If you wanted a race for the ages, you came to the right one at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park this Labor Day weekend. It featured the hottest day of the year in Indianapolis on Friday with little respite for the initial night qualifying session the four Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series needed to conduct in order to begin the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals.
As with most drag races, there were surprises in every single category after five rounds of qualifying and four elimination runs. For instance, reigning Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta didn’t race on Monday; he couldn’t make the field of 16 drivers with 20 dragsters on the grounds, joined by Jasmine Salinas, Krista Baldwin and Lex Joon. It was humiliating for his Kalitta Motorsports team, but Air Doug still managed to keep his No. 1 seed in class, over Justin Ashley, teammate Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence, Antron Brown, Clay Millican, Tony Stewart, Tony Schumacher, Brittany Force and Billy Torrence.
Brown was hoping to three-peat at this race, having won here the past two years, but he was gone by the close of the first round, beaten by Clay Millican. He was joined on the sidelines by fellow Toyota drivers Billy Torrence and Shawn Langdon. Millican, wearing the red and white colors of fast food operator Arby’s, romped through the field on Monday after the Tennessean qualified a lowly 13th. Not only did he dispense with three-time class champ Brown in the first round, in the quarterfinals he made hay with Josh Hart, defeated No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force in the semis and took away four-time champ Steve Torrence’s hopes of earning a second Big Go trophy this year.
Other standouts in the Top Fuel class were series rookie Tony Stewart, who reached the semifinals in his quest to win a first dragster victory, Ida Zetterstrom, making only her second NHRA race and reaching the quarterfinals. Both of those drivers were beaten by Torrence as he made his way to the final round. Losing to Stewart in the second round, Justin Ashley had to be content with winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge finals for this year, his fourth win and earning that race-within-a-race’s championship in class – against Zetterstrom. Chicago’s T.J. Zizzo, normally a giant killer when he brings his dragster to any race and harnessing the talents of Rahn Tobler to assist in his rail’s preparation, was gone after the first round – against Zetterstrom. It might have taken some time to put her program together but she’s showing she is worth the wait.
Millican, who struggled in qualifying had his rail come alive when it mattered on Monday, joining the balance of the victorious quartet as first-time Big Go winners. Using a 3.695-second run down the 1,000-foot race track at 333.74 to beat Brown in the first round, he followed with a 3.753 against Hart, a 3.750 to beat Force and a 3.792-second blast against a slowing Torrence (4.317). Millican understands that he’s “definitely been the underdog my entire life. I promise you that, but I have a lot of fight in me. Nothing will ever top [my first win in] Bristol, including the U.S. Nationals, but this is like winning the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the Word Series. This is career-defining stuff,” he reminded one and all.
While team owner Rick Ware wasn’t around for Millican’s three wins in 2023, he left his pair of NASCAR teams at Darlington to make certain he was on-site for this big race in Indy. “He came here on Friday and, while it was cool to call him last year and say we won, there is nothing like being here.”
In the nitro categories, the left lane easily mastered the right, easily proven by Funny Car No. 1 seed Austin Prock, who took his John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS to the Winner’s Circle twice this past weekend, in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and in the 70th annual Big Go. It was his fifth win on the season as substitute for Robert Hight, and he denied a three-peat for final round opponent Ron Capps, who was victorious at the Big Go the past two seasons with his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, dressed at Indy as a U.S. Army tribute to his former team owner Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.
Prock’s performances this season shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Born into a racing family and the third generation to take to the track, his work in a Funny Car has been a revelation. True, he took over the car of a three-time titleholder and his team owner is a 16-time champion, but until you get into that seat and have the pressure to perform, you never know what’ll happen. Prock’s PRO Superstar Shootout win in February should have warned his opposition that they had a new Prock Rocket to fear, even as the 29-tear-old’s Camaro is tuned by his dad Jimmy and brother Thomas.
Earning his first Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals win – as did every other professional racer this past weekend – Prock danced through the eliminations by beating first-time qualifier Chris King, a fireman from Chicago in the first round with a 3.850 (334.15) as his opponent’s crew chief told him to shut down his Dodge Charger rather than lose an engine. Prock then beat Alexis DeJoria’s Toyota GR Supra in the second round with a 3.879-sec (331.61) hole shot win to her 3.876 (327.90). In the semifinals, Prock’s 3.887 (332.34) upset Brainerd victor Blake Alexander’s tough run, while his final round run of 3.887 (327.9) beat Capps’ 3.935 (331.45).
