way. Krawiec earned the first of his four championships without winning a single race that year, and it motivated him to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Gadson just might want to prove that he doesn’t need to do any rain dances to keep his title-winning ways intact. However they claimed their first titles, they’re champions – and a winning combo in the class.

“Me and Eddie are starting to have a really good chemistry,” Gadson said, comparing it to the relationship that Vance & Hines teammate and champion for the past two seasons, Gaige Herrera, has with Andrew Hines. Gadson called Herrera “an amazing rider. Andrew [Hines] is an amazing tuner [for Herrera], but them together are like a match made in Heaven. And I think me and Eddie are kind of getting that kind of stride, too. He’s doing a phenomenal job tuning. It just takes time.”

But Gadson wasn’t fooling around. “The mentality was kill or be killed. That was it,” he said. “We talked about me and [Herrera] meeting in the finals, but it didn’t have to go that way. We had two sides of the ladder that we had to get through, and none of those people owed us any favors. I didn’t want anybody to take it from me or stop it. And I was willing to lay it all on the line out there. So, you know, I came here to go to war with my friends, with my teammate. It was that mentality the whole weekend.”

6 – HAGAN PHILOSOPHIC ABOUT RESULT – Matt Hagan was pragmatic about how the Funny Car championship chase played out.

“As a competitor, you want to run this thing out. We just wanted our shot to go for the championship. We wanted to fight for the championship that we have been working towards all year long,” the four-time champion driver of the Direct Connection Dodge Hellcat said. “The end result was they [Austin Prock and team] were three rounds ahead of us. The NHRA came to our team owner, our marketing partners, and the crew and asked what we wanted to do today. The decision was made across the board that this was the proper decision with the weather. It was best for safety with the sand trap full of water.

“It definitely stings,” Hagan said. “You come here to Pomona as a competitor, and you want to have a shot at the title. We just ask for that opportunity, and we had that. Mother Nature didn’t give us that chance this weekend. It would be awful to see someone go out and crash a car or get hurt. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

7 – EMOTIONAL WARM-UP – Brittany Force warmed her Monster Energy dragster up late Sunday, putting a punctuation mark on her two-championship, speed-record-setting career. The timing of her departure as a full-timer competitor coincides with that of her father, 16-time Funny Car champion John Force.

“I really love NHRA, but I am officially done with driving,” John Force said. “I’ve said so many times, ‘Until this race car kills me, they’re gonna have to drag me out of the seat.’ But the truth is, I was dragged out of the seat at Richmond, and they thought it killed me then. So, I’m lucky that I’m back walking. They always say never say never, but I have grandchildren with Courtney and Graham, with Ashley and Danny, and now Brittany’s retired because she wants to have children.

“It’s time for me to retire. I had medical stuff that I had to address. And do I want to get back in the car and get hit in the head? I don’t. So, I guess it’s official: I’m done. I won’t say I won’t ever get in a car to warm it up or maybe even make a burnout. Don’t know. I guess it’ll be the response from the fans. If they cheer loud enough, I’ll hear ya.”

Brittany Force announced Sept. 12 that she would be stepping away from competition to focus on starting a family with husband Bobby Lyons Jr. John Force Racing announced Oct. 15 that five-year veteran Top Fuel driver Josh Hart will be driving for its Top Fuel team in 2026.

8 – CAPPS FINDS POSITIVES – As let-down as he was by the three-day rainout this weekend, Funny Car three-time champion and team owner Ron Capps has as much to be excited about for next season. He called Sunday’s cancellation of the event “an unfortunate situation” and said, “Every time you get to Pomona, a championship is all you think about. We always feel like we have a championship team, and we strive for that. With that being said, it was another great year. We won Bristol and we finished in the top five again.”

Maybe most of all, he said he’s eager to see Maddi Gordon graduate from the Top Alcohol Funny Car class to the Carlyle Tools dragster by the March season opener at Gainesville, Fla.

“There’s a lot of exciting things coming up with adding the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel car with Maddi,” Capps said. “We always wait for the banquet, and then you can start focusing on next year, and that’s what we’re going to do. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get to make runs in front of our Pomona crowd and all the fans, but we’ll be back here in April.”

Capps and his team will join their colleagues Monday at the Pechanga Resort Casino at Temecula, Calif., to celebrate the 2025 season.

9 – BROWN BIDS GOOD-BYE TO TOYOTA – Top Fuel’s Antron Brown finished eighth in the final standings, a disappointing end to his 2025 championship reign. But it marked his 28th consecutive top-10 finish that includes his Pro Stock Motorcycle days. He said Sunday’s cancellation was a “tough decision, but with the circumstances at hand, I completely understand. After sitting through the rainstorms for the last three days, it just feels good to call it a wrap in 2025 so we can get prepared for 2026. Congratulations to all of the champions.” For Brown, it was a farewell to longtime supporter Toyota, which had announced earlier that it would not be involved past 2025. “I also want to thank our great Toyota partners. Wishing them farewell after our 18-year stint with them,” he said.

10 – BOWLING ‘EM OVER – Alexis DeJoria will participate in the Rev n Roll charity bowling event benefitting Riley Children’s Foundation at Indianapolis. The event will take place Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 6-9 p.m. at Western Bowl in Indianapolis. Lane and individual registration is live via give.rileykids.org/revnrollforriley.

KALITTA’S SECOND TITLE ARRIVES AS NHRA FINALS FALL TO RELENTLESS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAIN

CompetitionPlus Staff — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:03:28 +0000

Just one day after Doug Kalitta clinched his second NHRA Top Fuel championship in three seasons, NHRA officials canceled the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip due to persistent rainfall and unsafe track conditions. The decision ended the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series with no professional passes completed and eliminated any chance for a last-day upset.

After continuous efforts from the NHRA Safety Safari and repeated consultations with safety officials, the sanctioning body determined the racing surface could not be brought back to competition standards. The race was canceled mid-afternoon as deteriorating conditions and a poor forecast offered no viable options to continue.

Kalitta arrived in Pomona needing only a qualifying attempt to secure the title. When rain washed out every round of qualifying and forced NHRA to set the field on points, the Michigan native clinched the championship. His 2025 crown marks the sixth title for Kalitta Motorsports.

The team also secured a milestone result with Shawn Langdon finishing second in points, delivering Kalitta Motorsports its first one-two Top Fuel season. It is only the second time in NHRA history that a single organization locked out the top two positions, mirroring Don Schumacher Racing’s sweep in 2012.

“It’s kind of disappointing, really,” Kalitta said. “We were definitely hoping to get a shot at the track, but unfortunately, it needs a lot of work after all that rain.”

Kalitta added that the team was prepared for a full-weekend fight had conditions allowed. “Even though the sun came out, the forecast still just isn’t looking good,” he said. “It’s just one of those deals.”

Kalitta’s second championship comes two years after he won his long-awaited first NHRA title in 2023. He secured the 2025 crown before eliminations after all four qualifying sessions were rained out and the field was set off points entering the final race.

The run to the championship was defined by early Countdown dominance. Kalitta reached the final round at the first four playoff events, winning St. Louis and Dallas to take control of the title chase.

“I’ve never had a relaxing Pomona at the end of the year,” Kalitta said. “It’s always seemed to come down to the last race, the last day.”

He credited crew chief Alan Johnson and the team’s ability to produce consistent full pulls. “Going A to B a lot of times has been nice — just not doing something stupid on the track and getting a good solid run,” he said.

Kalitta’s playoff charge began in Reading, Pa., where he advanced to the semifinals after a significant on-track incident. In the second round, Kalitta’s dragster suffered a front-tire issue after crossing the stripe, making contact with Tony Stewart’s car. Both drivers walked away and Kalitta’s team immediately rolled out a yet-unrun backup car.

“We were just talking earlier, and Alan said, ‘well, if we have to wreck a car in Reading every year, I guess that’s what we have to do to win the championship,’” Kalitta said. “He’s just got it figured out with the technology of all these pieces on this car.”

Despite the setback, Kalitta reached the final round and left Reading with a slim points lead he never surrendered.

From there, his march to the title accelerated. He reached another final in Charlotte, then dominated St. Louis as the No. 1 qualifier before winning the event. In Dallas, he added a second straight win and extended his points cushion to 141 entering the final two races.

Crew chief Johnson said the team focused on peaking late. “Everything we worked on throughout the year played out how we envisioned it,” he said. “We got the job done.”

Kalitta’s semifinal appearance in Las Vegas further widened the gap, leaving him one qualifying attempt away from clinching the championship in Pomona. Rain handled the rest.

His second title brings Team Kalitta’s championship total to six and marks the 14th championship of Johnson’s career with seven different drivers.

Kalitta acknowledged the family significance of the moment. “My cousin (Scott Kalitta) did it back-to-back 1994, ’95, so I managed to tie him,” he said. “It’s just a dream come true.”

The 49-time event winner said the team’s chemistry has been critical. “It’s a hell of an opportunity to drive for Connie,” Kalitta said. “It’s so competitive out here; we’re all friends, but we all want to beat everyone else.”

