{"id":25384,"date":"2025-11-14T20:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T01:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/?p=25384"},"modified":"2025-11-15T09:06:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T14:06:58","slug":"2025-nhra-in-n-out-finals-pomona-event-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/2025-nhra-in-n-out-finals-pomona-event-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NHRA IN-N-OUT FINALS: POMONA – EVENT NOTEBOOK"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Photos by Ron Lewis, Mike Burghardt, Jeff Burghardt<\/strong><\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – RAIN WREAKS HAVOC AT NHRA FINALS AS FORCE DUO PIVOT, KALITTA NEARS TITLE<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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1 – FOUR-LETTER FINALS –<\/strong> 1 \u2013 That nasty four-letter word \u2013 rain \u2013 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.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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2 \u2013 DETAILS, DETAILS \u2013 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.<\/p>

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His 2023 championship went down to a winner-take-all final round against Leah Pruett at the season\u2019s final race. Last year, he entered the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in fourth place in points and emerged with his\u00a0seventh\u00a0runner-up finish in the final season standings. This weekend, his route to a second championship has turned out to be dramatically less dramatic.<\/p>

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Needing just one qualifying pass, even Kalitta was surprised he was in such an exciting position.<\/p>

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\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe that we managed to not drag it into the last round of the last race,\u201d the presumptive champion said. \u201cIt feels really good. I\u2019m 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\u2019s a huge relief. It means a lot to Connie [team owner Connie Kalitta], me and everybody at Kalitta Motorsports, and we\u2019re very grateful. It\u2019s gratifying. I always hoped I\u2019d be able to tie my cousin [Scott Kalitta] with the number of championships he has, and there\u2019s plenty of people who have won this twice. To be one of the guys that\u2019s won it twice with Alan [Johnson] as the crew chief, is really special for sure.\u201d<\/p>

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Kalitta wants it all, though. If he wins this weekend\u2019s race, it will be his fifth win of the season and his eighth at the racetrack. Moreover, it would be his 60th \u2013 and come at the 60th annual Finals here.<\/p>

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\u201cI love running at Pomona. I\u2019ve had great success there, and the pressure will be off. The only other thing to do is go out there and win this thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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3 \u2013 FORCE PIVOTS \u2013 Years ago, NHRA Funny Car icon John Force vowed that when it came time for him to stop driving, he didn\u2019t want a farewell-tour season. He said, \u201cOne day, I\u2019ll just step over the fence and I\u2019ll be gone.\u201d<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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But he gets to choose what\u2019s next. Force announced Thursday at his West Coast headquarters at Yorba Linda, Calif., \u201cI want to be clear: I\u2019m not getting back in a fuel Funny Car anymore. It\u2019s time for me to \u2026 I\u2019ve done my time.\u201d But literally, without skipping a beat, he heralded an energizing, optimistic new dimension to his storied career.<\/p>

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\u201cI\u2019m expanding my racing operation,\u201d Force declared. \u201cI\u2019m excited about that. It gives me something to do. I\u2019ve got a lot of announcements for the future, but I\u2019m not going to touch on them now. That\u2019s for next year. We\u2019ll have a press conference in the early days of the new year.\u201d<\/p>

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Josh Hart already has announced he will leave team ownership behind and join John Force Racing (JFR) as the new driver of Brittany Force\u2019s 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\u00a0 Force has some undiscovered aces up his sleeve.<\/p>

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What\u2019s certain is his statement that \u201cI don\u2019t need any more hits to the head. You think you\u2019re Superman and Elvis and James Dean rolled into one, and you wake up one day and you can\u2019t hang up your robe. That\u2019s kind of where I\u2019m at. That\u2019s the short story on me. But I am excited to be back and be with my teams.\u201d<\/p>

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Force said, \u201cI\u2019ve loved this sport my whole life, since I left high school in \u201967. I didn\u2019t know nothin\u2019 else. I don\u2019t know how to quit.\u201d<\/p>

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Jack Beckman, who came out of an economically imposed mothballing for the final eight races last season as Force\u2019s substitute and this year has been driving for the team, called Force\u2019s announcement \u201csuch a surreal moment to hear an icon of the sport announce that\u2019s it.\u201d He said Force is \u201csomebody who has set a standard I don\u2019t think will ever be equaled in the sport.\u201d<\/p>

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John Force might have stepped over the fence, but he won\u2019t be gone.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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4 \u2013 SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY \u2013 It\u2019s enough gravity for a relatively young driver to represent John Force Racing, knowing \u2013 seeing for your entire lifetime \u2013 how the legend has built his empire from nothing but his obsession with the sport. Add to that a consensus of opinion that he\u2019s the heir apparent to Force\u2019s 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.<\/p>

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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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

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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 \u2013 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.<\/p>

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\u201cI actually had a childhood flashback this afternoon when I pulled into the parking lot beside the shipping and receiving door,\u201d he said. \u201cI 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 \u2013 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.\u201d 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\u2019s winningest organization.<\/p>

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\u201cIt’s a pretty special place in my heart,\u201d Prock said of the facility.<\/p>

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And he said this weekend\u2019s race venue, known today as In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, \u201cis 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.\u201d<\/p>

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Not surprisingly, Prock said he wasn\u2019t keen about the lousy weather situation: \u201cThe 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\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>

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5 \u2013 BECKMAN PROUD BUT SAYS HE\u2019S \u2018NOT A HERO\u2019 \u2013 The sanctioning body planned to honor America\u2019s military veterans Friday, and Funny Car racer Jack Beckman \u2013 the lone top-10 nitro driver who served in the military \u2013 spoke about his own military service.<\/p>

