1,000th NHRA Funny Car Race at Lucas Oil Winternationals

This weekend’s third race in NHRA’s diamond anniversary Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, the Lucas Oil Winternationals, has 75 years of NHRA-sanctioned straight-line racing. This weekend marks the 1,000th Funny Car race in the class’ 60th year. That’s why 18 crew chiefs are bent over their computers trying to find The Way to get to the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip Winners Circle at the close of eliminations.

It won’t be easy. It never is, and this weekend’s race mirrors last year’s season finale in that weather is going to play a large part in the pending event. There hasn’t been real rain in Southern California for quite a while, but with NHRA in town, everything changes. The system is supposed to hit Friday; the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series has already extended the time for sportsman racers in all ten classes to withdraw from the event. The extension goes to Wednesday, April 8.

Four qualifying sessions are on tap for the Winternationals schedule, with the first two held mid-to-late afternoon on Friday and Saturday’s pairings, which also include the second round of Mission#2Fast2Tasty Challenge competition between semifinalists from the previous race in Phoenix. Eliminations are scheduled to occur beginning at 11am on Sunday.

Weather notwithstanding, Funny Car is obviously the focus for this weekend, and with 18 cars on hand, two will be out of action once eliminations take place. All eyes should be on the Tasca Racing Ford Mustang driven by reigning two-time champion Austin Prock. Pomona is where he achieved both of his titles – one on the track, the second waiting out last November’s torrential rains. Prock didn’t make the field at Gainesville, where 2026’s 20-race sprint began; he was out after the first round in Phoenix and is currently 15th in the standings.

Chad Green holds first place in Funny Car’s championship chase; driving his Ford Mustang Flopper, Green earned the first diamond Wally trophy of the season at Gainesville but fell in Phoenix’s quarterfinals to Paul Lee and his Dodge Charger. Lee won the Phoenix round a year ago but was the loser to Ron Capps’ GR Supra in the semifinals, allowing the now-78-time winner in NHRA competition to secure his first diamond trophy of the year against 2025 Rookie Of the Year Spencer Hyde.

Pomona is a local event for many NHRA Funny Car racers, none more than Carlsbad resident Capps and one of his regular combatants, Corona’s Jack Beckman. John Force Racing’s most tenured team member at this time, the 2012 champion has earned a winner’s time slip four consecutive times when he’s been on the entry list; Beckman was out of action after Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) quit the sport, but went to the Winners Circle in Pomona both before the end of the DSR era and afterwards, when he joined John Force Racing (JFR) after John Force’s 2024 accident. For his major sponsor PEAK, a win this weekend would be their third straight!

Carlsbad’s Ron Capps is aching to win NHRA’s 1,000th Funny Car race – Anne Proffit photo

Still, Capps and Beckman aren’t the sole Funny Car locals. Alexis DeJoria, who joined JFR this season is not only a Los Angeles native, but has continued her residence in the area. She’s currently sixth in the standings after recording a runner-up result in her JFR debut in Gainesville, before being dispersed in Phoenix’s first round against newly-minted JFR Funny Car racer Jordan Vandergriff, himself a Golden State native!

As California is considered the birthplace of both drag racing and NHRA, the latter now celebrating its 75th season of sanctioning straight-line racing, it’s appropriate that so many of its racers come from California. And John Force Racing is among the more successful teams at this track, where its drivers have won 17 times in the Winternationals and on 14 occasions in the season closer; John Force won the 50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals at this track in 2001. What other Californians are looking for that 1000th Funny Car victory? Paul Lee in his Dodge Charger, Jason Rupertv (Anaheim) in his Mustang, Huntington Beach’s Jim Campbell in a Mustang and Cruz Pedregon with his Charger, born in Torrance!

At this point, after two events, Chad Green’s in the catbird seat, followed by Spencer Hyde in Jim Head’s Mustang, Ron Capps, JR Todd, Matt Hagan, Alexis DeJoria, Jordan Vandergriff, Paul Lee, Daniel Wilkerson and 2025 Winternationals victor Jack Beckman complete the top 10 in points, with 110 points separating first from tenth. Look for Todd Lesenko in Jim Dunn’s Dodge, Dave Richards in his Mustang, Blake Alexander in Chad Green’s Dodge and newcomer Dylan Winefsky making a second consecutive stab at this tough class in his Dodge.