With his grandfather looking on for the first time since he moved from Top Fuel to Funny Car, Austin Prock not only drove his heart out using the same No. 374 Tom Prock used during his driving career, he also went old-school, servicing his Camaro’s supercharger between rounds, a job Prock performed before he got the opportunity to drive both nitro classes. “I had a feeling we were going to get it done,” Prock said. “My grandfather is here and this is the first race he’s been to since I started driving this Funny Car with his number on the side of it. He started this legacy and today we marked another one off the list as a family,” Austin Prock related.
“To win the U.S. Nationals with your dad tuning it and your brother the assistant crew chief, that’s unbelievable. This whole team are just badasses. I was chopping down the tree all weekend and I just wanted to make sure everyone knew I was back,” after losing the previous race due to a tardy tree. Prock’s Monday consistency got him through all four rounds, both on the tree and down the track. “It still hasn’t hit me yet that we won the U.S. Nationals. So many people dream of winning this race and very few have. I’m very proud to add my name to the list; it’s a pretty surreal moment,” he said after being the No. 1 qualifier, winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge series title, along with Monday’s final rounds.
The only thing Prock didn’t win was the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race in Indy; that went to J.R. Todd’s Toyota GR Supra, giving Kalitta Motorsports one bright moment in an otherwise difficult race meeting, his third time taking the now-concluded race within the race weekend trophy. While Todd was hoping to end up second to Prock in the regular season, after this 14th of 20 contests he’s entering the playoffs in fourth, behind Prock, Bob Tasca III (gone after the first round in his Ford Mustang), Matt Hagan’s Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat (also gone after round 1), Ron Capps, John Force/Jack Beckman, Blake Alexander, Daniel Wilkerson, Chad Green and Alexis DeJoria.
Beckman, whose father Bob came out to watch him race Force’s Chevy Camaro SS as the legend recovers from his traumatic brain injury (TBI) suffered at Virginia Motorsports Park in mid-June, signed his Countdown Clinched board with both names, and spoke for his team owner throughout the race meeting. After qualifying third for Monday’s eliminations, Beckman’s solid day of racing ended in the semifinals when he fell to Capps after losing traction. On a day that began as the coolest of the four during which the pro racers competed, “We got bit in the semis when track conditions changed. The lane got warmer just as we got up there and we were too hopped-up for that. There’s a lesson in every pass and we’re taking all of that forward. We were low ET in the first and second rounds, so we’re definitely knocking on the door of some wins really soon,” Beckman predicted.
Aaron Stanfield performed a feat no other racer was able to do this weekend and in the 70-year history of this race. He won both Factory X in a Chevy Camaro and Pro Stock in an Elite Motorsports Camaro, beating squamate Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the Pro Stock final round. The No. 4 qualifier in a race that saw five drivers fail to make eliminations on Monday – Deric Kramer, Chris McGaha, Derrick Reese, Larry Morgan and Kenny Delco – Stanfield won his first Pro Stock round on a hole shot against Matt Hartford of KB Titan Racing (6.560/209.36 to Hartford’s 6.537/209.20), took out first-year Pro Stock driver Cory Reed (also of KB Titan) in the quarters when that driver broke (6.555/210.14), removed five-time champ Greg Anderson of KB Titan in the semifinals (6.574/209.62 when Anderson’s car overpowered the track and beat Elite teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. for his first pro U.S. Nationals win.
Stanfield’s double marked his 12th Po Stock win and his 29th and 30th career NHRA national event wins. “This is what dreams are made of, right here,” Stanfield exulted. “Indy is always a busy week for me. It’s a roller coaster of emotions the whole entire time. I knew I had two good hot rods and a good chance to win in both categories, but this race has kicked my butt in the past. So this feels great!” While he’s been close to doubling up on a few occasions in the past, “It’s eluded me, but I’m okay with not being able to get it done at those past races because this is the place to do it if you’re going to do it. It’s special to me to not only win in Indy in Pro Stock and Factory X, but to win them both in the same day and put my name down in the history books,” he said.