Kalitta Motorsports General Manager Chad Head said the achievement carries weight across the organization. “Doing this with Mac Tools, two out of the last three years, is just really exciting,” Head said. “Hopefully, Kalitta Motorsports can continue to win championships in this sport for a long time.”

AUSTIN PROCK CLAIMS HIS SECOND NHRA NITRO FUNNY CAR TITLE IN A ROW

Tracy Renck — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:02:06 +0000

This isn’t how Austin Prock wanted to win his second NHRA nitro Funny Car championship in a row – but Mother Nature had other plans.

Prock had a 101-point lead in the standings over Matt Hagan heading into the season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, set for Nov. 13-16 in Pomona, Calif.

And that’s the same gap by which he won the championship when NHRA officials made the decision Sunday to cancel this weekend’s In-N-Out Burger at Pomona, Calif., due to rain and unsafe track conditions. NHRA officials made the decision to determine the champions by the points standings, which gave Prock his second title.

Prock, who competes as part of the John Force Racing stable, won the crown on the strength of nine national-event wins in 12 final-round appearances and seven outings as the No. 1 qualifier.

“It’s surreal. We had a dominant race car all year long, and we definitely wanted to come in here and race it out. The odds were good on us. We just had to go one round, and I was honestly just looking forward to driving this nitro Funny Car one last time for this season,” Prock said. “This is where I’m happy. It’s my happy place. I love being behind the wheel of the Chevrolet, and it’s a shame that we didn’t get to put on a show for the fans, but I respect NHRA’s decision. And to call me a two-time champ is incredible.

“What my family’s done and what this team, this Cornwell Tools team, has done in the last year – two years, excuse me – is something that you can’t write up. Last year a lot of people told me, ‘It’s not going to come as easy next year. The season that you had, it’s not doable over again.’ And we came in there, and we struggled a little bit in the season, and then ended up getting one more win throughout the NHRA schedule [over last year]. I think that that says a lot about this race team. It says a lot about me as a driver, and I’m looking forward to 2026 already.”

Prock made a pivotal move to claim title No. 2 at the 40th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals [Oct. 9-12] near Dallas. He arrived with a slim 20-point lead over Matt Hagan in the standings. Prock’s team needed a clutch performance – and they got one. He clocked a 3.959-second elapsed time at 328.30 in the finals to defeat Ron Capps and pad his edge to 112.

Despite winning a second title, Prock was in the shadows during the weekend with legendary driver and team owner John Force announcing his retirement from driving earlier in the week. The Finals was scheduled to be the final race for Force’s daughter Brittany, a two-time Top Fuel champ who is stepping aside from driving to start a family.

“Well, [the championship] it doesn’t chalk up to either of those announcements,” Prock said. “They put me in the shadows announcing those two things. But for John Force Racing, you announce those things. We’re going to miss Brittany out here, obviously. I knew for a while that John probably wasn’t going to get back in the seat, and he announced that this week, and then we go win our second consecutive world championship. There’s a lot of headliners for John Force Racing.”

Seeing John Force, a 16-time nitro Funny Car champ and winner of 157 national events, officially call it quits tugged at Prock’s heart strings.

“It hurts my heart that he can’t drive this race car again because he’s the greatest of all time. He’s going to go down, not just in NHRA drag racing, as one of the greatest of all time or the greatest of all time in all of sports. All of motorsports, everybody knows who John Force is, and there’s a reason for that,” Prock said. “I wish it could have been where he got to race out his last run down the racetrack and then call it quits. It’s sad, but I think he would agree it’s the best decision. But it’s going to be difficult for this sport not having a Force out here, let alone John Force. Brittany Force is taking a step away for a little while, and not having a Force out here is definitely going to hurt this sport.”

Prock’s two titles came in different ways, but he obviously wasn’t about to complain about the end results.

“Both of these championships have obviously come in two totally different fashions, and being with the guys, that’s where I want to be when I celebrate,” Prock said. “I wish every one of them could be on the top end with me when I get out of the race car, even on a race win. I love driving this race car, but one thing I miss about being a crew member is being on the starting line and watching that scoreboard light up and see your win light and celebrating with your team, because this sport is all about team effort. What we’ve done in the last two years, it’s not me, it’s not just my dad, it’s not just my brother [Thomas], it’s not just Nate Hildahl. It’s every one of us. From the race team to the race shop, everybody’s doing a phenomenal job, and they’re putting in that 110% effort and allowing us to come out.

“So being able to celebrate with my guys [today] was incredible. Me and my brother were the first ones to know, and I was out there signing autographs. And I turned around and just screamed, ‘We’re two-time world champs,’ and everybody looked at me funny because they didn’t know. And I’m like, ‘They canceled the event. We’re the world champ for the second consecutive time in a row,’ and it brought tears to my eyes.”

Prock has gone from a racer with amazing potential to a superstar in the sport.

“Being at the top is not easy, and getting there is not easy, and you’ve got to go through the wringer, and you’ve got to fight through that to get to the top. And all the way back before I even started drag racing, that’s how my career’s always been,” Prock said. “I started driving race cars when I was 10 years old. I was fortunate enough to where my family could supply the race cars, and we could go out there and race at a grassroots level. And once we got past that, my dad, he would give us the race cars, but we didn’t have any money to run it. I had to go out there, and I had to hustle, and however much money I was able to scrounge up was how much racing I was able to do.”

And he had to find a way to stay behind the wheel.

“As every race car driver knows, seat time is everything. The more you’re behind the wheel and the more you’re switched on, the better you’re going to be and the better shot you’re going to have to get to the next level,” Prock said. “I’ve had those seasons all the way throughout my career. One year you get to race five times, one year you get to race 15 races a year, and all the way up through getting my first NHRA ride. In 2019, I got thrown to the wolves out here. I’d made three hits of the throttle in the Top Fuel dragster, and Force drug me here to compete at a national level. I had only competed in an alcohol Funny Car one race at Bowling Green, and that was my only competition runs I had ever made. And you go through there and you try and do a good job, and you feel like you do, and the next year, boom, COVID hits, and you’re out of the seat again.

“You’ve just got to stay focused to get to the top, fight back, and if you believe in yourself and you believe that this is everything you want to do, you have to do everything possible to stay out here. It’s been a wild ride, but to say I’m a two-time world champ now after everything that I’ve fought for my entire life to be a professional race car driver, I wouldn’t say it’s paid off yet. I want plenty more to add to my resume.”

Prock has captured his 21 career Wallys – 17 in Funny Car, and four in Top Fuel.

Prock finished the season with a 45-10 record in eliminations.

“It’s awesome. To win one world championship is one thing, and to win two is another. But to win them back-to-back puts you in a select group,” Prock said. “I think there’s only seven of us who have ever done it. And to add my name to that list, I wish my entire team could be added to that list, because I get all the praise and the glory from the media and from the fans and the TV aspect of it. And it’s not just me. I couldn’t accomplish what I’ve done in the last two years without the people behind me, and I’m really proud to drive their race car. We’re going to celebrate big tonight, but like I said, we didn’t want it to end on this note. It still feels odd because we never even got to fire the race car up this weekend and were crowned world champs, but that’s beside the fact. I don’t care if there’s an asterisk next to this one in the stat book, but I definitely believe we earned it.”

Prock has won 17 of the last 39 national events on the NHRA circuit.

This season, Prock had wins at: the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on April 13 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., on April 27; Richmond, Va., on June 22; Norwalk, Ohio, on June 29; Sonoma, Calif., on July 27; Brainerd, Minn., on Aug. 17; Indy on Sept. 1; Charlotte again Sept. 21; and Dallas on Oct. 12.

One thing is for sure Austin Prock has no plans of taking his foot off the gas. His passion to compete in drag racing is something that fuels him every day.

“Those trophies, those paychecks, the more you win, obviously you’re putting more in your pocket, and the more you win, the more advertising you are to a sponsor,” he said. “Those are two things that keep the fire under me, and then you add on racing with your family. The last thing I want to do as a race car driver is let down my dad and brother in this whole Cornwell Tools team. I’m always hungry. Even if I do a good job, I can always find something that I did wrong or didn’t do perfectly, and those are the things that keep me going. I’m a competitor at heart on the racetrack. Outside of the race track, not much of a competitor just because I don’t care about it like I do NHRA drag racing or any motorsport. I’ve got a fire underneath me right now, and I don’t see any time soon it’s going out. So, we’re going to try and keep on doing what we’ve been doing.”

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2025 NHRA IN-N-OUT FINALS: POMONA – EVENT NOTEBOOK

Susan Wade — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 01:00:27 +0000

Photos by Ron Lewis, Mike Burghardt, Jeff Burghardt

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – RAIN WREAKS HAVOC AT NHRA FINALS AS FORCE DUO PIVOT, KALITTA NEARS TITLE

1 – FOUR-LETTER FINALS – 1 – That nasty four-letter word – rain – popped up just in time to spoil the championship coronation this weekend at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. The entire Southern California region was drenched, and the forecast for Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday is looking grim. But everyone will give it another try Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. PST.

