B. Force, Hagan, Glenn and Herrera Win Big in Las Vegas
As expected, the 25th Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals presented by Direct Connection provided a preview of the drama that will occur when the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series completes its 74th season a week from now. The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway provided incredible action, surprise round wins and four race champions.
Brittany Force earned her 19th national event title by beating Shawn Langdon in the late afternoon final round. The John Force Racing (JFR) Top Fuel standout secured her 58th No. 1 seed, took home the Friday night $3,500 Ted Wiens Trick or Traction Award bonus on Halloween with a new track speed record, backed it up on Saturday and then went four rounds on Sunday to gain victory.
It was an emotional victory for the driver who intends to halt her full-time Top Fuel competition to start a family next season. With her 19th win, Force moved past legendary Shirley Muldowney for the most victories in the dragster class by a woman. Her 3.704-second lap (337.33mph) held off Langdon’s run of 3.727 at 333.91 mph. “This win is a special one,” Force regaled. “This race is now something more than any other race, because of that number 19, lining it up as the winningest female driver in Top Fuel makes it more special.
“Ever since I made my retirement announcement, my guys have said they wanted at least one more win for me, and I wanted to end strong and get back to that winner’s circle. It’s been far too long,” she admitted. “I put my heart into it. My team puts their heart into this car; it’s very special.” In earning back-to-back fall wins at the Las Vegas dragstrip, Brittany Force had a first-round bye, then knocked off both Clay Millican and Tony Stewart to face Kalitta Motorsports’ Langdon, who went to his sixth 2025 final round and 51st of his career, beating Kelly Harper, Justin Ashley and teammate Doug Kalitta.
Because the top two Top Fuel drivers didn’t get farther than the semifinal round, Langdon moved a little closer to both his teammate and Ashley, moving into second place and lagging Kalitta by 36 points, while Ashley fell 163 points back. Force is fourth, followed by Stewart, Millican, the absent Steve Torrence, Shawn Reed, Antron Brown and Josh Hart, who is now 422 points back as he preps for his final 2025 race as a team owner, before taking over the Top Fuel drive at JFR.
The final round matchup in Funny Car saw that category tighten up. While John Force Racing’s Austin Prock won everything but the final round in Sin City, Matt Hagan’s intent to bring home the victory for his Tony Stewart Racing sponsor, Dodge and Direct Connection was fulfilled on Sunday when he beat Prock’s Chevrolet SS in the finals to score his 55th career Funny Car victory. In defeating Prock, who’d won Friday night’s bonus money and had careened through the field en route to the finals, Hagan tightened the points chase, meaning the battle can continue in this class at Pomona.
With the season finale offering points and a half for all Mission Foods contenders, any idea that a title might be won in Las Vegas went out the window. With a deep field of competitors, Hagan’s sprint to his third win of the 2025 season in his TSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was his first over Prock’s Chevrolet SS in three final round matchups. Qualifying third in a full field that sent home Jeff Diehl’s Toyota, Tim Gibbons; Ford, Buddy Hull’s Dodge, Dylan Winefsky and Chris Morel, Hagan defeated two-time champ cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger, Chad Green and Daniel Wilkerson in Mustangs to meet Prock, who dispensed with Jason Rupert, J.R. Todd and Bob Tasca III to reach the final round.
Hagan acknowledged this was “a ‘have-to-win’ race for us. Sometimes, you pull your crew chief aside and say, ‘We have to win this one.’ Mike Knudsen, Phil Shuler, Alex Conaway and the whole TSR crew were making the call for the first time at every racetrack, and to see the potential that Knud has for the future is awesome,” Hagan stated. “Crew chiefs win races. I just jump on the pedal and go, but they have to make the right calls at the right time.” With five wins in the fall Las Vegas races and a single spring victory, Hagan is wired to win at this track.
Hagan’s victory over Prock gives the Virginian an opportunity to take his fifth championship and first with only the third crew chief he’s had in an illustrious career. Prock retains the lead in class with 2,594 points, but Hagan tightened the gap to 101 points, while Jack Beckman continues in third, first-round loser Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra is fourth, followed by Wilkerson’s Ford, Paul Lee’s Dodge, Chad Green’s Ford, Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge, Spencer Hyde and Bob Tasca III in tenth place, 330 points behind Prock.
Is this the year 2021 Rookie of the Year Dallas Glenn finally beats the boss? While Glenn didn’t look especially dominant on Friday or Saturday, when his KB Titan Racing teammates Cory Reed won Friday’s No. 1 and Ted Wiens bonus funds while Greg Anderson made the quickest runs in both Saturday qualifying rounds. Glenn began Sunday’s runs from the No. 4 spot, behind Anderson, Elite Motorsports Aaron Stanfield and Reed.