Despite losing in the first round to Elite’s Cristian Cuadra and his Ford Mustang, Dallas Glenn and his KB Titan Racing Camaro go into the Countdown’s six remaining races as the No. 1 seed, followed by Stanfield, Greg Anderson, Elite’s Erica Enders, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Troy Coughlin Jr., Jerry Tucker and Cristian Cuadra, KB Titan’s Eric Latino and Mason McGaha, who races for Harlow Sammons along with his father Chris. Enders, the reigning six-time champion lost in the semifinals to her teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. after qualifying second over five sessions; she won the overall Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge title as Glenn won that race
It was two years ago at this race that Gaige Herrera began his NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle career. He didn’t make eliminations that first race, but once he impressed Vance & Hines Motorsports’ Andrew Hines with his poise, it wasn’t long before the Suzuki Hayabusa3 rider visited the Winner’s Circle. With 11 straight win lights to his credit between 2023 and 2024, Herrera was still looking for his first Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals victory and has shown signs of not being totally perfect on the track. Still, his attitude has always been good, even with losses to first-timer Chase Van Sant (Seattle) and Matt Smith in Sonoma, the class’ previous races before Indy. This weekend Herrera earned the No. 1 position on Sunday – Matt Smith Racing’s John Hall held No. 1 on his Buell until then and won Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge until Herrera pounced – and won that Challenge’s overall title.
On a sunny Monday afternoon, Herrera won his first U.S. Nationals victory, defeating Angie Smith in the final round, 6.763/198.70 to Smith’s 6.829/197.19. Both riders had issues over the weekend as they chased the track, but Smith’s ride into the kitty litter on Sunday’s fourth session meant she’d sit out the last session and start eliminations from sixth. There were 16 motorcycles on the grounds so no one had to sit out eliminations this time around. Herrera made the finals by earning the win against a fouling Wesley Wells’ Suzuki in the first round (6.772/209.36). He beat familiar nemesis Van Sant’s WAR Suzuki in the quarterfinals (6.755/199.58 to 6.806/198.26), rode by teammate Richard Gadson’s V&H Suzuki Hayabusa3 in the semifinals to meet Buell rider Smith, who beat Steve Johnson’s Suzuki, Marc Ingwersen’s Buell and husband Matt Smith’s Buell to make the finals.
“This race is very special for me,” Herrera admitted. “Two years ago I made my debut here. Two years ago, Andrew Hines had COVID, was sitting on his couch and didn’t even know my name until I made my first pass here. This one is very special. For me to be able to get the win, I feel like this was the biggest monkey of all on my back. Last year I had the simplest part fail, which cost me going past the second round, so to get the win here, even though I won the championship last year, I feel like this almost surpasses that.
“This ranks at the top, all the stuff that I’ve done as far as creating history or getting Bob Glidden’s [consecutive win] record – throughout my years, I”m probably going to remember his over all of that,” Herrera aid. “This is one everyone wants to win. It’s the Super Bowl of drag racing. To get this win, I feel like I’ve kind of accomplished what I wanted in Pro Stock Motorcycle. It’s crazy to say that a year and a half into my career, but I”m not stopping yet!” Herrera leads his class going into the six-race Countdown to the Championship, followed by Matt Smith, Richard Gadson, John Hall, Chase Van Sant, Angie Smith, Jianna Evaristo’s Matt Smith Racing Buell, Hector Arana Jr’s Buell, Steve Johnson’s Suzuki and Chris Bostick on his white WAR Suzuki. The latter rider debuted the first ever parachute-equipped Pro Stock Motorcycle entry this weekend; after Angie Smith’s trip into the sandbox, perhaps others will take a look at this technology?
After the heat of Indy, where both Friday and Saturday’s sessions were conducted in near-100-degree heat with attendant humidity, Sunday and Monday cooled appreciably, bringing lap times down and speeds up. The denizens of NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series have a week and a half to contemplate the upcoming six-race Countdown to the Championship and its start at Maple Grove Raceway outside Reading, PA. That’s a track where weather usually seems to affect outcomes. Will the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals change the standings or will the top seeds keep their status? We’ll have to wait and see.
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