2 – DETAILS, DETAILS – Doug Kalitta will have to wait until the end of qualifying before his second Top Fuel championship in three years is official. But he will have wrapped it up the second he completes his first qualifying pass.

His 2023 championship went down to a winner-take-all final round against Leah Pruett at the season’s final race. Last year, he entered the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in fourth place in points and emerged with his seventh runner-up finish in the final season standings. This weekend, his route to a second championship has turned out to be dramatically less dramatic.

Needing just one qualifying pass, even Kalitta was surprised he was in such an exciting position.

“It’s hard to believe that we managed to not drag it into the last round of the last race,” the presumptive champion said. “It feels really good. I’m definitely proud of my guys for making it all happen, for sure. We just have to qualify this weekend [and] e can definitely manage that. It’s a huge relief. It means a lot to Connie [team owner Connie Kalitta], me and everybody at Kalitta Motorsports, and we’re very grateful. It’s gratifying. I always hoped I’d be able to tie my cousin [Scott Kalitta] with the number of championships he has, and there’s plenty of people who have won this twice. To be one of the guys that’s won it twice with Alan [Johnson] as the crew chief, is really special for sure.”

Kalitta wants it all, though. If he wins this weekend’s race, it will be his fifth win of the season and his eighth at the racetrack. Moreover, it would be his 60th – and come at the 60th annual Finals here.

“I love running at Pomona. I’ve had great success there, and the pressure will be off. The only other thing to do is go out there and win this thing,” he said.

3 – FORCE PIVOTS – Years ago, NHRA Funny Car icon John Force vowed that when it came time for him to stop driving, he didn’t want a farewell-tour season. He said, “One day, I’ll just step over the fence and I’ll be gone.”

But a painfully public crash in June 2024 at the Virginia Nationals and a long, challenging rehabilitation following a traumatic brain injury diagnosis robbed the 16-time champion and 157-time race winner of the luxury of stepping away on his own terms.

But he gets to choose what’s next. Force announced Thursday at his West Coast headquarters at Yorba Linda, Calif., “I want to be clear: I’m not getting back in a fuel Funny Car anymore. It’s time for me to … I’ve done my time.” But literally, without skipping a beat, he heralded an energizing, optimistic new dimension to his storied career.

“I’m expanding my racing operation,” Force declared. “I’m excited about that. It gives me something to do. I’ve got a lot of announcements for the future, but I’m not going to touch on them now. That’s for next year. We’ll have a press conference in the early days of the new year.”

Josh Hart already has announced he will leave team ownership behind and join John Force Racing (JFR) as the new driver of Brittany Force’s Top Fuel dragster as she leaves the sport to start a family. And all indications point to Alexis DeJoria joining JFR as a Funny Car teammate to Austin Prock and Jack Beckman. Maybe Force has some undiscovered aces up his sleeve.

What’s certain is his statement that “I don’t need any more hits to the head. You think you’re Superman and Elvis and James Dean rolled into one, and you wake up one day and you can’t hang up your robe. That’s kind of where I’m at. That’s the short story on me. But I am excited to be back and be with my teams.”

Force said, “I’ve loved this sport my whole life, since I left high school in ’67. I didn’t know nothin’ else. I don’t know how to quit.”

Jack Beckman, who came out of an economically imposed mothballing for the final eight races last season as Force’s substitute and this year has been driving for the team, called Force’s announcement “such a surreal moment to hear an icon of the sport announce that’s it.” He said Force is “somebody who has set a standard I don’t think will ever be equaled in the sport.”

John Force might have stepped over the fence, but he won’t be gone.

4 – SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY – It’s enough gravity for a relatively young driver to represent John Force Racing, knowing – seeing for your entire lifetime – how the legend has built his empire from nothing but his obsession with the sport. Add to that a consensus of opinion that he’s the heir apparent to Force’s legacy, the face of the next generation of drag racing. Pile on his shoulders the equal weights of expectation and demand not to squander a 101-point advantage at the final race of a spectacular season.

Such is the situation Austin Prock is in. But he had one more layer of emotion slathered on the day before the In-N-Out NHRA Finals was to begin.

He arrived Thursday at the John Force Racing West Coast headquarters at Yorba Linda, Calif., knowing he was about to watch his boss officially give up the only thing he knew how to do – and ever wanted to do since the mid-1960s. Prock walked through the Shipping and Receiving doors, and a wave of sentiment washed over him.

“I actually had a childhood flashback this afternoon when I pulled into the parking lot beside the shipping and receiving door,” he said. “I remember being seven or eight years old my first time coming here, when my dad [crew chief Jimmy Prock] got hired, walking through that door and I don’t know – it just hit me. I guess it means a lot to me, because it was the first door that I walked [through] into John Force Racing. And I remember being a little kid, running around the parking lot, playing with our toys, Austin Coil yelling at us, me and my brother, telling us to get our stuff together. It’s crazy where life can take you.” He said it has been an epiphany to fast-forward 20 years, realizing he has gotten to work on elite race cars, drive first a Top Fuel dragster then a Funny Car, and earn a championship (and possibly two) for the sport’s winningest organization.

“It’s a pretty special place in my heart,” Prock said of the facility.

And he said this weekend’s race venue, known today as In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, “is always my favorite racetrack ever since I was a little kid. When we lived back in Michigan or in Indianapolis, you get out school early, you go catch a flight, you fly out here, and as soon as you land you go to In-N-Out Burger and then smoke a flight for the racetrack to go cheer on my dad. And all I ever wanted to do was be in his shoes or be behind the wheel of a race car like my hero, John Force. So to be here again is always exciting. I love coming here twice a year and to have the pressure to win the championship.”

Not surprisingly, Prock said he wasn’t keen about the lousy weather situation: “The prediction of the weather definitely doesn’t sit well with you. It’s one more uncertainty. You don’t know when you’re going to race, what time you’re going to race, if you’re going to race, so the nerves are the same. I’ve been looking at it this way: We’re racing for our second NHRA title. Attempt to be back to back, and we have a 101-point lead coming into the last race. If you aren’t excited or happy about that, you’re crazy. We just have to go out there and execute and do our job like we’ve done all year. This place, it’s a difficult racetrack, and especially with points and a half, it makes it tricky. But I have all the faith in this team. I have all the faith in myself that we can go out there and do a good job and earn back-to-back championships for John Force Racing.”

5 – BECKMAN PROUD BUT SAYS HE’S ‘NOT A HERO’ – The sanctioning body planned to honor America’s military veterans Friday, and Funny Car racer Jack Beckman – the lone top-10 nitro driver who served in the military – spoke about his own military service.

“I was a 17-year-old high-school dropout, and I went in the Air Force and it was life-changing. It was the best decision I ever made,” he said. “I’m more proud of my service the older I get. I think you can reflect on it in a different way.

“I’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything heroic. Bobby [Lyons, Brittany Force’s husband] did some pretty crazy stuff; Special Forces guy. Guys like that, they’re heroes. And there’s a lot of men and women in uniform that do some extraordinary things,” Beckman said. “I was fortunate to get to spend four years and straighten my life out and serve my country. And I do take in that now, and I think it’s nice that NHRA has stepped up in a big way to support the veterans. And it’s not just at this event. It’s easy to do it on Veteran Day, but they do year ’round. And I think that’s a really unique thing, and I’m proud to be associated with NHRA for what they do for veterans.”

When he competed with Don Schumacher Racing, thanks to the late Terry Chandler, Beckman carried the Infinite Hero livery, raising awareness for the foundation that connects veterans with service-related injuries and their families with effective treatment programs.

6 – MISSING KEEN RIVAL – It’s a curious thing when a three-time champion in any sport walks away, virtually vanishes, and the reaction from just about everyone is super-low-key. That’s what happened with Funny Car standout Robert Hight. But one maybe-surprising individual said he especially misses Hight.

Matt Hagan, whose career featured some intense battles with Hight, including the race to get to four series championships. They faced each other 47 times, and Hight left the sport with a 25-22 edge over Hagan.

“Man, I really enjoyed racing him as a competitor. He always ran straight up. We always just were neck and neck, and I miss the guy,” Hagan said. “I miss racing the guy. I mean, just … it’s one of those things where we always had a big rivalry. There’s definitely times where you miss racing Robert, just because of the competitor that he is and the type of guy that he is. And I felt like we were similar in driving styles and we always just, you let your cars do the talking and the rest takes care of itself.”

Hagan said, “I’m very, very shocked to see Robert kind of fall off the face of the drag-racing world and doesn’t come to races, doesn’t reach out. I mean, to be someone that’s been so instrumental in the growth of our sport and where we’ve been and to just all of a sudden turn the switch off and disappear, which he’s allowed to do … I mean, there’s nothing in the rule book says you’re not allowed to live your life and move on in a new chapter and stuff.”

Just as nettlesome for Hagan, though, is Hight’s replacement, Austin Prock.

“I welcome the new blood in the sport,” Hagan said. “Jimmy Prock is a big part of that, and it’s a family affair over there with his son [driving] and his other son tuning. You tip your hat to him. And Austin being younger, like I said in an interview a while back, I think Austin still has some trials and tribulations to go through, unfortunately, and I hope that he never does. I hope that that car never blows up and never catches on fire and never hits walls. But he’s been in such a good car and they do such a good job of keeping the parts and pieces together there. But it’s kind of like with Funny Car, I earned my stripes early on. I thought I was going to die in a Funny Car. I was on fire every other run.”

And now the Funny Car focus at John Force Racing has shifted to Austin Prock and Jack Beckman. And Hagan has had to battle both to get himself in position to win another championship.

7 – DUEL BETWEEN TEAMMATES SPICES BIKE CHASE – If Gaige Herrera can overcome the 21-point advantage that RevZilla/Mission/Vance & Hines Suzuki teammate Richard Gadson has over him and win the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, he would become the fifth in his class to win three consecutive championships. Herrera would join Angelle Sampey (2000-02), Matt Smith (2020-22), Andrew Hines (2004-06), and Matt Hines (1997-99). But Gadson isn’t going to make it easy for Herrera – and vice-versa.

After Herrera won at Las Vegas in the most recent event, he said, “This couldn’t have gone any better, me and my teammate facing off in the semis, with him in the points lead, so I needed him to go out to get a little closer. What a race between me and him, my .005 light to his perfect .000 light. It just doesn’t get any better than that. It also just goes to show how hungry we both are to get this championship right now. I’d love to race [Gadson] in the final in Pomona for the championship.”

Gadson said of Herrera, “He’s usually a flawless rider. You usually have to outrun him. I have to take advantage of any daylight I can get, because that’s how tight this championship battle’s going to be.” Also taking into consideration the “sometimes unpredictable Matt Smith” factor, Gadson said, “If I can be there to capitalize on those guys’ mistakes, it’s a big help for me in this points battle.”

Even before the Dallas eliminations two races ago, Gadson said, “I’m No. 1 in points. I just want the season to stop right here. I’m just holding on. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I’ve just got to not be my own worst enemy and I think we can do it. I’ve got as much of a shot as anyone else. Whatever intensity I feel, they feel, too. I’ll take that, knowing that it’s even.”

8 – BRITTANY FORCE REFLECTS – Two-time Top Fuel champion Brittany Force, the most successful woman in the class with 19 victories, is preparing to step away from the sport to build a family. And as the Yorba Linda, Calif., native looks back on her career – which began and will end here – she said she’s feeling “a little bit of pressure.”

She won the series’ most recent race, two weeks ago at Las Vegas, to pass legendary Shirley Muldowney’s 18 triumphs. Force said, “That win was huge for us” because she wants “to end the Countdown on a strong note.” She said her team’s desire to deliver her a victory before the end of the year – for her, not for themselves – “speaks so highly of their character.”

Force owns eight of the top 10 fastest speeds, all at 340 mph and better, including the fastest in all of motorsports at 343.51. She is happy to wear the label of Queen of Speed, but she said, “We were never chasing that mile per hour. We were always chasing that E.T. [elapsed time]. Force said her fans have continued to ask her if she plans to go even faster than 343.51 mph. She smiled and said, “Right now, I think that’s fast enough. But the second it’s taken from me, I’ll be calling [crew chief Dave] Grubnic.”

9 – BROWN READY TO REGAIN CHAMPIONSHIP FORM – Reigning Top Fuel champion for a few more days, four-timer Antron Brown said he’s planning to “come out swinging in 2026.” And the driver of the Matco Tools Eagle Experience dragster, who’s ninth in this year’s standings, is seeking a fifth NHRA Finals victory at Pomona. After earning the 1999 trophy on a Pro Stock Motorcycle, Brown has won this race three times (2009-10, 2024).

“As long as it doesn’t rain, we’re going to go for some triple-A throw-down runs. And hopefully the fans will get to see some of the fastest times of the year this weekend,” he said.

Matco Tools announced the nationwide rollout of the Eagle Experience, a dynamic mobile showroom tour designed to bring cutting-edge tool storage and diagnostic technology directly to technicians, technical education students, and motorsports fans across the country. Having launched this fall and continuing through 2026, the Eagle Experience will make stops at automotive repair centers, tech-ed campuses, and major events, including this weekend’s NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.

10 – FAMILY TIES – Melanie Johnson scored a holeshot victory against Shawn Cowie in Thursday’s opening round of Top Alcohol Dragster eliminations and will meet Jon Bradford whenever the rain-interrupted schedule permits Round 2 to take place. And she’ll do it in a car with special family-showcased livery featuring the Johnson Farms decal design. It was inspired by the classic Johnson Racing logo that appeared on the Top Alcohol Dragster her father, Alan Johnson, and uncle Blaine Johnson raced together in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It marks the 30th anniversary of Blaine Johnson’s first Top Fuel victory at this event here at Pomona in 1995.

“My family has been farming on the central coast of California for four generations,” she said. “My great-grandfather immigrated from Denmark and bought land in Santa Maria to start a dairy farm. Over time, the family transitioned to growing produce, most notably strawberries, and we’re proud to continue being stewards of the land today. Drag racing has always been a family passion. To close out my rookie Top Alcohol Dragster season by honoring where we came from, both in farming and in racing, feels really special. This weekend, our family and friends will come together in Southern California once again to celebrate an incredible season and remember the legacy that brought us here.”

THE TEN – THE IHRA OUTLAW NITRO SERIES FINALE FROM GALOT

Bobby Bennett — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:50:50 +0000

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series finale in Dunn, NC.

1 – WORSHAM’S DOMINATION CONTINUES – Former IHRA Funny Car champion Del Worsham capped off a commanding season by winning Saturday’s IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series finale at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina.

Worsham reached the final round in all five IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series events this season, winning three of them — at Columbus, Milan, and now Dunn. His latest victory came after eliminating John Smith in the quarterfinals, Jacob McNeal in the semifinals, and Bobby Bode in the final round.

In the final, Bode’s car lost traction early, opening the door for Worsham’s consistent performance to seal the win. Worsham crossed the line in 3.319 seconds at 265.27 mph to close out one of the strongest Funny Car campaigns of 2025.

The 1992 IHRA Funny Car champion said the night’s conditions were nearly identical to previous outings where his team struggled to find traction, but steady progress paid off when it mattered most. “It was dark and very similar conditions to last night, which we didn’t get down the track,” Worsham said. “The last three events at IHRA, we haven’t made that nighttime run. So a little concerned about that, but we seem to be getting better as the days go on.”

Facing Bobby Bode in the final round carried personal meaning for Worsham, who has spent much of his career mentoring young racers. “I got to race my buddy Bobby Bode, who’s driven for me this year and even ran Junior Dragsters for me,” Worsham said. “He’s like part of our family, just a great family, great guys. We thought we had a setup that should get us down there, and it was enough to get it done.”

The victory continued a season defined by adaptability and precision. “We’ve had some races where we qualified number one and dominated, and others where we just did what we had to do,” he said. “This weekend was kind of that way, but we got it done and got the win.”

For Worsham, the 2025 campaign marked a return to the driver’s seat after years focused on tuning and team management. The three-race cross-country tour effectively delayed his Hall of Fame eligibility by another five years — something he’s not losing sleep over. “I really appreciate everything IHRA and everybody’s done for us because it’s been great, it’s been a fun year,” he said.

Had a formal championship been awarded, Worsham’s near-perfect record would have earned him a fourth IHRA title. Instead, the 2025 season stands as proof that even decades into his career, Del Worsham’s dominance — and passion for nitro racing — remain untouched

2 – FIRST TOP FUEL WIN – Kyle Satenstein turned a turbulent few weeks into triumph, capturing his first Top Fuel victory in Saturday’s IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series finale at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina. His 3.137-second pass at 273.83 mph defeated No. 1 qualifier Lex Joon, who trailed at 3.473 seconds and 187.83 mph.

Satenstein’s win capped a run through Bernie Plourd in the quarterfinals and Cameron Ferre in the semifinals, sealing a breakthrough moment in his young nitro career. The win earned him the $50,000 Top Fuel purse and the IHRA Ironman trophy, solidifying his name among the series’ rising stars.

The victory carried extra meaning considering the chaos leading up to the weekend.

“A couple weeks ago, the truck and trailer on the way home from the race in Dallas had an accident,” Satenstein said. “The car got a little hurt, the trailer got hurt, the truck got totaled. So just to get to this point here, what the team owner had to do to do that, while I was at home sitting on my ass doing nothing, they were putting in a lot of work.”

Even after arriving in Dunn, things didn’t go smoothly. “The first run I went to make, I went to back up the car and the front wheel was basically hanging off,” Satenstein recalled. “In the car, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is not good.’ So we were able to fix that luckily, and apparently it went straight enough.”