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\u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m more proud of my service the older I get. I think you can reflect on it in a different way.<\/p>

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\u201cI’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything heroic. Bobby [Lyons, Brittany Force\u2019s husband] did some pretty crazy stuff; Special Forces guy. Guys like that, they\u2019re heroes. And there’s a lot of men and women in uniform that do some extraordinary things,\u201d Beckman said. \u201cI 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 \u2019round. And I think that’s a really unique thing, and I’m proud to be associated with NHRA for what they do for veterans.\u201d<\/p>

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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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

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6 \u2013 MISSING KEEN RIVAL \u2013 It\u2019s 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\u2019s what happened with Funny Car standout Robert Hight. But one maybe-surprising individual said he especially misses Hight.<\/p>

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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.<\/p>

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\u201cMan, 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,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cI miss racing the guy. I mean, just \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>

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Hagan said, \u201cI’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\u2019s nothing in the rule book says you’re not allowed to live your life and move on in a new chapter and stuff.\u201d<\/p>

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Just as nettlesome for Hagan, though, is Hight\u2019s replacement, Austin Prock.<\/p>

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\u201cI welcome the new blood in the sport,\u201d Hagan said. \u201cJimmy 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.\u201d<\/p>

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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.<\/p>

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7 \u2013 DUEL BETWEEN TEAMMATES SPICES BIKE CHASE \u2013 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\u2019t going to make it easy for Herrera \u2013 and vice-versa.<\/p>

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After Herrera won at Las Vegas in the most recent event, he said, \u201cThis couldn\u2019t 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\u2019t get any better than that. It also just goes to show how hungry we both are to get this championship right now. I\u2019d love to race [Gadson] in the final in Pomona for the championship.\u201d<\/p>

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Gadson said of Herrera, \u201cHe\u2019s usually a flawless rider. You usually have to outrun him. I have to take advantage of any daylight I can get, because that\u2019s how tight this championship battle\u2019s going to be.\u201d Also taking into consideration the \u201csometimes unpredictable Matt Smith\u201d factor, Gadson said, \u201cIf I can be there to capitalize on those guys\u2019 mistakes, it\u2019s a big help for me in this points battle.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

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Even before the Dallas eliminations two races ago, Gadson said, \u201cI\u2019m No. 1 in points. I just want the season to stop right here. I\u2019m just holding on. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just got to not be my own worst enemy and I think we can do it. I\u2019ve got as much of a shot as anyone else. Whatever intensity I feel, they feel, too. I\u2019ll take that, knowing that it\u2019s even.\u201d<\/p>

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8 \u2013 BRITTANY FORCE REFLECTS \u2013 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 \u2013 which began and will end here \u2013 she said she\u2019s feeling \u201ca little bit of pressure.\u201d<\/p>

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She won the series\u2019 most recent race, two weeks ago at Las Vegas, to pass legendary Shirley Muldowney\u2019s 18 triumphs. Force said, \u201cThat win was huge for us\u201d because she wants \u201cto end the Countdown on a strong note.\u201d She said her team\u2019s desire to deliver her a victory before the end of the year \u2013 for her, not for themselves \u2013 \u201cspeaks so highly of their character.\u201d<\/p>

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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, \u201cWe 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, \u201cRight now, I think that\u2019s fast enough. But the second it\u2019s taken from me, I\u2019ll be calling [crew chief Dave] Grubnic.\u201d<\/p>

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9 \u2013 BROWN READY TO REGAIN CHAMPIONSHIP FORM \u2013 Reigning Top Fuel champion for a few more days, four-timer Antron Brown said he\u2019s planning to \u201ccome out swinging in 2026.\u201d And the driver of the Matco Tools Eagle Experience dragster, who\u2019s ninth in this year\u2019s 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).
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\u201cAs long as it doesn\u2019t rain, we\u2019re 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>

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Matco Tools announced the nationwide rollout of the\u00a0Eagle Experience<\/a>, 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\u2019s NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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10 \u2013 FAMILY TIES \u2013 Melanie Johnson scored a holeshot victory against Shawn Cowie in Thursday\u2019s 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\u2019ll 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 \u201990s. It marks the 30th anniversary of Blaine Johnson\u2019s first Top Fuel victory at this event here at Pomona in 1995.<\/p>

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\u201cMy family has been farming on the central coast of California for four generations,\u201d she said. \u201cMy 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\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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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 \u2013 That nasty four-letter word \u2013 rain \u2013 popped up just in time to spoil the championship coronation this weekend at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8,9],"tags":[842,840,365,843,370,833,838,788,836,364,783,839,834,841,844,166,812,168,837,835],"class_list":["post-25384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-breaking-news","category-race-coverage","tag-alan-johnson-racing","tag-antron-brown-matco-tools","tag-austin-prock-funny-car","tag-blaine-johnson-legacy","tag-brittany-force-top-fuel","tag-doug-kalitta-championship","tag-gaige-herrera-suzuki","tag-in-n-out-burger-nhra-finals","tag-jack-beckman-veteran","tag-john-force-racing","tag-john-force-retirement","tag-kalitta-motorsports","tag-matt-hagan-rivalry","tag-melanie-johnson-top-alcohol-dragster","tag-nhra-championship-chase","tag-nhra-finals","tag-nhra-rain-delay","tag-pomona-dragstrip","tag-richard-gadson-pro-stock-motorcycle","tag-robert-hight-nhra"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/competitionplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}