Celebrating the life of their late team owner Ken Black, Anderson, Glenn and stand-in Dave Connolly, the latter running the car formerly driven by Cody Coughlin all had Black’s name, not their own, on the windows of their Chevrolet Camaro race cars. The left lane of the track was dedicated to Black on Friday and the entire team came together to acknowledge his love of the sport of straight-line racing. Glenn beat Connolly in the first round, Elite’s Erica Enders, a 10-time winner at this track, in the quarterfinals and eliminated teammate Anderson in the semifinal round to meet Matt Hartford in the finals.
In an all-KB Titan last round, Glenn squeaked by Hartford with a pass of 6.602 seconds at 206.61mph, while Hartford ran 6.625 at 207.50. Glenn’s .006 reaction time against Hartford sealed the deal. After being eliminated in the first round last October, Glenn won for the third time at this event and opened a 92-point lead over Anderson heading into the season closer. “This is very satisfying,” Glenn said. “Coming in with a very similar points lead to last year, where I had to sit and watch that lead go to negative, this is definitely a much better feeling. You definitely can’t describe how good this feels.
Glenn’s 2024 issues at this track, where he was out in the first round, made for this satisfaction. “It hasn’t really hit me yet. I have so much more confidence in the car, and I got all the nervousness out last year with that incredible points battle that we had between four drivers,” he recalled. “I definitely feel way more relaxed, way less nervous. I was a wreck last year!” Unlike 2024, Glenn leaves Sin City in the catbird seat, followed by Anderson, Hartford, Aaron Stanfield, Reed, Enders, Eric Latino, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Cody Coughlin and Troy Coughlin Jr., the latter 490 points behind Glenn.
Gaige Herrera is not letting his Vance and Hines Motorsports teammate Richard Gadson have an easy road to his first title. After looking almost human riding his Suzuki Hayabusa3 the past few races that allowed Gadson to expand his lead, Herrera was back in business this past weekend, grabbing the No. 1 and Ted Wiens’ money Friday night, securing his No. 1 on Saturday and rampaging through the field on Sunday to make sure the title fight is a lot tighter as the entire field of racers moves down I-15 to Pomona, California.
There’s only 21 points separating the duo, both of whom rely on former champions to tune their Suzuki motorcycles. With Andrew Hines coaching Herrera and Eddie Krawiec in charge of Gadson’s bike, these two riders have a knowledge base assisting them that really can’t be found elsewhere in this class. Even six-time champ Matt Smith, currently third, can’t be able to give the kind of information to his three teammates that Hines and Krawiec can.
Herrera, from his No. 1 perch, knocked off fellow Suzuki riders Karen Stoffer and Clayton Howey before the thrilling semifinal round against Gadson. While his teammate had a perfect .000 reaction time, Herrera was no slouch at .005 for his start, then put up a 6.825 lap to beat Gadson to meet Angie Smith’s Buell in the final round. Herrera went 6.809/198.17 to defeat Smith’s close 6.813/199.37 lap. “This couldn’t have gone any better,” Herrera acknowledged. “Me and my teammate facing off in the semis, with him in the points lead, 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 goes to show how hungry we both are to get this championship right now.”
While Herrera is hoping to match up to Gadson in the fourth round at Pomona and decide their battle on the track, others in the class just want to move up the ladder. Matt Smith is third, followed by wife Angie Smith, Brayden Davis’ Suzuki holds fifth, followed by the Buell motorcycles of John Hall and Jianna Evaristo, Chase Van Sant, Steve Johnson and Chris Bostick, all three riding Suzuki motorcycles.
While some teams remained on-site to test on Monday, the day’s objective was taken by drivers and riders wanting to gain licensing for categories where they don’t normally compete. There was one stand-out incident, when Factory Stock Showdown racer and promoter David Davies had an accident while attempting to make his first Top Fuel pass as part of the licensing process. Davies contacted the right guardrail from his starting spot in the left lane, but extracted himself from the damaged car and was examined and okayed by NHRA’s on-site medical team. He did go for further, precautionary evaluation at University Medical Center in his private vehicle.
Angelle Sampey was one of those checking out Top Fuel on Monday, while versatile Alex Laughlin, who has driven Top Fuel, Funny Car (this year in relief of Buddy Hull for Jim Dunn Racing) and Pro Stock tried his hand at Pro Stock Motorcycle. As expected, there were few issues with their of these runs.
While many in the NHRA community remained in Las Vegas for the SEMA show that begins on Tuesday, others are busy prepping for next week’s season finale, the 50th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, slated for November 13-16.