There are now five NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series contests in the books; 15 more remain before champions are crowned at the season finale. Can we read anything from the pair of 4-wide races that have just been completed on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and zMAX Dragway in Charlotte?
The 1,000th Top Fuel trophy – itself a majestic piece of memorabilia constructed by Cold Hard Art’s Tom Patsis – is making its way to Ypsilanti, Michigan and Kalitta Motorsports, after Shawn Langdon aced the final quad against runner-up Justin Ashley, Las Vegas 4-Wide victor Tony Stewart and reigning, four-time titleholder Antron Brown. Langdon’s lap down the 1,000-foot dragstrip of 3.714 seconds at 330.63 mph just pipped Ashley in the final round.
In earning this win, Langdon was joined in the Winners Circle by his team owner, Connie Kalitta and by the first NHRA Top Fuel winner, Don Garlits, who handed the memorable race trophy to the Californian, who earned his 21st Top Fuel Wally trophy and the replica of Garlits’ initial trophy. The 2013 dragster champ came from the second qualifying slot, where he put down a 300mph boom to the eighth and overall lap of 3.665/333.33 to lag only his teammate and Mission #2Fast2Tasty consecutive winner Doug Kalitta in qualifying.
While Langdon admitted to being a bit slow at the starting line behind Ashley, he drove around the New Yorker to earn victory and the notoriety that comes with earning the 1,000th TF Wally. He leaves zMAX Dragway in the points lead with a 59-point advantage over Tony Stewart. While he didn’t have any rationale for his slower than average leave, “I had a good race car. Connie Kalitta leads the way and we’re very fortunate to be able to win the race for him. I’m so lucky; I race for Connie Kalitta. I’m very honored,” he admitted, “to be the 1,000th Top Fuel winner. It’s a great accomplishment in this sport with so much history. Don Garlits and Connie Kalitta both signed my time slip – that’s one that will go front and center in the trophy case!” Langdon has a 59-point lead over Stewart, followed by Brown, Kalitta, Force, Ashley, the absent Jasmine Salinas, Clay Millican, Steve Torrence and Josh Hart.
Once again, Austin Prock doubled up, winning Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and going on to win Sunday’s points-paying race in the John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. All three JFR racers – Prock, Jack Beckman and new national record holder Top Fuel racer Brittany Force, whose Friday boomer of 341.59 put her in league with Prock, who set a 341mph lap in his Funny Car during last year’s finals in Pomona – ran with www.HendrickCars.com support, and with Rick Hendrick on the premises.
For Prock, it was vindication of the work performed by his father, Jimmy and brother Thomas who, together with Nate Hildahl made the right changes for conditions during NHRA’s 15th American Rebel Light NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. After languishing mid-pack during the first three contests of this 20-race season, Prock’s team has come alive in these two 4-wide contests and allowed Prock to leapfrog No. 1 qualifier Paul Lee and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for the No. 1 position.
In the finals, Prock defeated Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra, Matt Hagan and Alexis DeJoria, both driving Chargers with his 3.870-second, 332.92-mph blast. Prock has now won the zMAX 4-wide race in both Top Fuel and Funny Car as he earned his 14th race win. Having been born into this sport, Prock knows it’s a “great day anytime you’re holding one of these Wallys. I had my worst light of the weekend in the final round, so it’s just great to be driving this Chevrolet SS, especially that round there. It was awesome to see [Rick Hendrick] down there at the top end,” he emphasized. That was the last thing I expected, and when I saw him, I just lit up!” Prock leads Lee, Hagan, Beckman, Capps, Chad Green’s and Daniel Wilkerson’s Ford Mustangs, Cruz Pedregon’s Charger and a tie between Kalitta’s J.R. Todd in his Toyota GR Supra and Bob Tasca III’s Mustang. There’s a 193-point gap from first to tenth places in this class.
“Double 00” Dallas Glenn needed his .002 reaction time to hold off KB Titan teammate Greg Anderson, as he picked up his second straight Pro Stock win with a holeshot of 6.495/212.69 over Anderson’s incredible lap of 6.472/212.13, also racing Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winner Matt Hartford and a fouling Eric Latino, all KB Titan racers. Glenn earned the 200th victory for KB Titan Racing, his third win of the year and 16th in his career. Glenn, Anderson and KB Titan own this class right now and it’s up to everyone else to deny them. “I did my job the best I could but the car did its job too,” Glenn declared. “It’s still the engine guys and crew chiefs that did a fantastic job all day. We got back from Las Vegas and they tore all the engines apart and didn’t finish until this Thursday at 9PM EDT. They worked every day and that’s the reason why we run well,” Glenn explained.
“In four-wide races, you don’t have to be best until finals, and then you can throw the kitchen sink at it, and that’s what we did. When I left, I thought I might have red-lighted, but I’m glad I didn’t. I know Greg really wanted to win with [NASCAR team owner and his full-season sponsor] Rick Hendrick here, but I’m happy to be the 200th winner for the KB Titan team. That shows just how special this team is.” With his third win of the year, Glenn takes over the points lead from Anderson, who made it to the final round for the fourth time in five 2025 races. Behind the duo are Matt Hartford, Cory Reed, Eric Latino, Deric Kramer – all fro KB Titan Racing – Mason McGaha, Elite Motorsport’s Jeg Coughlin and Aaron Stanfield, with Matt Latino 383 points behind the leader in tenth place.
The Pro Stock Motorcycle battle looks to be another round between Vance & Hines Motorsports’ two-time reigning champion Gaige Herrera and six-time champ Matt Smith. The Suzuki rider won the first race of the year in Gainesville, but Smith stopped him in the final round with his self-owned and self-tuned Buell, also racing Herrera’s teammate and Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Saturday winner Richard Gadson and veteran Steve Johnson, who looked fresh after a tough Gainesville outing. Smith left first with his .014 reaction time and was never headed, hitting 6.736 at 202.91 for his first win of the young Pro Stock Motorcycle season.
The local racer earned his 42nd national victory but admitted, “This has been a long weekend. We had a lot of gremlins in the pits and this morning, we cranked my bike up and it started squeaking. We have another engine called ‘Old Faithful,’ so we put in a new engine and went smoothly after that,” he stated. “Hats off to my team. I can’t say enough about my crew guys. Every helps, but it’s a lot of work to run four bikes with three mechanics,” Smith acknowledged of the Buells for himself, wife Angie Smith, Jianna Evaristo and John Hall. “I do the fuel maps and clutches, and I also get to ride, but it’s a lot of work.
“I’m on the positive side now,” Smith exulted after having 41 wins and 41 runners-up results coming into this 4-wide race at Charlotte. “Now I’m 42 and 41 so at least I’m on the positive side now.” With his win, Smith took the points lead from Herrera, who finished third in the quad behind Gadson and ahead of Johnson. After two races, Smith leads No. 1 qualifier Herrera, with Richard Gadson third, Chase Van Sant’s WAR Suzuki fourth, Angie Smith fifth, Suzuki rider Kelly Clontz sixth, a tie between Marc Ingwersen’s Buell and Steve Johnson’s Suzuki, Evaristo and Hall completing the top 10.
The third four-wide battle takes place this fall at zMAX Dragway during the Countdown to the Championship, but in the meantime, the troops return to two-across competition May 15-18, with the 25th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL outside Chicago.
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