Qualifying was uneven, but the team’s persistence paid off. “We just knew as long as you keep giving us more shots at the track, a third shot at it, we’d figure it out,” Satenstein said. “We woke up this morning, I found out I had a bye. That was the best news I could hear. We basically had a free shot at the track.”

By eliminations, Satenstein’s car was dialed in and consistent. “Right around 100 feet, 200 feet, I was just sort of thinking to myself, waiting for tire shake or waiting for it to spin or just something to go wrong,” he said. “And it just kept pulling. Once I made it about 300 feet, I was like, ‘This shit is over. We’re going to win.’”

3 – IS THAT A FERRIS WHEEL? – When the lights came on over Darana Motorsports Park during the IHRA season finale, fans didn’t just see nitro flames — they saw a Ferris wheel spinning against the Carolina night sky. It wasn’t a gimmick. It was a signal that the International Hot Rod Association, under Scott Woodruff’s guidance, is serious about redefining what a drag race weekend can be.

Woodruff, one of the organization’s key visionaries, has made it clear that the new IHRA isn’t just about horsepower and elapsed times. It’s about atmosphere, families, and creating a place where racing shares the stage with laughter and music.

“Well, first and foremost, we’re in the entertainment business,” Woodruff said. “So it’s all about having more entertainment for people at the track and having different things that interest them and bringing that all together at one facility.”

The Ferris wheel, now the most photographed attraction of the weekend, was born from a spur-of-the-moment idea in a planning meeting.

“I think the Ferris wheel, I can’t remember who brought it up, whether it was D’Arcy or Darrell,” Woodruff said. “And then when we started talking about it, I think Darrell just said, ‘Hey, make it happen.’” That phrase — make it happen — has become something of an IHRA mantra. Within days, the team sourced the ride, handled logistics, and turned it into a glowing centerpiece.

By Saturday night, the midway pulsed with life. Families gathered around food vendors, veterans were honored on stage, and jet cars lit up the track as children pointed from their seats atop the wheel. “It’s a great visual at night,” Woodruff said. “It just kind of sets a visual tone and it’s a reminder that we’re here to do things differently.”

What could have been a novelty turned into a message. The IHRA isn’t interested in just surviving — it’s interested in thriving, by giving fans something they can’t find anywhere else. Woodruff calls it painting on a blank canvas. “A racetrack is nothing but a blank canvas,” he said. “And how you decide to paint it is 100% up to you.”

When the Ferris wheel stopped spinning that night, the crowd still lingered — proof that for one weekend, IHRA’s vision worked. “At the end of the day, it’s about making people smile,” Woodruff said. “You do that — and everything else takes care of itself.”

4 – STEDING WINS IN PRO MOD DEBUT – Ethan Steding made the most of his first appearance in Pro Modified competition, powering to victory over veteran Kevin McCurdy in Saturday’s IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series finale at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina. His 3.568-second pass at 209.49 mph was enough to hold off McCurdy’s 3.687 at 200.35 mph.

Steding gained a slight edge at the starting line with a .063 reaction time to McCurdy’s .073, and he never trailed from there. The win added another accomplishment to a breakout season for the young North Carolina driver, who also captured the 2025 PDRA Pro Street world championship earlier this year.

The 22-year-old called the moment surreal, crediting veteran tuner Todd Tutterow for giving him a car capable of competing with some of the class’s most established names.

“I just kept my head real calm,” Steding said. “It’s what I’ve learned to do in this type of situation. I’m out here racing with the baddest dudes of the baddest and I’m just a young gun in here. I wasn’t expecting this to happen at all, but with the dudes who were behind me and Todd Tutterow, the baddest dude to ever be in this sport, it gives you the best feeling going into the final round.”

Steding said confidence carried the team through the weekend.

“I was very confident in this team all weekend long,” he said. “Every time we go out and race, I’m very confident in these guys, and I just can’t thank them enough.”

That confidence, he explained, was built through years of watching and learning from others. “I’ve always been the type to watch and learn,” Steding said. “Coming out of the Junior Dragster ranks and being around all these great people, you see it all, and it makes you better.”

Steding entered Pro Mod after earning back-to-back PDRA championships in 10.5-inch tire competition, proving his versatility across drag racing’s most demanding classes. “Being a two-time world champion in that, I got the greatest dudes who drag race and they’re the best teachers to teach you,” he said.

The victory was as meaningful to his family as it was to him. “My mom and dad are very proud,” Steding said. “I couldn’t tell you the amount of times my dad was told that he needs to retire and sit back after this weekend, but I love it and I can’t thank both my parents enough for this opportunity.”

5 – POWERS PREVAILS IN CLOSE FINAL – Chris Powers captured his second IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock victory of the season Saturday at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina, winning by the narrowest of margins over Jordan Ensslin. Both drivers clocked identical 4.068-second passes, but Powers’ quicker reaction time of .051 to Ensslin’s .061 delivered the win.

The difference was in speed — Ensslin posted a slightly faster 176.65 mph to Powers’ 176.35 mph — but the reaction time advantage made all the difference at the finish line. It was a fitting conclusion for one of the most competitive races of the weekend and continued a remarkable streak for Powers, who has now reached five straight finals after an earlier win this season at Milan, Michigan.

“We just tried to go and make a good run A to B,” Powers said. “Be subtle. The left foot’s been doing its work all day. Car’s run good. We just got a few bugs after the 42 episode when we broke a motor, we were just a little bit behind. But Chuck did a heck of a job tuning and Sonny’s worked day and night trying to get everything put back together.”

The past few weeks have tested the Powers team’s resilience. After suffering a major engine failure at Dragway 42, the group scrambled to rebuild in time for the finale. “I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Powers said. “We’ve done a phenomenal job. The crew worked nonstop trying to get this thing done.”

With another IHRA win on his résumé, Powers continues to cement his place among the series’ most consistent Pro Stock drivers. “This is five straight finals for us, so we’re just blessed,” he said. “We cannot believe it.”

Powers credited his tuner, crew, and the IHRA for making the event a success. “Thanks to IHRA for giving us an opportunity to come over here and race,” he said. “And thanks to all the fans that come out. It was exciting to see so many people here watching and thanks everybody. Hope everybody has a safe trip home.”

6 – SUMMER RETURNS FOR LOVE OF HERITAGE – Annette Summer didn’t haul to Darana Motorsports Park–Galot chasing trophies or time slips. She came to reconnect with the roots that made her one of Pro Street’s original pioneers.

For Summer, the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series finale was about gratitude, not glory. “This is awesome,” she said. “This is like the old days. I mean, this place is freaking packed.”

It had been more than two decades since her last IHRA event. This time, she arrived with “Barney,” the deep-purple 1941 Willys that helped rewrite Pro Modified history.

Built by Tommy Mauney for the 1995 season, “Barney” ended Scotty Cannon’s five-year reign and carried Shannon Jenkins to IHRA championships in 1997 and 1999. “It’s almost around the 30-year anniversary of that car coming out the first time,” Summer said. “This is everybody’s favorite car. It belongs to all of us who lived that time.”

Her first pass back was emotional. “I was a little nervous because the car hadn’t been down a track in 18 years,” she said. “It went left, I brought it back, and finally I just quit with it.”

The run didn’t matter. “I haven’t even looked at the time slip,” she admitted. “I’ve been running around like a crazy woman.”

For Summer, the weekend was more about people than performance. “All this is about is honoring the people that helped me — Shannon, Tommy, Gene, and Ron Santhuff,” she said. “I’m a believer in honoring people before they pass away, not after they pass away. This is what this car is all about. It’s about those people that helped me because I wouldn’t have done nothing without them.”

She parked among grassroots racers, right where she felt most at home. “We’re in the sportsman area because I wasn’t pre-entered,” she said. “I got Super Stock on my left and Top Sportsman on my right. I’m just happy to be here.”

Her last IHRA appearance came in 2002 with a nitrous-powered ’57 Corvette. More than 20 years later, surrounded by familiar names and faces, Summer found peace where it all began.

“This is like the old days,” she said, standing beside the purple Willys. “The crowd, the cars, the people — it’s all here.”

7 – FOLEY WALKS AWAY FROM VIOLENT TOP FUEL CRASH AT DARANA – Veteran Top Fuel driver Doug Foley knows how fast a good run can turn bad. During Friday’s opening round of IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series qualifying at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina, his dragster lost traction, darted left, and struck the wall hard before grinding to a stop downtrack.

Safety crews reached him within seconds. Foley climbed from the wreckage under his own power — alert, responsive, and visibly shaken. “No, they don’t play around,” Foley said. “If you don’t want us to have a problem, don’t start it.”

He ruled out track conditions as the cause. “The track was great,” he said. “The biggest part I can’t figure out is why did it turn left so quickly? That’s the thing that baffles me.”

Data from the car showed the tires began spinning just before he lifted off the throttle. “You can look at when it started spinning the tire,” Foley said. “You can look when I lifted off the gas. There’s two-tenths of a second difference. The computer will tell you everything you want to know.”

