It’s almost time for NHRA’s vaunted six-race playoff series, the Countdown to the Championship for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, racing in the 75th anniversary edition of the sanction’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
There’s a single race remaining before the Countdown begins, and that is on the largest stage of the season, the 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals. Held on the legendary Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park dragstrip, the U.S. Nationals features way more than the usual qualifying and eliminations in the four Mission Foods classes; there are also the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competitors, Pro Mod competition, the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge, the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout, the final Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and appearances by heroes of the sport of straight-line racing.
Anyone attending for all five days of this speed orgy might have their fill of nitromethane once Monday afternoon halts the noise, vibration and harshness of two drag racing machines hustling down the 1,000-foot and quarter-mile dragstrip. But that’s not likely. The U.S. Nationals always promise the most exciting race of the season and, no doubt, this one won’t disappoint. Even before the racing begins, NHRA is producing a special Sportsman appreciation dinner on Tuesday, September 1, in the Top Eliminator Club.
While there are 24 Funny Car entries on the list at this moment, all eyes will be on eight of them during three of five qualifying sessions. While selections for the PlayNHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout take place at 11am ET on Saturday, that competition occurs on Sunday, once the race winners and season champions have been crowned a day earlier for the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge that pits semifinalists against one another from the prior event (in this case Brainerd for Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock; Norwalk (!) for Pro Stock Motorcycle, a category that has been dormant since late June.
Celebrating the tour’s 75th anniversary this year with a special diamond Wally winner’s trophy, NHRA has called upon heroes of the sport to show up for the 20 events on the Mission Foods schedule. At every race, outstanding competitors have been saluted – in Brainerd, that salute went to the most successful Pro Stock racer of all time, Greg Anderson, who promptly earned his 116th Wally trophy at his home race. For Indy, some outstanding legends have planned to appear: “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, “King” Kenny Bernstein, Joe Amato, Shirley Muldowney and Darrell Gwynn are expected to attend, meet and greet with fans throughout the race meeting.
A pair off nitro Fuel Altereds – the classic Rat Trap and Bradford’s Fiat are performing exhibition runs on Friday and Sunday, while push-start cackle cars take to the return roads on Friday and Sunday, expected to be driven by NHRA legends.
This year’s PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout is especially intriguing, considering that last year, while driving with John Force Racing (JFR), reigning Funny Car titleholder Austin Prock swept the biggest weekend in drag racing, winning the Callout, clinching the regular season title and earning a second straight U.S. Nationals victory on Monday, Labor Day. This year’s Callout competition will be a bit different for Prock, now working with Tasca Racing and going from a Chevrolet SS to a Ford Mustang. After a truly tough start to this season, Prock and his family-run team are definitely building momentum, having advanced to the semifinal round at each of the last five races. Austin Prock was runner-up to Matt Hagan last weekend in Brainerd.
This big-money bonus race, one that awards the winner $80,000, features eight stand-out Flopper racers. And Prock isn’t the No. 1 seed, thanks to his early season struggles. Rather, former JFR teammate Jack Beckman is the No. 1 seed for this prestigious race, and he will call out his first opponent on Saturday during the always-fun selection at the Top Eliminator Club. The field includes Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan, a four-time titleholder and Brainerd winner with his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, former champs and Indy winners Ron Capps and J.R. Todd, both driving Toyota GR Supras, together with Prock’s Mustang, Alexis DeJoria in her JFR Chevy, two-time 2026 race winner Chad Green’s Mustang and 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year Spencer Hyde, driving Jim Head’s Mustang.
Six of the qualified Callout racers have won an event during this historic 75th anniversary season and this eight-driver field is responsible for 11 NHRA Funny Car world titles. The first round of the Callout takes place at 12:45PM on Sunday, with semifinals at 2:15 and the final round scheduled for 3:40PM. FS1 has a special broadcast of the 2026 Funny Car Callout set for 7PM on Sunday. Prock believes he’s got the chance to shine in this special event, as he believes his car is “in the best spot that it has been” during the 2026 campaign. “It’s as good,” he said, “or close to as good, as our race car was sat the end of last year.” Those are fighting words! Prock likes the Callout: “It brings a little bit of animosity. When someone calls you out, it gets me more fired up to go out there and beat them.”
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