Even the joy of winners Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Austin Prock in Funny Car, Aaron Stanfield in Pro Stock and Gaige Herrera’s continuing mastery of Pro Stock Motorcycle weren’t enough to mask the issue of John Force’s accident in the first round of Funny Car eliminations, during the 14th PlayNHRA Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. At press time, no update has been given on Force’s condition, after he spent the night in a Richmond-area intensive care unit.
Kalitta, the reigning dragster champion is now a three-race 2024 winner as NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season churns to its halfway mark. The veteran driver was faced with racing Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon in the final round late Sunday afternoon – after cleanup for Force’s crash and following a rain delay for thunderstorms in the area – after qualifying second to his teammate and placing them on opposite sides of the eliminations ladder.
With a bye in his first round, Kalitta defeated Josh Hart in the second round and faced rookie driver Tony Stewart in Sunday’s semifinals. As the storms moved on, so did the impenetrable heat in the Richmond, VA area, and with cooler conditions, Kalitta came up with a 3.752-second, 333.41-mph pass down the 1,000-foot dragstrip to set the quickest and fastest run of the entire race weekend. Forging his 55th victory and first at this track since 2007, Kalitta holds a grip on first place in the standings over Langdon, by 67 points.
“I’m really fortunate to have Alan [Johnson] tuning my car,” Kalitta said. “He’s proven time and time again that he can figure out different conditions. With what we picked up on at the middle of last year and carried into this year, everybody is doing their job. The consistency of putting the thing together is really good right now with the guys; it’s just a big team effort,” he allowed.
Despite having to watch his boss and mentor John Force deal with an engine explosion that wrecked Force’s Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car and injured the 16-time champion who owns an incredible 157 National event wins, two in 2024, Austin Prock kept his cool and earned his third Flopper victory of the 2024 season on Sunday, With the all-concrete track cooled by the thunderstorms that invaded after the second round of eliminations, 28-year-old Prock harnessed his emotions and went on with his work.
Prock used the same crew as Robert Hight to earn this win, which came two seasons after the John Force Racing president won in the most recent Virginia race. Hight is sitting out this season – or at least this part of it – due to medical issues and Prock, whose aim was always to drive a Funny Car is now racing one tuned by his father Jimmy and brother Thomas. “This win is definitely dedicated to John Force,” Prock said after exiting his winning Camaro SS. “This is one for the books and there were a lot of emotions today. We had to battle a bunch of adversity. This trophy,” he reiterated, “is definitely going back to him. I wanted to get it done for him and this is really special. I’m super proud of this team to get it done with everything that went on, and keeping my head together.”
To win his third trophy, Prock defeated two-time class titleholder Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, three-time champ Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra and, finally, reigning four-time champ and Virginia native Matt Hagan to reach a final round against No. 1 qualifier Bob Tasca III. “I was feeling the pressure early on in the day,” Prock admitted. “I drove terrible in the second and third rounds. This team’s busting their tail out there in this heat, and I don’t want to be the weak link and I wanted to get it done for John.” He did.
The third straight Pro Stock victory for Elite Motorsports went to Aaron Stanfield, his first of the 2024 season and ninth in his career in this class. Pro Stock didn’t race at Virginia Motorsports Park in 2022, so crew chiefs didn’t really have numbers to examine. Stanfield beat Val Smeland, teammate Troy Coughlin Jr. and five-time class champ Greg Anderson to reach the finals against points leader Dallas Glenn of KB Titan Racing. It was a revenge round for Stanfield, who lost to Glenn in the finals at May’s Route 66 Nationals outside Chicago.
“It was definitely a long, hot race day for sure,” Stanfield allowed. “Dallas has got me a couple of times here in the past couple of races, and it was good to get them back right there. I was blessed with the opportunity to represent Johnsons Horsepowered Garage this year, and it’s good to finally be able to pull off that win representing their brand.” With daughter Oakley at the track, “For her to see me win, now she can understand why dad’s gone so much. It’s just a special, special day for me.”
Breaking records the Gaige Herrera way means eating competition for breakfast, lunch and dinner, always with a smile. At least in the staging lanes. In an all-Vance and Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa3 final round, Herrera beat teammate Richard Gadson, making his first final round appearance this year, to earn his tenth consecutive victory and earn 39 straight round wins in eliminations. Herrera hasn’t lost a round since early September of 2023, defeating Chris Bostick’s WAR Suzuki in a close encounter and taking out John Hall (Herrera had a second-round bye) to reach the finals, earning his fifth title of the 2024 campaign and 16th since the beginning of last year.
“It’s kind of hard to process all of it,” Herrera mused. “The amount of accomplishments that have been achieved in such a short time. I tried to sit back and just think about it, and it’s very hard, because there are so many of them. I have to thank Andrew [Hines, his crew chief] and basically picking me out of a haystack to ride for them. I’ve got to give it all up to Andrew and all the guys at the shop. None of this is possible without them.”
As the NHRA community waits for further word on the condition of John Force, everyone is also preparing to race this coming weekend in the 17th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH.
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