The 24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance brought plenty of heat to Joliet, IL the weekend of May 17-19, resulting in winners Antron Brown in Top Fuel, Funny Car’s Matt Hagan taking his second straight victory, Dallas Glenn’s second Pro Stock win of the young season and, yes, Gaige Herrera earned another Pro Stock Motorcycle victory for Vance & Hines.
The sixth Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series race on the 2024 schedule produced plenty of highs – and a few surprise lows – because racing is like that. With oversubscribed entries in every Mission Foods category, Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, there were bound to be surprises in both qualifying and eliminations and this event sure didn’t disappoint.
The weekend began with a tribute to Chicago’s Don Schumacher, the racer and team owner who passed at the close of 2023. A large tent adjacent to the grandstands was over-subscribed with community members and fans who wanted to pay their respects; NHRA’s Brian Lohnes led the proceedings with his tribute and nearly every driver and/or rider who worked with Schumacher gathered for a special autograph session.
Then it was time for racing. On a weekend that initially promised a somewhat rainy Friday with clear skies thereafter, rain ended Thursday afternoon and never returned. But what did happen was heat, humidity and sunny skies, challenging crew chiefs to bring out their summer settings in the middle of springtime. Some got it; many others did not.
With 22 Top Fuel cars in the pits, there were bound to be some big disappointments and that’s exactly what happened. Two-time champion Brittany Force was out of the running after crew chief David Grubnic was unable to hit the sweet spot for her dragster, together with Doug Foley, third generation driver Krista Baldwin, Luigi Novelli, Terry Totten and Travis Shumake. Local racer T.J. Zizzo was quickest on Friday and Saturday, earning No. 1 and hoping to be a giant killer. He was gone after the second round, falling to Canadian Dan Mercier, who defeated Tony Schumacher, racing a tribute car to his dad in the first round. Reigning dragster champ Doug Kalitta lost a close race with Justin Ashley, also in the first round.
Last year’s Joliet winner, Clay Millican’s dream of another win lasted only a single round; he was gone by the quarterfinals, falling to four-time champ Steve Torrence. Shawn Reed, attempting a full-time Top Fuel season, beat youngster Cody Krohn in the first round but then fell to stealth Kalitta Motorsports racer Shawn Langdon and Antron Brown took out Ashley in the quarters, then defeated Torrence in the semifinals, as Langdon put Mercier back on his trailer.
The last race of the day saw Brown earn his 75th NHRA Wally winner’s trophy in a near photo finish with Langdon. The team owner/driver, a three-time dragster titleholder, earned his fifth Joliet victory and fourth in Top Fuel. Brown called the conditions “medieval,” as he played it safe on the tricky track, coming from sixth in the 16-car field. “In the final, we had to step it up and figured we needed to go 3.82-3.83 because that’s how [Langdon] ran in the semifinals. We got down from start to finish and that was the key. The race here has a lot of special meaning,” Brown confirmed, “and it was a total team effort to get the job done. I always love racing here in Chicago!”
Matt Hagan became the first two-time winner in Funny Car this season, albeit overcoming four tough qualifying sessions where he ended up 11th in the field. Hagan’s Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat beat three-time champ Ron Capps in the first round, then removed Paul Lee’s Charger in the quarters, and Blake Alexander, driving Jim Head’s Mustang in the semifinal round. In the finals, he had to contend with the GOAT, John Force, vying for a 17th Flopper championship in his Chevrolet Camaro SS. Theirs was another very tight race and Hagan was overjoyed to take his second straight win and move to the top ranking in class.
Hagan’s crew chief, Dickie Venables, excels in hot and humid conditions and had Hagan in the groove for all four rounds of eliminations. “It was a massive day for TSR and the Direct Connection Dodge/SRT guys,” Hagan crowed. “Back-to-back wins is super in these tough track conditions this weekend. This place was so tricky with the heat and humidity. We got stuck in the tough [left] lane and we drove it to another win! I wouldn’t have believed we could have won on Saturday; we didn’t qualify as well as we wanted, but on race day we clicked those win lights and that is what it is all about. Racing and beating John Force is an honor. I feel tremendous when you beat the best ever!”