Even after reviewing video frame by frame, the answer wasn’t clear. “There is a possibility that, because you can still see some slight header flames coming out — which even at that point should keep it straight — so why the left turn? I have no idea,” he said. “It is what it is. We just learn as much as we can and go back and do it again.”

Some online suggested he over-drove the car, a claim Foley rejected. “There were some comments that I overdrove it, which I take personally because I’ve been out here for a while,” he said. “Obviously, something went wrong, and I’m the one in the seat, so the responsibility is on me.”

He confirmed the chassis was beyond repair. “Yeah, it’s done,” Foley said bluntly. “You can keep the cockpit in almost any car, but other than that, there’s nothing left of that thing.”

Foley escaped with only soreness and a headache. “I don’t believe it was a concussion,” he said. “If this was 10 years ago, I’d be in bad shape.”

He credited safety expert Trevor Ashline of ESS for updating his belts and restraint system. “The fact that he took the time to help me out probably saved my ass in that car,” Foley said.

By morning, Foley was already planning the rebuild. “I have a brand-new PBRC car in the shop,” he said. “We’ll rebuild. We’ll have two cars in the trailer when we head to testing, and we’ll figure it out.”

8 – CLARK WINS PRO NITROUS FINAL BY .001 SECONDS – Chris Clark edged newly crowned PDRA Pro Nitrous champion Dane Wood in one of the closest finals of the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series season. Clark’s .046 reaction time and 3.698-second pass at 202.73 mph was just enough to overcome Wood’s .054 light and quicker 3.691 at 201.46 mph.

The margin of victory — one thousandth of a second — came after a weekend Clark described as an emotional roller coaster. “We definitely struggled through qualifying and really didn’t know what I was missing,” Clark said. “I was just overlooking something. It slapped me in the face last night — like, this is your problem. It’s still not perfect, but it’s definitely better because it made the trip and it got a little faster.”

Clark admitted that by Friday night, he was close to packing up. “I was ready to go home,” he said. “I’ve been at the bottom of the seat before, and it’s never fun to be at the bottom and not make it down because you have no confidence. You don’t know where you need to be or what’s going to happen.”

Saturday told a different story. As eliminations progressed, Clark kept advancing and refused to overthink the moment. “I really didn’t even try to think because I feel like the more I think, the more I do wrong,” he said. “So I just was on the radio talking junk — like we weren’t even at the racetrack.”

He said his approach was about staying calm and keeping perspective. “The more I think about it, I get in my own head and I’ll mess up,” Clark said. “So I just sat there and talked about whatever in the car because if I think too much, that’s scary. I just let it happen. When I start the car, that’s when it’s serious time.”

The final was a friendly showdown between two racers who share deep respect. “Dane’s my really good friend, and either one of us could win,” Clark said. “I would have been just as happy if he won. It didn’t matter to me, which is cool.”

In the end, it was Clark’s turn to celebrate — and Wood’s turn to congratulate.

9 – MOUNTAIN MOTOR PRO STOCK DELIVERS – Galot produced the highest concentration of Mountain Motor Pro Stockers in one event, regardless of series. There were 23 entries with a No. 1 to No. 16 bump spot of less than .08.

10 – THE BEST OF THE REST – Brandon Weatherford closed out his season in Outlaw Pro Mod the same way he started it — in the winner’s circle. After pocketing $125,000 at the IHRA Outlaw Pro Mod Nationals in August, Weatherford scored his first national-event victory Saturday. He used a .026 holeshot advantage over Frankie Taylor’s .075 to win with a 3.566 at 211 mph to Taylor’s 3.651 at 202.09 mph.

Ricky Peery became the first back-to-back IHRA Top Fuel Harley winner since Jay Turner in 2016. Peery also set a new national record with a 4.088-second run at 207.56 mph. Top qualifier Chris Smith experienced mechanical issues and coasted to a 6.406 at 89.35 mph.

In Top Alcohol Dragster, No. 1 qualifier Tom Fox Jr. capped a dominant weekend with a final-round victory after Shane Conway red-lighted. Fox still laid down an impressive 3.563 at 214.14 mph to officially seal the win.

Top Alcohol Funny Car saw another familiar matchup between Phil Esz and Tony Bogolo. For the second consecutive event, Esz emerged victorious, running a 3.629 at 210.80 mph after Bogolo fouled at the start. The win marked Esz’s fourth of the season.

Outlaw Snowmobile racer Mini powered to the winner’s circle after qualifying third. He defeated Courtney Moeller in the final with a 4.403 at 162.37 mph to Moeller’s 4.801 at 145.02. Mini advanced through Travis Neyssen, Mitchell Moeller, and Rob Lowe to earn the spot in the final.

In Fuel Altered, Miller wrapped up the weekend with a 3.725-second pass at 205.54 mph for the win. Pete Dove finished runner-up for the second straight event after encountering issues halfway down the track.

2025 IHRA OUTLAW NITRO SERIES – GALOT NEWS PAGE

Bobby Bennett — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 03:12:41 +0000

Photos by Dwayne Culpepper, Robert Richard

FRIDAY QUALIFYING – JOON, CREASY, MARX, DEFLORIAN LEAD QUALIFYING AT IHRA OUTLAW NITRO SERIES IN DUNN

Lex Joon and Dale Creasy Jr. topped the qualifying sheets Friday night as the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series kicked off its weekend at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, North Carolina. Joon led the Top Fuel field while Creasy paced Funny Car qualifying, both delivering strong performances under challenging conditions.

Joon, a former FIA European Top Fuel Champion, clocked a 3.160-second pass at 245.32 mph to secure the provisional No. 1 spot. Cameron Ferre followed with a 3.239-second run that produced the top speed of 258.42 mph, with Bernie Plourd, Lee Callaway, and Scott Palmer rounding out the top five.

The moment wasn’t without tension. Joon was staged to run just after Top Fuel veteran Doug Foley lost traction and suffered a hard crash that drew a lengthy cleanup and a collective sigh of relief across the pits.

“That was not easy to see,” Joon said. “You see him going up in smoke, which can happen, and then a big ball of fire, and then, ‘Holy moly.’”

Joon said the crash unfolded while he was strapped into his car awaiting his own run. “They told me, ‘Oh, you can come out, because it’s going to take a while,’” Joon said. “I said, ‘Well, I will stay in the car,’ because I’m really comfortable in my car.”

He sat through the extended delay, trying to stay focused. “I cramped up and thought, ‘Oh, god.’ Finally, it was our turn, and amid everything going on, other cars were having issues too,” he said. “It’s not that you’re scared, but you want everything to be okay.”

When the time came, Joon made his burnout and lined up against Scott Palmer. “I saw Scott sitting there and thought, ‘Okay, here we go,’” he said. “Then one of the guys from the IHRA told me to stop, and I thought, ‘Yeah, it’s a Top Fuel car—you cannot turn it off.’”

Despite the tension, Joon maintained focus. “Gerda told me, ‘You’re on your own,’ and I said, ‘Okay,’” he recalled. “Left the starting line, and the car ran really, really good, finally.”

In Funny Car, veteran Dale Creasy Jr. powered to the top with a 3.212-second run at 277.54 mph. John Smith followed closely with a 3.254-second pass at 267.53 mph. Jacob McNeal and Robert Bode each recorded 3.277-second times, with McNeal’s higher speed of 261.07 mph breaking the tie. Terry Haddock was fifth.

“It means we did our job,” Creasy said. “We’ve been fighting with this thing all year and it’s starting to come around. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day, so you just celebrate what you got and start on the next day.”

Creasy wasn’t certain if this was his first career No. 1 qualifier. “We may have had some back in the IHRA days, but it’s the first one in a long time,” he said. “It gives you a little peace of mind knowing that if everything goes the way we plan, we should do pretty well—but you never know. It’s a nitro car, so sometimes it just doesn’t listen.”

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John DeFlorian Jr. continued his strong season in Mountain Motor Pro Stock, taking the top spot with a 4.034-second run at 178.50 mph. Jeremy Huffman was close behind at 4.046 seconds and 177.49 mph, while Lenny Lottig posted the fastest speed of the session at 178.73 mph.

“The run was really good,” DeFlorian said. “We were kind of nervous in the staging lanes because we were seeing the dew come in. We watched the tops of the cars to see how heavy the dew was.”

DeFlorian said track activity helped keep the surface dry enough to make a clean pass.

“We really felt like there was an .02 out there for us and missed it just a little on the bottom,” he said. “It was beautiful, straight down Broadway, shift lights popping perfectly. I actually thought someone behind me might get me, but it held on. I’m happy.”

Ed Marx claimed No. 1 in Pro Modified with a 3.568-second run at 210.41 mph. Randy Weatherford followed at 3.570 seconds and a faster 210.93 mph. Marx credited his crew and family for the effort.

“It’s very humbling, an amazing experience,” Marx said. “I’m fortunate to have Mark Savage as my crew chief and my sister Dee Marks here from Florida. It’s been a storybook situation, and we love the IHRA. We love participating here.”

He said success in the Pro Mod class goes beyond numbers. “It’s about chemistry and teamwork,” Marx added. “It’s communication, planning, and all the things that happen off the racetrack. As a part-time racer, I make the most of every run. My business supports this effort, and I feel very blessed.”

In Outlaw Pro Mod, Frankie Taylor blasted to a 3.541-second, 212.13-mph pass to lead the field. Weatherford was again second with a 3.578 at 209.62 mph.

Pro Nitrous qualifying saw Fredy Scriba earn the No. 1 position with a 3.647-second effort at 205.44 mph. IHRA Hall of Famer Rickie Smith followed with a 3.661 at 207.18 mph, the fastest speed of the session.

In Top Alcohol Dragster, Tom Fox Jr. set the pace with a 3.525-second run at 216.31 mph. Megan Smith trailed but posted the top speed of the class at 228.96 mph with her 3.567-second pass.

Phil Esz, who won the most recent Top Alcohol Funny Car event, continued his momentum with a 3.626-second run that edged DJ Cox for the top spot. Mick Steele had the highest speed at 214.62 mph.

Other No. 1 qualifiers included Pete Dove in Fuel Altered, Christopher Smith in Top Fuel Harley, Tony Scott in Factory Stock, and Rob Lowe in Outlaw Snowmobile.

Final eliminations are scheduled for Saturday at Darana Motorsports Park.

LADDERS

FINAL QUALIFYING

THE TEN – 2025 NEVADA NATIONALS EDITION

Bobby Bennett — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 15:06:37 +0000

Photos by Ron Lewis, Mike Burghardt, Jeff Burghardt, Brian Losness, NHRA

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA NEVADA Nationals.

1 – FORCE ACCOLADES IN HER FAREWELL – Brittany Force ended her Las Vegas chapter in fitting fashion Sunday, powering to victory in her final appearance at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and becoming the winningest female driver in Top Fuel history.

Force ran 3.704 seconds at 337.33 mph in her Chevrolet Accessories dragster to defeat Shawn Langdon’s 3.727, 333.91 in the final round of the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals. The victory was her 19th career win, second of the season, and fifth in Las Vegas — breaking a tie with Shirley Muldowney for most Top Fuel wins by a woman.

“This win is a special one,” Force said. “When I made my announcement that I was stepping out of the seat, I told my team I wanted to finish strong. Winning here — where we won last year, too — is outstanding. It’s been far too long, and we wanted to end this season on a high note.”

Force’s weekend was dominant from the start. She qualified No. 1 on Friday with a track-record 338.85 mph pass, then knocked out Clay Millican and Tony Stewart on race day before defeating Langdon. Her performance brought a sense of closure to a 12-year full-time career of Top Fuel competition.

On her focus in the final round, Force said she relied on instinct and experience. “It’s trying to find that place where you’re just in the zone,” she said. “I knew I had two races left, and Shawn Langdon is one of the best leavers out here. You just block out everything and stay in your lane. That was my biggest thing — focus on my lane and what I can do.”

The win also carried deep emotion for her crew, led by David Grubnic and John Collins. “Ever since I told them about my decision before Reading, they said, ‘We’ve got to get you one more win,’” Force said. “They wanted it for me, not just for the team or sponsors, and that meant the world.”

Force called Las Vegas one of her most meaningful tracks. “This place has always felt like home,” she said. “I raced Super Comp here, watched my dad and sister race here, and it’s always been special. The fans are incredible, and it’s just the perfect place to close this chapter.”

With the victory, Force became the winningest woman in Top Fuel and leaves the sport’s biggest stage with one more win light — and one more record — to her name.

2 – HAGAN DELIVERS UNDER PRESSURE – Matt Hagan’s championship hopes stayed alive Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as the four-time NHRA Funny Car champion powered to a 3.877 at 327.03, to defeat points leader Austin Prock in the final round of the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals.

The win — Hagan’s third of the season, 55th of his career and sixth in Las Vegas — denied Prock a chance to clinch the title one race early. It also marked a defining moment for Hagan’s first-year crew chief, Mike Knudsen, who guided the Tony Stewart Racing Dodge//SRT Hellcat through a grueling playoff weekend.

“It was a have-to-win race,” Hagan said. “There’s times in your career when you pull your crew chief aside and say, ‘We’ve got to win this one,’ and this was one. I’m super proud of my guys. Crew chiefs win races, man. The driver just keeps it in the groove and makes it look good.”

Hagan’s team found consistency after a stretch of mechanical issues that tested their resolve. “We stumbled a little in Dallas because we’ve had so many parts failures — blow-ups, injectors sticking, seats falling out of heads,” he said. “You just feel like you’ve got bad luck sometimes, but that comes back to digging and overcoming adversity.”

The victory also broke an 0-8 record in eliminations against Prock. “You’re racing the guy that you haven’t beat ever,” Hagan said. “That’s tough. But there’s nothing but respect for that team. They do it right. That’s Funny Car — the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. That race car is the medicine, man. It keeps you humble and hungry.”

Hagan reflected on how much he’s grown since his early championship runs. “I think you learn more from your losses than you ever do from your wins,” he said. “You challenge yourself, you grow, you dig deep, and you work harder. Those missed opportunities push you to be better.”

With one race left, Hagan trails Prock by 101 points heading into the NHRA Finals at Pomona. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Hagan said. “It’s theirs to lose, but if they stumble, we’ll be there.”

3 – NOTHING BUT GOOD JU-JU – Dallas Glenn exorcised his Las Vegas demons Sunday, powering his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to victory in the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals and taking a commanding Pro Stock points lead into the Pomona finale.

Glenn delivered a 6.602 pass at 206.61 to defeat Matt Hartford in the final round, earning his eighth win of the season and 21st of his career. The victory marked his third in Las Vegas and gave him a 92-point lead over Greg Anderson, avenging last year’s first-round loss that cost him the title.

“Definitely very satisfying,” Glenn said. “Coming in with a similar points lead to last year and losing first round, it feels a lot better sitting here holding the trophy this time. It hasn’t really hit me yet, but it feels amazing.”

Glenn beat Dave Connolly, 10-time Vegas winner Erica Enders, and Anderson before besting Hartford. His sharp .026 reaction time helped secure a semifinal holeshot win over Anderson, followed by a nearly perfect .006 light in the final. “That was a big 40-point swing,” Glenn said. “Then you can go put the cherry on top — who wants cake without icing?”

The 2025 points leader said experience has changed his mindset. “I’ve got so much more confidence in the car,” Glenn said. “Last year, four people could’ve won it going into Pomona. This year, we’ve got a good lead. I just feel way more relaxed, way less nervous. I was a wreck last year.”

Even as parity has tightened in Pro Stock, Glenn’s consistency has carried him through. “You can go a 6.59 and be No. 2, or a 6.61 and be 14th,” he said. “We’ve had to tighten the belts and keep the momentum going.”

With one race remaining, Glenn said his focus remains simple. “I still need to do good in Pomona,” he said. “We’ve had a phenomenal car all year. Now it’s time to close it out.”

CLICK HERE – READ THE QUALIFYING TEN

4 – PRESSURE FUELS HERRERA – Gaige Herrera delivered under pressure in Las Vegas, winning his third straight NHRA Nevada Nationals and setting up a dramatic championship showdown for the 2025 Pro Stock Motorcycle title. The two-time defending champion rode his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to a 6.809, 198.17 pass to defeat Angie Smith in the final round, cutting teammate Richard Gadson’s points lead to just 21 heading into Pomona.

The win marked Herrera’s seventh of the season, 28th of his career, and third consecutive victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It also reaffirmed his reputation as one of the sport’s most composed and dangerous riders when the championship is on the line.

“This weekend couldn’t have gone any better,” Herrera said. “Me and my teammate facing off in the semis — him with the points lead — I needed him to go out to get a little closer. What a race between me and him, my .005 to his perfect light. It just goes to show how hungry we both are to get this championship right now.”

Herrera’s semifinal win over Gadson was one of the tightest of the season. Gadson left the line with a perfect .000 light, but Herrera’s .005 reaction and 6.825 run narrowly took the stripe. “It’s like we’re good friends, but we aren’t at the moment,” Herrera joked. “We’re both going up there willing to cut our own throats because we know we’re both on it.”

In the final, Smith pushed hard with a 6.82-second run, but Herrera held on to take the win. It was Smith’s second final of the season and 11th of her career. “Angie put up a good fight,” Herrera said. “I could hear that bike right there and took a little peek over. She was close.”

Now, with just one event remaining, the championship could come down to a winner-take-all duel between teammates. “Pressure doesn’t scare me,” Herrera said. “It fuels me. I don’t just want to win races — I want to win championships.”

