The second half of NHRA’s 75th anniversary season of Mission Foods Drag Racing Series starts this weekend in Sonoma, which traded places with Seattle this year to be the first event in a two-race Western Swing. (Do we miss Bandimere Speedway? You bet we do.)
The 38th annual DENSO Sonoma NHRA Nationals are taking place at beautiful Sonoma Raceway above San Francisco. It’s an event that has been in action for more than half of NHRA’s historic run and one that brings excitement. The event’s Friday night qualifying is always electric with fast times and speeds, including Robert Hight’s closing in on the 350-mph mark in Funny Car that his successor, Austin Prock achieved at the 2024 season finale in Pomona.
Weather-wise, this will be a typical Sonoma weekend, where patchy fog gives way to 80-degree daytime temps and cool evenings in the low 50s. Big speeds come with these types of conditions, so it could mean new records for a track that caters to high speeds. Last year, when the Sonoma race occurred after Seattle, Kalitta Motorsports’ Doug Kalitta earned the Top Fuel nod, while then-John Force Racing driver Prock won in Funny Car, Greg Stanfield brought home the Wally for Elite Motorsports’ Pro Stock team and Richard Gadson earned the race win after losing the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout to Matt Smith (on a start-line red light) on Saturday.
Numerically, there’s a light, 14-car field for Top Fuel this week, but with Jasmine Salinas rejoining the tour at her home race and Maddi Gordon continuing her thrust to show she belongs in this class for a long time, there will be plenty of stories to tell after this week. Let’s face it: Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon showed signs of being human in Norwalk, where both Gordon and her team owner, Ron Capps emerged victorious on one of the sport’s most famous and beloved tracks. Both drivers have been riding the Norwalk high ever since; this race marks a “home” event for Gordon, 22, from Paso Robles, CA and Capps, who was born just a few miles south in San Luis Obispo.
Funny Car is a bit more robust in its entries this weekend, with 18 cars on the entry list. The current top-10 are accounted for, as Capps (Toyota GR Supra) continues to lead his regular nemesis, Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver Matt Hagan by 121 points. The standings are tight beyond this duo with the top seven (Alexis DeJoria’s John Force Racing Chevrolet SS is in seventh place) all circulating in the 600-point arena. Among those joining the regulars this weekend are Dylan Winefsky in a Dodge, Hunter Green taking over his father’s Dodge, Jason Rupert and Tim Gibbons driving Ford Mustang Floppers. Strange not to see Surfer Jeff Diehl on this list, as he lives in Salinas, not terribly far from Sonoma.
Pro Stock, too, has 18 cars entered this week, all of them charged with catching Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson, whose KB Titan Racing Chevrolets top the class with only 23 points separating them. At Norwalk, Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield was the winner, showing signs of life for the team that had, until the last few years, been the top team in this class. We’ll welcome back Mason McGaha to the class after a short departure, while part-timers Joey Grose, Alan Prusiensky and his Dodge, and Shane Tucker line up at the water box on Friday late afternoon.
Lucas Oil classes joining the pro group include Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. Friday night’s second qualifying round for the Mission Foods teams features Deecell After Dark low qualifier bonuses for all three classes (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock). The top qualifiers in Q2 earn bonus money, with Top Fuel and Funny Car top qualifiers earning $4,000 each while Pro Stock’s No. 1 on Friday night earns $2,500. As the Pro Stock Motorcycle entries perform their final test preps for Saturday’s GETTRX All-Star Callout, also on Friday, the rider making the quickest pass will be awarded $1,500.