Ashley, Capps, Enders Win Night Under Fire

Ron Capps brought out his “Snake” Toyota body - Summit Motorsports Park photo
Justin Ashley won at Norwalk in June; he won again at Night Under Fire – Summit Motorsports Park photo

The 48th annual invitational Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH brought out the stars to play. No points on offer, just the fun and funds of racing at Bill Bader’s wonderful racetrack, where the action is always lively and the wins worth celebrating. With ice cream; with fireworks.

The two-night celebration of straight-line racing, held August 1-2 and sponsored by Cornwell Tools, brought some of the NHRA’s finest and biggest stars to Ohio for the opportunity to perform without the onus of having to think about standings, points – just winning.

In the three professional classes, Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock, some of the biggest stars in the sport came out – there was no NHRA race this past weekend – and brought everything they had to compete and compete hard. There were four entries each for the NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series classes, together with Top Alcohol Dragsters, Top Alcohol Funny Car and Pro Mod, where 12 competitors in each class did battle.

Reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown, Justin Ashley, Clay Millican and Josh Hart raced in Top Fuel, while three-time champ Ron Capps brought his NAPA Toyota GR Supra, along with Daniel Wilkerson’s SCAG Racing Ford Mustang, two-time champ Cruz Pedregon had his Dodge Charger and Dave Richards raced his Mustang in Funny Car. Pro Stock was a loaded class with reigning, six-time champ Greg Anderson of KB Titan Racing, his perennial foe and teammate Dallas Glenn, Elite Motorsports’ Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin Jr. – both multiple champions – came to battle Anderson and Glenn. And each other.

Hayden Proffitt was on-site with his Hot Streak II jet engine-powered truck, competing with Ernie Bogue, Scott Holdridge,  Dawn Perdue and Neil Esposito, all of them looking to take a North American Jet Car Championship in their 300-mph projectiles.

Justin Ashley is in the thick of the Top Fuel points chase – Anne Proffit photo

The finals of this race went into the late Saturday hours and it was SCAG Racing’s Justin Ashley who took the win with a clean 1,000-foot run against Clay Millican. The victory nicely bookended his late June victory in the NHRA race. Ashley qualified second, at 3.729 seconds to Clay Millican’s 3.684-second blast, both outrunning Antron Brown and Josh Hart. In the finals Ashley ran 3.710 seconds at 336.82 mph while Millican coasted to a 7.578-second stroll down the track at a leisurely 76.94 mph.

Ashley first competed in this event in 2021, when a power outage affected the meet. “It’s an unbelievable event. It’s an honor to be invited and included. Racing in front of a packed house of 40,000 people at Bill Bader Jr.’s track is special. Winning on top of that makes it even more special,” he said. “Winning the NHRA National event here in June was really special and meaningful for our whole SCAG Racing team and my family. To come back here, run well again and do so at night is just spectacular. it’s the kind of Norwalk sweep you dream about.”

Ron Capps brought out his “Snake” Toyota body – Summit Motorsports Park photo

In Funny Car, it was a battle of champions in the final round. While SCAG Racing’s Daniel Wilkerson and Dave Richards battled first as lower qualifiers, it was Ron Capps against Cruz Pedregon in the finals, where Capps was using his tribute Don “The Snake” Prudhomme Toyota body. Capps made it to the stripe before Pedregon, in a very tight battle that ended up with Capps in the winner’s circle with his blast of 3.858 seconds at 302.21 miles per hour. Pedregon’s time to the stripe was slower at 3.885 but his speed was faster at 327.51 mph.

“It’s always a huge honor to be invited by the Bader family to participate in Night Under Fire,” Capps said. “This year, we got to do something special, bringing out the Don Prudhomme tribute car that we almost won Indy with, to give it a proper win. We had a little different attitude at this year’s Night Under Fire.
Capps with his trophy – Summit Motorsports Park photo
“The event is always great since it’s so geared toward the fans and all about putting on a great show, but Guido (crew chief Dean Antonelli) and the team and I really wanted to try and go for the win this year. And, Guido had a chance to test some things because we know how good that track can be. It was actually Sunday morning when we made it to the final round and the stands were still packed.” While the tuneup could have Capps in the 331mph range, “Guido told me to shut it off a little early since it was getting a bit dewy at the top end and it still went 3.85 at only 302, so definitely gave us some good numbers to go to Brainerd and Indy with.”

It was a relief for Erica Enders to win – for the first time in 2025 – in this invitational race, where the six-time Pro Stock champion took down her Elite Motorsports teammate and five-time Pro Stock champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. Her pass down the quarter-mile track of 6.552 seconds at 210.67 mph came when Coughlin fouled at the start, accelerating .005 seconds before the lights turned green. On her first time at the Night Under Fire race, she acknowledged she’d never even been at the track for this event as a spectator.

Erica Enders with her trophy – Summit Motorsports Park photo

“I have some ‘scoops’ from winning the National event here and this place obviously means a lot to me.” Winners receive an ice cream scoop trophy to go with their NHRA Wally trophies at the National event, traditionally held the final weekend of June. “There is no comparison to the Bader family, as far as promotion and execution of a fantastic event,” she crowed. “The fireworks were unbelievable, even better than my expectations. I’m super stoked to have been a part of it and lucky to have turned on that win light. This definitely puts a little pep in our step, as we’ve not had the greatest of seasons. So here we are, last man and woman standing!”

 

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