5 – GRAY OUTLASTS THE CONTENDERS FOR PRO MOD TITLE – J.R. Gray began the NHRA Nevada Nationals as the driver with the third-best shot at the Pro Modified title. By Sunday, he left The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as both race winner and 2025 champion.

Gray clinched the crown in dramatic fashion, defeating top qualifier Billy Banaka in the final round with a 5.749 at 250.04, to Banaka’s 5.763 at 247.07. Gray’s .028 reaction time sealed the win — his fifth career Wally, fourth this season, and first Pro Modified title.

“The level of competition — I mean, this truly is the world championship,” Gray said. “There’s no Pro Mod over here that’s easy. It’s a quarter mile that separates the men from the boys. With fields that close, you don’t know which way it’s going.”

Gray advanced to the final by defeating Alex Laughlin, Kevin Rivenbark, and Mike Castellana. Each round, he said, felt like the most important of his career. “Every round, I’d be like, ‘This is the most important round,’” he said. “Then I’d get through that round and think, ‘Hold on, this is the most important round.’ It was just all day long like that.”

After an uneven midseason stretch, Gray credited composure and teamwork for the turnaround. “We fell off a little bit when we came back from our break,” he said. “Then to pull everything back together as a team and triumph like this — this is my greatest victory ever.”

Taking his first Pro Mod championship trophy on stage, Gray summed it up simply: “I controlled my emotions all day long, and that’s one of the reasons we’re in victory [lane]”

6 – CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE DECIDED IN POMONA – Doug Kalitta could have left Vegas as the champion with a win, but teammate Shawn Langdon wasn’t ready to give up the battle.

Langdon took out Justin Ashley in the second round, which would have paved the way for his teammate Kalitta to get closer to the NHRA Top Fuel title – but, then Langdon took Kalitta out, too.

Kalitta heads to Pomona with a 144-point lead, and can reasonably clinch the title by qualifying. Ashley fell to third, 19 points behind Langdon.

“The ladder definitely set up nicely for us starting the day, but Shawn made a really good run in the semis and got around us,” Kalitta said. “After a couple of race wins and halfway through this one, it’s been nice seeing those win lights come on. It was just one of those deals. My guys are really doing a hell of a job, and we had Mac Tools, Toyota Revchem, Dayco and all our friends from them out here so we had a lot of support – that’s definitely a big part of it. We have one more race to go, and we’ll go into it in a really good position. It’s definitely the best position I’ve ever been in going into Pomona, but we didn’t get enough points to clinch it here, so we still have some work to do.”

Funny Car provides a similar scenario as Prock leads Hagan by 110 points.

In Pro Stock, Glenn’s victory puts him 92 points up on Anderson, essentially giving him the chance to clinch after a second round victory.

Pro Stock Motorcycle will be a matter of which rider lasts longer Sunday in Pomona, Richard Gadson or Gaige Herrera.

CLICK HERE – READ THE QUALIFYING TEN

7 – IT’S NOT THE SIZE OF THE DOG – Jason Rupert’s first-round loss at the NHRA Nevada Nationals didn’t end with a trophy, but it did showcase the heart of a racer who refuses to back down. The Anaheim Hills, Calif., driver qualified 16th in Funny Car field that featured 22 entrants, then turned in his best run of the weekend — a 3.992 at 322.11 mph — before falling to No. 1 qualifier and points leader Austin Prock.

On paper, Rupert was outmatched. His independently funded operation runs on limited resources, a handful of crew members, and determination. While powerhouse teams arrive with spare engines and corporate backing, Rupert’s outfit stretches every part, every run, and every dollar.

“I don’t want to go broke,” he said. “Rahn [Tobler] and the team are doing an outstanding job keeping me safe, keeping all our motor parts in the motor, and doing the best we can with what we have.”

Rupert, a former NHRA Heritage Series champion, is realistic about his place among drag racing’s elite. Competing at the top level comes with sacrifices — financial, personal, and emotional — but his passion drives him through the imbalance.

“There’s no paycheck in this,” he said. “Every dollar that goes into this car comes from somewhere else in my life. These big teams have budgets; we have sacrifices.”

The addition of championship-winning tuner Tobler has been transformative for Rupert’s program. Tobler, who once led multi-car teams to world titles, has brought consistency and calm to the effort. “He’s more consistent now than he’s ever been,” Tobler said. “The team has learned a lot, and even with limited races, they do a great job with what they’ve got. The car doesn’t blow up, stuff doesn’t fall off, and they keep showing up. That makes me proud.”

Rupert’s run against Prock, though short of victory, felt like a win for every underfunded racer still swinging. “We ran our best number of the weekend, kept it straight, didn’t hurt a thing, and gave the champ a clean race,” Rupert said. “That’s a good day for a team like ours.”

For Rupert, success isn’t defined by trophies — it’s in the fight. “We may not have all the bells and whistles,” he said, “but we’ve got heart.”

8 – BELLEMEUR CLINCHES ANOTHER TITLE – Bartone Bros. Racing captured its fifth NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car championship Saturday during the NHRA Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Driver Sean Bellemeur and tuner Steve Boggs secured the title in the first round of eliminations. After qualifying No. 1 with a 5.43-second run at 267 mph, Bellemeur advanced past Kirk Kuhns with a 5.46 at 265 mph. Moments later, when points rival Brian Hough lost to Steve Gasparelli, the championship officially went to Tony Bartone’s “Killer B’s.”

“I am a little shocked. I didn’t know we were that close to finishing it up,” Bellemeur said. “The competition out here is tough. Brian and Maddi [Gordon] are great drivers. Tony Bartone gives us everything we need. He just says, ‘Don’t let up.’”

Bellemeur credited Boggs’ tuning mastery and the crew’s chemistry for the team’s success. “Steve Boggs, what can you say? The guy is a wizard,” he said. “He tuned two different engine combinations this year and dominated in both. The guys, all of them, and the best part is I get to call all of them my friends. We criss-cross the country fighting this NHRA fight.”

The team’s 2025 campaign featured eight wins, including national and regional victories in injected nitro and blown-alcohol combinations. Bellemeur said sharing another championship with his crew and supporters was the perfect reward. “To hoist this trophy with Tony Bartone, Steve Boggs, Troy Green, Nick Stoms, Justin Taylor, Garret Bateman, Brian Gawlik, Lauren McMaster, and Matt Krebs is the best,” he said. “I am the luckiest guy in the world.”

Bartone Bros. Racing will remain in Las Vegas for next weekend’s regional event as it looks to add one more win to their 2025 resume.

CLICK HERE – READ THE QUALIFYING TEN

9 – AND YOUR SPORTSMAN WINNERS ARE – Jon Bradford earned his first national-event Wally and Jim Whiteley claimed career win No. 24 as Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champions were crowned Sunday at the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bradford, the No. 3 qualifier, left first and never trailed to defeat top qualifier Madison Payne in the Top Alcohol Dragster final. His 0.032 light and 5.238-second pass at 274.39 mph held off Payne’s 0.051, 5.277, and 273.83. It marked Bradford’s first national victory in three final-round appearances.

Whiteley prevailed in Top Alcohol Funny Car, earning his first win of 2025 with a 0.052 light and 5.493 at 261.78 to edge Stan Sipos’ 5.502 at 263.87 by .0229 seconds, or about nine feet. The veteran driver now has 24 career victories in NHRA national competition.

Top qualifier Scott Linder claimed his first national win in Competition Eliminator, driving his A/A entry to a 6.617 (-.463) over Brooke Heckel’s 7.807 (-.413). Super Stock honors went to Trey Vetter, whose .005 reaction time and 9.903 on a 9.88 dial earned him his second career Wally over Tommy Gaynor’s 9.326.

Bo Butner added his 21st sportsman Wally in Stock Eliminator, overcoming Chris Hall’s nearly perfect .001 light with a 9.552 on a 9.55 to win by just .0096 seconds. In Super Comp, Alec Bianco won his first national title after Mark Simmons broke out, running 9.057 (+.007) to 9.045 (-.005).

Eddy Plaizier earned his first national win in Super Gas, chasing down Val Torres with a 10.095 (+.045) to a 10.116 (+.066). Ty Gaynor closed out the event in Right Trailers Top Dragster, taking his first Wally with a .008 light and 6.901 on a 6.86 dial over Moe Trujillo.

10 – SAY WHAT? – The things you hear on the PA at the races.

“That was my boy, not me.” – SCAG Racing crew chief Tim Wilkerson deflecting praise on son Daniel’s holeshot win over Jack Beckman in the quarterfinals.

“He emotionally, physically, and spiritually abuses me.” – Aaron Brooks, on his friendly rivalry with fellow tuner Jim Head.

“That was a rookie pedal job, but we got the job done.” – Shawn Langdon after his first round win.

“I’m going to try not to cuss, but that was pretty cool. I told you we were trying to run .92 yesterday, but we messed up, figured it out, so three more to go.” – Chad Green co-crew chief Joe Serena to NHRA’s Joe Castello.

“You got lane choice by six thou,” Castello said.

“Hell, yeah,” Serena responded.