It was hot in Texas when NHRA held its 40th annual FallNationals race at Texas Motorplex the weekend of October 10-12. The sun shone, the track was slick and there were times, during both qualifying and eliminations, when drivers and riders had a tough time going from the Christmas Tree to the finish line’s lights. Celebrating its 40-year partnership with NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the Ennis, TX facility kept racers and fans enthralled for a full 10 days in its Stampede of Speed, from morning to night, at the track and in the surrounding area, as the community joined in.
By the time four rounds of qualifying and four elimination rounds were completed, the look of this year’s six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs gained a lot of clarity. Each competitor in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle that was leading the points coning into this fourth of six playoff contests, was able to don the special 40th anniversary navy blue cowboy hat and claim Wally trophies for winning on Sunday.
Advancing to his fourth consecutive final round, Kalitta Motorsports’ Doug Kalitta earned the Top Fuel nod, Austin Prock in his John Force Racing Chevrolet SS claimed his first Texas Motorplex victory (and ninth Funny Car win of the year), Dallas Glenn took his KB Titan Racing Pro Stock Chevy Camaro to a seventh 2025 win while Richard Gadson earned his third Pro Stock Motorcycle victory and second in this Countdown playoff season on his Vance and Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa3.
Shortly before the weekend’s competition began, Texas native Steve Torrence, a four-time Top Fuel champion announced that this would be his final run of the season. Even with two races left to run and even though he’s been in the thick of the championship fight. Torrence’s hot rod went to the final round on Sunday and, while the 42-year-old succumbed to points leader Doug Kalitta, it happened in a tight fight. This was Torrence’s seventh time in the final round in his 11th battle at Texas Motorplex; he’s now in fourth place. Will he change his mind and fight to the finish, with only two events left on the calendar? We’ll find out at Las Vegas.
For Kalitta, earning his fourth win of the 2025 season from the No. 5 seed, beating Jasmine Salinas, Ida Zetterstrom and teammate Shawn Langdon en route to his sixth final round in the past seven races, beating the four-time titleholder and earning his 59th career victory and second straight win, Kalitta admitted he was “just real proud of my guys. I have the best in the business behind me and it’s an incredible feat to do what we’re trying to do – and try to stay ahead. Everybody’s hungry right now.. it’s a huge relief to get this win and it’s a real big deal for us!”
Some notable drivers were out of action quickly on Sunday, including both Tony Stewart Racing entries, for team owner Tony Stewart in Top Fuel and four-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan. Stewart came into the six-race Countdown as NHRA’s dragster leader, but tough outings in Reading, Charlotte and St. Louis, coupled with a first-round loss to Clay Millican on Sunday pushed the multi-time racing champion back to sixth place, behind Doug Kalitta, Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence and Brittany Force. Millican, Shawn Reed, reigning champion Antron Brown and Josh Hart now complete the top ten.
Hagan was part of a double up for Stewart’s team in 2023, when both he and Leah Pruett, Stewart’s wife, won their class race wins in Dallas. The team has three wins in the past two years at the NHRA FallNationals, making Tony Stewart Racing’s first-round demise even tougher. “This wasn’t the weekend we were looking for,” two-time 2025 Top Fuel winner Stewart admitted. Hagan’s explosion in the first qualifying session put the Funny Car ace in catch-up mode. Starting 12th in the 16-car field, “This was a really challenging weekend and obviously not what we set out to do losing first round.”
Austin Prock picked up his ninth victory of the 2025 campaign and extended his lead over Hagan with victory against three-time champion Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra in the final round after Capps’ chutes opened shortly after his launch. Now holding an advantage of 112 points on Hagan, Prock had a near-perfect race meeting during the track’s 40th anniversary celebration. During Friday night’s Battle for the Saddle qualifying session, Prock earned his sixth top seed of the season as no one was able to beat his 3.876-sec run on the 1,000-foot track at 336.07mph. “All our cards fell right today, and we were able to extend our point lead, so that definitely feels really good,” Prock said after earning his first Texas Motorplex victory. “It’s one hell of an opportunity to turn on win lights and bring home race wins and extend the points lead on top of it; you can’t ask for much more,” he said.
Prock’s 112-point advantage on Hagan’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is only the beginning. He also leads teammate Jack Beckman, final round opponent Capps, Daniel Wilkerson’s Ford Mustang, Paul Lee’s and Cruz Pedregon’s Chargers, Chad Green and rookie Spencer Hyde in Mustangs and Alexis DeJoria’s Charger. There’s a 290-point cap from first to tenth place in the Flopper class.
Dallas Glenn is moving closer and closer to his first NHRA Pro Stock championship, one he’ll have to wait to claim most likely until Pomona, where he succumbed to his KB Titan team leader Greg Anderson last November. This weekend Glenn battled Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield in the final round, giving him seven victories on the year for a total of 20 wins since he joined the class. He’s got a 60-point advantage on Anderson, who lost in the penultimate round to Stanfield. This Texas-sized victory was Glenn’s third victory in four playoff races held to date. “I just need to keep turning on win lights,” Glenn acknowledged. “I just need to go up there and just take everything one round at a time, do everything I can and let the crew chiefs do their job.”
Even so, Glenn doesn’t believe he’s driving as well as he did in 2024, when he lost the title to Anderson in the last pass of the year. Still, he does feel “a little bit more relaxed this year. If I can continue to do that, continue to turn on win lights, continue to have a little bit of luck on my side, I think we can wrap it up.” Stanfield enjoyed his second final round appearance of the season, 27th of his career after beating teammate Erica Enders, KB Titan’s Matt Hartford and Greg Anderson. Racing as the 12th seed, Stanfield had to battle hard to get to the final round. “With two races left and points and a half in Pomona, a runner-up finish keeps us in the conversation for a top three finish for the time being,” Stanfield mused. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure!”
Pro Stock remains a KB Titan Racing tributary. Glenn, Anderson and Hartford claim the top three spots, followed by Elite’s Aaron Stanfield, KB Titan’s Cory Reed and Eric Latino, Elite’s Enders, KB’s Cody Coughlin and the Elite pair of Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Troy Coughlin Jr., both of whom will be racing under the JEGS banner in 2026, Elite announced at the Texas venue.
There is never a “perfect” weekend of racing, but during the 40th NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex, Richard Gadson came wicked close to perfection. The Vance and Hines Motorsports second-year Suzuki Hayabusa3 rider took the No. 1 seed and marauded through the tight field, one in which the final round came down to one of two V&H Suzuki bikes. One of them was not reigning V&H titleholder, Gaige Herrera, who fouled out in the semifinal bout against Brayden Davis, a part-time teammate to Herrera and Gadson. It’s seldom that Herrera incurs a red light; this one opened plenty of eyes.
Gadson qualified No. 1 on Friday night and continued run strongly throughout the remaining two time trials and four rounds of racing. When Herrera faltered in the semifinal round, Gadson was able to take command of the situation and his last-round reaction time of .011-second was what he needed to earn his first Dallas victory and second in the Countdown to the Championship. Showing his cool in high-pressure situations., Gadson has revealed that he, like Herrera, was the right guy to take on this challenge for Vance and Hines.
“You watch this happen for other people and you want it for yourself,” Gadson remarked. “I try to live in the moment; I try to remember that this is the stuff you watched Gaige do, stuff you watched Andrew [Hines] and Eddie [Krawiec, his crew chief] do, and you’re doing it right now. I just try to be present mentally in that moment and just say you’re living that dream.” When he looked at the eliminations ladder on Sunday morning, Gadson knew it would be tough: “Everybody’s tough right now. I’m just trying to keep my foot on the gas and hold on for life. I’m extremely motivated right now; I feel like I have something to prove!”
Richard Gadson is proving to be a remarkable rider, as is Herrera, and as is Davis. As Gadson clicked past Lance Bonham’s Buell, Clayton Howey on a Suzuki and Matt Smith Racing’s six-time champion Matt Smith heading to his final round, Davis beat Ryan Oehler’s and John Hall’s Buell motorcycles before Herrera managed to take himself out of the show. Gadson leads Herrera by 72 points, with Matt Smith’s Buell third, Brayden Davis’ Suzuki fourth, John Hall’s, Angie Smith’s and Jianna Evaristo’s Buells fifth through seventh, Chase Van Sant, Steve Johnson and Chris Bostick in tenth place, the latter three riders on climbing aboard Suzuki motorcycles.
The tour takes two weekends off before hitting The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 30-November 2. As is customary., the 25th annual Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection will be full of Halloween playfulness, as it always is, but the tension surrounding the four-class Countdown to the Championship will make the fifth of six playoff races one in which all players will have their game faces on, costumes optional.
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