Clay Millican won the Winternationals in 2025 – Rick Ware Racing photo

Yes, there are two other Mission Foods classes in play at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. There are 15 Top Fuel entries this week and all of them are tough on this track Last year, Clay Millican won the Winternationals and he’s hoping to repeat, even though he’ll have to take on the reigning dragster titleholder Doug Kalitta, who is once again atop the points standings. Millican is plenty excited about being the face of NHRA’s commemorative race tickets for his home event in Bristol, TN. NGRA is saluting 20 different racers – or their cars – for its 20 races in this 75th season.

Kalitta’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, third in points after winning in Phoenix a second straight year, from nearby Mira Loma, is being recognized as one of NHRA’s 75 best this weekend and he considered the recognition by “weird and humbling,” he said. “When I was a kid, I watched all those guys and a lot outhouse people I looked up to as a kid and got autographs from as a kid are heroes of mine!” Bracketing the two Kalitta Motorsports racers is Josh Hart, in his first season with John Force Racing, who won his hometown event last month at Gainesville. Hart’s car will look different this week, now that Speedmaster has joined the team as his primary backer. Just last week this company aligned with Melanie Johnson in Top Alcohol Dragster and now they’ve placed their black-and-red colors on Hart’s car.

Tony Stewart and Elite Motorsports are hoping to make this a winning weekend – Anne Proffit photo

The Top Fuel field might be a bit light in numbers but it’s strong in capabilities on the dragstrip. Everyone in the top 10 is on-site: Kalitta, Hart, Langdon, Leah Pruett of Tony Stewart Racing, Ron Capps Motorsports’ Maddie Gordon, Tony Stewart with Elite Motorsports, four-time champ Antron Brown, eight-time titleholder and Millican’s Rick Ware Racing teammate Tony Schumacher, Billy Torrence and Shawn Reed. To that group add the always -competitive Justin Ashley (currently11th), his new teammate Will Smith, Huntington Beach’s Cameron Ferre and Ron August Jr. from Pleasanton, in northern California. There’s a 111-point gap from first to tenth places.

A 19-car entry in Pro Stock will do more than take up space in the pits over this race weekend. The GESI No. 1 qualifier award has returned this year, dispensing $2,000 at every event to the quickest driver on the grounds. Last year, six-time champ Greg Anderson of KB Titan Racing dominated in qualifying all year, earning eight No. 1 awards while his teammate and eventual 2025 titleholder Dallas Glenn earned six. Matt Hartford, Cody Coughlin and Eric Latino, CEO of GESI each earned a single No. 1 award in 2025 as KB Titan teammates.

Greg Anderson earned eight No. 1 qualifiers in 2025 – Anne Proffit photo

In fact, the first four racers in Pro Stock’s top 10 all work with KB Titan Racing: Glenn, Hartford , Cody Coughlin and Anderson. Behind them are Elite Motorsports’ Erica Enders and Greg Stanfield, with KB Titan’s Matt Latino seventh, Elite’s Jeg Coughlin Jr and Aaron Stanfield and KB Tiran newcomer Cody Anderson taking the tenth slot. Racers we’re accustomed to seeing at higher levels will just have to step it up, including this group intending to race on Sunday: Troy Coughlin Jr., Eric Latino, Deric Kramer, Chris and Mason McGaha, while Dave Connolly makes an appearance in Cody Coughlin’s car, Kenny Delco, Stephen Bell, Joey Grose and Chris Vang attempt to make this field.

In keeping with NHRA’s celebration of its 75th season, expect to see appearances by six-time champion Kenny Bernstein, who made a 1994 blast of 310mph on this track, along with Funny Car winners Bruce Larson, Johnny Gray, Tim Wilkerson and John Force. Also scheduled to make appearances over the weekend are Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Richard Tharp, Gary Beck and many more. NHRA is giving away special 75th anniversary Winternationals event posters to the first 4,000 fans to pass through the gates.

As the Mission Foods series comes together at its legendary ancestral home, NHRA notes the list of milestone Funny Car drivers and the achievements leading up to this 1,000th race: