A dozen NHRA New England Nationals are in the books at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire. Brittany Force, who now owns more 340+ mph passes at the 1,000-foot mark than anyone in NHRA history – having posted a pair during Sunday’s eliminations (her first came in the zMAX Dragway 4-Wide Nationals in April), secured her first victory of the 2025 season at Epping and was joined in the Winner’s Circle by Kalitta Motorssports’ J.R. Todd’s Toyota GR Supra and by six-time Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson.
On a cool, New England weekend, one that saw many favorites in the three Mission Foods Drag Racing Series classes, Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock, fail to make it out of the first round of eliminations, the action was fierce and the consequences for at least one racer from Force’s own John Force Racing squad were out of the ordinary. But that’s drag racing, folks. Whatever you’re expecting to see, might not actually occur.
The seventh of 20 races on the Mission Foods schedule saw Force take down a surging Tony Stewart in the dragster finals, producing her second 340-plus-mph run of the day when it mattered. Stewart, who won the previous race in Joliet, IL and the Las Vegas 4-Wide April race went to his fifth consecutive final round in 2025, clearly having learned a lot in his rookie season and also having the will to succeed for his newborn son, Dominic.
Force’s 3.694-second pass on the 1,000-foot dragstrip at 340.39 pipped Stewart’s 3.720 at 329.91. Force dispensed with Clay Millican, Shawn Reed and this year’s perennial No. 1 qualifier, Doug Kalitta, who was the victim of her quicker 3.681-second pass at 341.42 mph in the semifinals. At Charlotte, Force set the national – and world – record at 341.59 mph. Force dedicated her victory to her father, John, who won this race last year in his PEAK Chevrolet SS and was on-site to watch her and her Funny Car teammates, super sub Jack Beckman and reigning titleholder Austin Prock.
“This is just a big one,” Brittany Force admitted. “The last time I stood in the winner’s circle with him was here and I wanted to win for him,” she said of her dad. “This one is dedicated to him and everything he’s done over the last year. It’s been really tough and we’re so proud of him, and I’m just happy to have him out here. I need him out here with me. I knew we would get back to this winner’s circle and I’m so proud of all these guys,” crew chief David Grubnic and co-crew chief John Collins in particular for the direction they gave her crew in preparation for all four Sunday runs.
While Force remained in sixth place in the standings she’s just a single point behind Justin Ashley. B virtue of his fifth straight final round, Tony Stewart leads the points chase, with Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta, Ashley, Force, Steve Torrence, Clay Millican, Josh Hart and Shawn Reed completing the Top Fuel top ten. Of that group, Torrence, Langdon, Millican and Hart were done before the New England Nationals quarterfinals.
As for Doug Kalitta, the No. 1 qualifier also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday. Kalitta and Langdon have dominated the specialty race, winning all six held thus far in the seven-race season. Saturday marked Kalitta’s fourth Challenge victory; he qualified No. 1 for the fifth time in seven races and accomplished that feat with a 3.670 pass at 337.24 mph.
Before she made the second of her jaw-dropping runs on Sunday and secured her 18th victory, Force had to watch Beckman’s issues with the PEAK Chevy SS in the semifinal round against Jim Head Racing’s Spencer Hyde and that team’s Ford Mustang. Shortly after his clean launch, Beckman’s car turned sharp left and had two hard hits against the left side retaining wall from his right-lane start.
Beckman emerged from the stricken race car and appeared to be fine. He posted on Monday that he was en route to California get some elevator work done at his “day” job, do laundry, repack and head for Bristol. He looked and sounded normal, for Jack Beckman, anyway. “I’m fine. My feelings are hurt, our race car is hurt and we’re still not quite sure what happened, but I’m not hurt. I’ve never had anything like that happen,” Beckman said, “but the safety equipment did its job. We’ll rebound,” he predicted. “We’ll unload our spare car, which is last year’s PEAK Chevy SS and we’ll be back in Bristol and ready to win again, I promise you!”
Despite his semifinal round crash and teammate Prock’s first-round disappointment and loss, the John Force Racing duo remain at the top of the points standings. On the sidelines, they watched Kalitta Motorsports’ J.R. Todd earn his first victory of the 2025 season and first win since the 2024 season opener, which in itself marked that team’s first ever double-up with Shawn Langdon taking the Top Fuel victory. Todd, who now has Dickie Venables and Jon Oberhofer as his crew chiefs, had a tough time acclimating to their tuneup as the season started but has gotten stronger and more confident with each race date.
Todd came from the 10th position to reach the finals, by using his Toyota GR Supra to defeat Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Phil Burkart making a one-off appearance in a Ford Mustang and beating Alexis DeJoria’s Charger to reach the finals against Hyde’s Jim Head Mustang. Gone in the first round? How about Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra, Chad Green’s Ford Mustang, Prock’s Chevy SS and four-time champ Matt Hagan’s Charger!
With his victory, Todd jumped four positions in the points chase from tenth to sixth place and gets the chance to win extra money and points this coming week at Bristol in the seventh Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. This was Todd’s 22nd career race win. Even though it seems incongruous, one must be patient on the start line and that was nearly Todd’s comeuppance: “I almost ran out of patience on the starting line (in the finals). I flinched probably three or four times and did everything but red-light.” As he drifted to the wall he said to himself, “I ain’t lifting until that win light comes on,” as he hasn’t seen Hyde or felt him in the other lane.
“I’m glad we got that one out of the way for Dickie’s sake. I’m not saying there was pressure on him, but people expect you to win when you hire a guy of his caliber. I never said anything before this weekend,” Todd stressed, “but coming here, I knew he and [Matt] Hagan won a lot here so I was pretty excited. At the same time, we’re still in the learning stages with what we’re doing here. I say it all the time, but I truly believe I have the best crew out here. They dig deep and work their asses off; they deserve this!”
Greg Anderson just loves making history. He’s the most successful Pro Stock racer with more wins – 109 – than any other driver, but he had to dig deep on Sunday to earn his New Hampshire win, his third of the season. Anderson has made it to every final round that Pro Stock has contested – that class sat out Joliet this year and won’t appear in Richmond later this month – and his KB Titan Racing group has been the head of the class since the tour began at Gainesville Raceway in Florida early in March. To reach this final round, Anderson defeated Kenny Delco, KB Titan crew chief Dave Connolly – subbing for Eric Latino – and teammate Matt Hartford, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday.
Anderson’s quarter-mile thrusts were in the 6.40-second range all weekend; he capped off the three-day meeting with a new track record of 6.469-seconds at 212.19 mph against his regular nemesis, five-time Pro Stock champ Erica Enders of Elite Motorsports. The air was so good on Sunday that several Pro Stock racers made speed runs in the 213-mph range! Enders, racing in her 83rd final round and first of this 2025 campaign, knocked the tires off almost from the hit, forcing her to coast to the timing lights. Enders had luck on her side with tough runs from her second round to the finals, fighting tire shake each time.
Still, it was Anderson who “got lucky a couple of times today,” he said. “It takes a lot of luck to win one of these things and we finally made a great run in the final. To win when you’re off your game makes you feel pretty doggone good… this is the best race car I’ve ever had – no question. It’s paid for itself in wins and made me look like a star. I can’t take credit,” Anderson continued. “Fifteen years ago I traded my car tools for engine tools. I’m an engine guy now. My hat’s off to the team; the cars are so evenly matched these days, if you find even a small advantage in setup, it’s huge!”
Anderson is only three rounds away from 1,000 career round wins, a feat only John Force has accomplished in his stellar NHRA history. “(1,000) is a wild number,” Anderson admitted. “There’s only one other guy to do that – John Force. I never dreamed I’d be close to that. Every round win now feels like a bonus – I’m living far beyond my wildest dreams.” The dreamer returned to the lead of Pro Stock over teammates Dallas Glenn, Matt Hartford, Cory Reed, Eric Latino and Deric Kramer, with a tie between independent Mason McGaha and Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield for eighth place, Enders finally cracking into this list in ninth and her Elite Motorsports teammate Jeg Coughlin in tenth place.
No rest for the three classes of Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition, who will be joined this coming weekend by Pro Stock Motorcycle as all four contest the 24th annual Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN.
Leave a Reply