NHRA’s first 4-wide competition of the 20-race Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway yielded quite a few surprises, as well as justification for some racers’ careers. a
Smoke Conquers Top Fuel
The biggest story, of course, was the ascension of Tony Stewart to the ranks of Top Fuel winners in the series’ quickest category, where 3.6-second jousts on a 1,000-foot dragstrip are never extraordinary. Stewart, who has won in any form of racing he’s entered throughout his career, is one of the few racers that enjoyed 4-wide racing from the start of his straight-line career. The NASCAR, INDYCAR, USAC champion who’s a lock for any motorsports Hall of Fame that is smart enough to include his name in nominations, is on a mission to make drag racing his next big conquest.
This wasn’t even Smoke’s first Las Vegas win in 4-wide competition; he did that two years ago at this track when he was competing in Top Alcohol Dragster. He found the manner in which these three 4-wide races are held conforms more to the USAC and other open-wheel competitions he’s already won; the importance is in making it through the heat races (first couple of rounds in drag racing) in order to make the A Main (in this case the final round). He knows that it’s not necessary to win the “heat” races but to make it on to the next round of competition. He did that in 2023; he did that this past weekend.
Salinas and Richards Rise
There were other feel-good stories at this race, including the fact that Jasmine Salinas, who wasn’t expecting to run a full season in 2024, but to complement dad Mike’s career as she learned the ropes, went to the final round on Sunday. She’s been close to getting her first Wally trophy; there’s little doubt of her not making that grade in 2025. Her father Mike Salinas, whose businesses require his daily attention at this point in time, will definitely be racing at his home competition in Sonoma this July and the many fans he’s accumulated over the past few years will be grateful to see him there.
When Dave Richards joined the Funny Car ranks in 2024 as part of the SCAG Racing contingent, he had issues just getting on a ladder for Sunday eliminations. Richards had much to learn about crafting a full season of competition, but now he’s earned his way to a final round appearance and come out of it well. Richards finished third in his initial final round appearance, earning his first semifinal points finish since joining the Flopper class. He finished behind winner Austin Prock, the No. 2 qualifier and reigning class champion, driving John Force Racing’s Chevrolet Camaro SS and Paul Lee, the No. 1 qualifier who won his first Funny Car race ever at Phoenix earlier this season, driving a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
Richards started the day in 11th position and advanced from the first quad along with Spencer Hyde, another member of the Ford Mustang brigade who won Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge with Jim Head Racing. They defeated Buddy Hull’s Jim Dunn Racing Charger and Chad Green’s Mustang. “This was an exciting day,” Richards proclaimed. “I’ve never made it past the second round and it feels really good to go some rounds. To make it to the final quad in this Funny Car category, to finish third, it’s a major accomplishment for our team. Now we have the momentum and taste of what it’s like, and we want to continue this trend.” Because he was a semifinalist in Las Vegas, Richards gets to race in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at Charlotte next week – for the first time!
Justin Ashley qualified for his 100th race day start in Las Vegas, driving his SCAG Top Fuel dragster. The New Yorker, a second-generation driver owns 15 career wins and completed his 150th round win on the day as he went to the final round along with winner Tony Stewart, four-time reigning class champ Antron Brown and Jasmine Salinas. “Racing one race is a dream come true,” he acknowledged, “but to race 100, that takes a special group of people. From ownership to teammates, partners, family and everyone in between, there have been so many people along the way that were part of this journey.”
Prock’s Pay Off
Jimmy Prock is rarely satisfied with his tuneups for son Austin, but he’s always happy to have the assistance of his older son, Thomas in the crew chief lounge. The third generation of Prock Rockets, Thomas and Austin, have added technical knowledge they bring to the table. In particular, Thomas Prock’s time spent in NASCAR has been invaluable to the John Force Racing squad.
In Friday’s heat at Las Vegas, they felt like they missed the tune – but still ended up fourth and only 0.032 seconds behind top qualifier Paul Lee. They moved up to second on Saturday, watching from the sidelines as Spencer Hyde picked up his Mission #2Fast2Tasty trophy, along with Doug Kalitta and Dallas Glenn.
Sunday was a different story for Prock and his team. They got it right and did that at just the right time. They still had Lee’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat as top qualifier to overcome and had Hyde and his Ford Mustang in third looking stronger than some former and would-be Funny Car champions. Prock’s brain trust had him stick with the third lane throughout the three rounds of eliminations. It paid off for them.
Pro Stock Dominance
KB Titan Racing is steamrolling through the Pro Stock field, much as Elite Motorsports did just a couple of seasons past. The strength of this team rests on reigning titleholder Greg Anderson and perennial runner-up Dallas Glenn, but there’s more to this team than these two. Cory Reed is having a defining season in this class, having gotten his teeth wet in 2024 and gained the necessary experience over the past year. Having former Pro Stock Motorcycle teammate Joey Gladstone on the team has made it a more familiar group.
Greg Anderson is a pretty serious guy much of the time when he’s racing, but when the team is executing on all cylinders, he’s loose and happy. Even though he didn’t win on Sunday, Anderson could celebrate the fact that all four drivers in the Pro Stock finals came from his squad. In particular, it was good to see Matt Hartford take second behind Glenn and to see Matt Latino qualify for this final round. Latino’s father Eric is part of the KB Titan ownership group, and both he and his son have brought the fun they exemplify to loosen up the serious folks that so often get too serious. If you haven’t watched Eric Latino’s burnouts, they are epic!
Elite’s Struggles
Elite Motorsports is having problems. Erica Enders thinks it could be the change in fuel from Sunoco to VP fuels – NHRA is pushing for a more “green” fuel in Pro Stock next year, she said. It could be that, but it could also be the loss of personnel due to medical issues (there’s a lot of that happening in the NHRA community these days). While KB Titan is mopping the floor with quick times, Enders was one of six drivers who failed to make the field for Sunday’s race. Her best lap was a 6.696-sec pass in the quarter-mile; Greg Anderson’s No. 1 was 6.614. That’s a big gap. Elite drivers Greg Stanfield, Stephen Bell and Troy Coughlin Jr. were also on the sidelines Sunday, with independent racers Kenny Delco and Joey Grose.
The tour is off for this Easter weekend and reconvenes in Charlotte for the second 4-wide contest of the season at zMAX Dragway. An important note about that race: it marks the 1,000th time Top Fuel will be contested in NHRA drag racing. If that’s not a carrot to conduce fans to arrive at this majestic dragstrip, what is?
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