Racing his Camaro for KB Titan Racing, Dallas Glenn remained perfect at this track in Pro Stock, claiming his second consecutive win on the quarter-mile dragstrip over Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield in the title round and claiming the points lead after his victory. He was able to do that because six-time champion and No. 1 qualifier Erica Enders failed to win her first round Sunday morning, falling to Jerry Haas’ car builder John DeFlorian’s Camaro, entered by Matt Hartford (it’s Hartford’s new car and DeFlorian performed a super test on it). Glenn beat Eric Latino, Troy Coughlin Jr. and teammate Greg Anderson to meet Stanfield. “I felt good today,” Glenn admitted. “I was nice and relaxed and I hit the tree when I needed to.
“Being the No. 7 qualifier was no representative of how good our car was. Racing Greg, you never know what you’re going to get. He might be low for the weekend and lately he’s been driving extra good,” Glenn admitted. “As for the rivalry with Elite, it’s good for Pro Stock and I love it. I’m not the guy leading the charge; I prefer to let my car do the talking.”
Anderson won the special GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout on Saturday for bragging rights in class, defeating his perennial competitor Enders, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Matt Hartford to take the money. The most successful winner in Pro Stock history, Anderson gushed after his win. “We made three fantastic runs today and that’s what it took,” he said. “A lot of teams struggled because the starting line was tricky, but my car is in a happy spot right now and we got down through there. That breeds confidence.”
Confidence and poise are two qualities that helped Vance & Hines decide to hire Gaige Herrera when Andrew Hines elected to give up his riding seat for crew chief duties. He has performed and has taken over the Pro Stock Motorcycle class with ease. While just about everyone is lagging behind Herrera, it was left to Matt Smith to earn the No. 1 qualifying position on his Buell, stopping Herrera at 11 straight No. 1’s. Herrera qualified second but made up for the gaffe by earning his eighth straight race win and tying legendary Dave Schultz for the most consecutive wins in class history.
Herrera, earning his 14th career win in only 24 starts, did have a new competitor to face in the final round, after vanquishing Wesley Wells, John Hall and LE Tonglet. The 2023 Rookie Of the Year, Chase Van Sant was in his first-ever final round after being defeating Steve Johnson, Matt Smith and Angie Smith in the first three rounds of play. Herrera performed his final round feat by taking the win at 6.713 (200.68) on the hot and not-sticky-enough track over Van Sant’s 6.797 (197.54).
Still, Herrera wanted to talk more about Van Sant’s final round appearance than his own mega accomplishments in the pro Stock Motorcycle class. “First, congrats to Chase Van Sant,” he said. “He did a great job today and he’s on his way. As far as tying Dave Schultz, I’m honored. I wish I’d had a chance to meet him, but I’ve heard a lot of great stories and I know what the did for this class. It’s still hard to believe I’m mentioned in the same sentence as him.
“We qualified No. 2 behind Matt, but today was a different day. The weather was consistent and that let us really work on our tune-up,” Herrera admitted. “I honestly thought it would be me and Matt in the final round. I was consistent and my bike was on rails. We had a very consistent motorcycle this weekend.”
Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, a specialty event during the “regular” season that matches up semifinalists from the previous contest, saw Justin Ashley, J.R. Todd and Herrera earn the wins. There was no Pro Stock challenge because the class was vested in the Callout this weekend. In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley dealt the first blow to Clay Millican in that final round after beating eventual race winner Antron Brown with one of his best passes of the weekend on the 1,000-foot strip. 2018 Funny Car champ Todd took his Kalitta Motorsports Toyota GR Supra to the challenge win over Matt Hagan after taking out John Force. Herrera had to face teammate Richard Gadson in the Pro Stock Motorcycle challenge after Gadson defeated Vance & Hines technical partner LE Tonglet and Herrera beat John Hall.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has the Memorial Day weekend off to spend with families, then reconvenes May 31-June 2 with the 14th annual NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, NH. Pro Stock Motorcycle is on hiatus until the Bristol round.
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