Kalitta, Prock, Anderson are NHRA Brainerd Zoo Masters
Doug Kalitta, Austin Prock and Greg Anderson were the winners of Sunday’s 43rd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on the Brainerd International Raceway dragstrip in the Minnesota town of the same name. On a cool and cloudy day that started late after morning showers, the conditions merited extra-quick lap times and that’s exactly what the enthusiastic fans in the stands and The Zoo received.
In the second round of Top fuel eliminations, John Force Racing’s Brittany Force again set a record over 340-mph as she dispatched points leader Shawn Langdon, the weekend’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victor. Langdon’s rail was quickly up in smoke while Force ignited the track record at 3.679 seconds at 341.25. After qualifying second to race winner Kalitta of Kalitta Motorsports, Force raced to the semifinal round and moved two points ahead of Antron Brown to take fifth place in the standings and lies only 94 behind Justin Ashley for fourth place. Points-and-a-half are on offer in Indy for the 71st Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals.
Kalitta earned his seventh No. 1 in the series’ 13th of 20 races and captured the 100th Top Fuel victory in the team’s history and 130th win overall. This victory marked Kalitta’s second consecutive win and 57th of his career. “This car has been a pleasure to drive,” Kalitta noted. “AJ (crew chief Alan Johnson) had it dialed in. It’s just a matter of putting it together the same way every time.” In earning his third Brainerd Wally winner’s trophy and his first since 2005, “It’s been a while since I’ve won here. I have a lot of history here when Connie (team owner Connie Kalitta) was driving and I was working on his car. This has always been a special place to race,” he confirmed. “Consistency is definitely the name of the game. We have a great shot at another championship!”
Top Fuel’s points chase is still led by Shawn Langdon of Kalitta Motorsports leads, followed by Tony Stewart of Tony Stewart Racing (-48), SCAG Racing’s Justin Ashley (-111), Doug Kalitta (-121) and AB Motorsports owner/driver Antron Brown, who lags Langdon by 211 points. With points-and-a-half on offer in Indy, the standings could roller-coaster, especially for the final five spots: Brittany Force, Clay Millican, Steve Torrence, Josh Hart and Shawn Reed complete the top 10.
Another driver earning his second straight victory in class is Austin Prock, who won in Sonoma the final weekend of July. The reigning Funny Car champion from John Force Racing cut a .043-second light in his Chevrolet SS to conquer a smoking J.R. Todd in his Kalitta Motorsports Toyota GR Supra, running a lap of 3.907 seconds at 321.50 mph. Prock’s reaction times in his first three rounds were a jaw-dropping .048, .048 and .052, for a four-run average of .047-sec. Prock earned his sixth win of the season and 14th in his 33-race Funny Car career, one that began just before the start of the 2024 season when former driver and president of John Force Racing, Robert Hight stepped away.
The win leaves this Prock Rocket with a 242-point gaping hole between himself and teammate Jack Beckman, who won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, heading into the sport’s biggest race of the year, the 71st Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Determined to give crew members Nate Hill and Sam Stuckmayer their first win at this track, “Nate’s attempted [to win] this race 13 times, and he’s been with my dad the entire time. He’s never got it done. Last year, I gave it away (when he lost on a hole shot to J.R. Todd in the second round),” Prock reminded. “And this year, you know, to race the same driver and get on the other end of the stick, obviously felt good. But I was focused on myself today. I went out there and I executed.”
Prock’s 1,140 points dwarfs his teammate Jack Beckman’s 898 points, with Matt Hagan’s Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in third with 871 points. Ron Capps retains fourth with 840 points in his Toyota GR Supra, followed by Paul Lee’s Dodge (767 points), runner-up J.R. Todd’s Supra in sixth, Dan Wilkerson, Spencer Hyde and Chad Green, all driving Ford Mustangs and Alexis DeJoria’s JCM Racing Dodge in tenth.
In the Greg and Dallas show, aka Pro Stock, KB Titan Racing team leader Greg Anderson, the six-time and reigning champion, secured his 111th career class victory against Glenn and cemented his winning hold on the class. The Minnesota native made the quickest run of every session of qualifying and eliminations, including a track record 6.521-seconds in his Sunday opening stanza against Chris Yang. He continued strongly against teammate Eric Latino and Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield, who earned that team’s first win of the season at Sonoma. Anderson won Friday’s American Rebel Light “Battle for the Rebel Axe” and Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday.
Still, Glenn has a nine-point advantage on Anderson as the tour heads to Indy and the final race of the 2025 “regular” season. “It was flawless,” Anderson said of his race weekend. “Every time down the track, the car was low E.T. of the session or each round on race day. I can’t thank my guys enough. The car was a pleasure to drive. I am a lucky man. It was not only awesome to win, but awesome to pretty much dominate the weekend. Everyone was on point. The car was perfect. The crew chiefs were perfect and I, somehow, didn’t screw it up,” he laughed. “At my age (64), you never know when you’re going to win another one. I lost in the first round here last year and you don’t want to stumble, especially here when you’re racing in front of your buddies.”
Dallas Glenn, the runner-up in Brainerd, continues to lead the standings by nine points over teammate Anderson and is followed by fellow KB Titan Racing competitors Matt Hartford and Cory Reed in fourth. Aaron Stanfield holds fifth for Elite Motorsports, while Eric Latino is sixth for KB Titan, followed by Elite’s Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Greg Stanfield. KB Titan’s Cody Coughlin and Deric Kramer round out the top ten in the doorslammer class.
The end of the regular season comes with Race No. 14, the 71st annual Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals, scheduled August 27 through September 1 on the dragstrip at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.