Fans swarmed Firebird Motorsports Park outside Phoenix, AZ to see the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, featuring the Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock stars of NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Congruity Pro Mod Drag Racing Series and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.
They definitely got their money’s worth, with three full days of sun, heat, competition and entertainment. There were two qualifying sessions each day, with Saturday’s pair of runs down both the 1,000 and 1,320-foot dragstrip enlivening the sold-out crowd. The first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season netted victories for Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel, Funny Car’s Ron Capps and Jeg Coughlin Jr. in Pro Stock.
Only one of these drivers would double-up on Sunday and that was Langdon, who won the final round against Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta, defeating him in a tight race, 3.724/330.39 to Kalitta’s 3.770/325.53 pass. The victory by Langdon marked his second straight at this track, as he beat Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley and Brittany Force en route to the final round. Kalitta made his 120th career final round as the No. 1 qualifier, defeating Travis Shumake in the first round, taking a bye in round two and beating Jasmine Salinas to take on his squadmate.
Langdon knew it would be a tight race because he understands the machinations both Kalitta and his crew chief Alan Johnson can go through to eke power from their dragster. “We kind of threw the kitchen sink at it,” Langdon said of his crew chief, Brian Husen who, he remarked, “has turned this whole team into a bunch of superstars. All the guys have done such a fantastic job and have made no mistakes.”
In Funny Car, Paul Lee finally earned his first career national event victory over reigning titleholder Austin Prock. It was definitely a David vs Goliath final round in the flopper category, with Lee’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat taking on Prock’s John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS. In earning his victory, Lee became the 96th different Funny Car winner in NHRA history, running 4.030/313.22 to an up-in-smoke Prock’s 4.507/240.68.
From his fifth qualifying slot, Lee defeated Gainesville winner Chad Green, Blake Alexander and Bob Tasca III – all driving Ford Mustangs – to go up against Prock. Lee’s clean run earned him victory when Prock went up in smoke and he remarked, “Twenty-one years ago was the last time I won a Wally in Englishtown, NJ at my home track in Top Alcohol Funny Car. I’ve been dreaming of someday standing here with a nitro Funny Car Wally. I love driving a nitro Funny Car. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was 13 years old… “
Lee made special mention of the fact that Funny Car standout Eric Medlen died in Gainesville after the 2007 Gatornationals, on March 23rd. “We lost Eric on this day,” he said. “We have a team prayer every Sunday, And John [Medlen] leads us. Today, he asked for Eric to watch out for us. You know something, our whole pit was calm all day and we just had a feeling that Eric was watching over us. I know it’s a funny feeling. It was just, we were calm all day. Everybody did their job; it was a long time coming, but it’s well worth it!”
While the crowd was pleased for Lee, they were also relieved to see three-time Funny Car champ Ron Capps, a Saturday victor, walk away from an exploding Toyota GR Supra just before the timing lights at 1,000 feet. The explosion destroyed Capps’ fourth-qualified car as he straddled the centerline (an automatic DQ) from his right lane and hit the opposite retaining wall in the first round of competition against Blake Alexander. Capps Toyota body was junk but he emerged, under his own power, from what remained of the Supra’s body.
Greg Anderson repeated as Pro Stock victor at this race after winning in Phoenix in 2024, en route to his sixth class title. In a repeat of last year’s season finale, Anderson raced KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn, who was victorious over him in Gainesville, the first race of the 20-contest season. Both drivers fouled at the lights in Phoenix, while Anderson couldn’t get his car to run properly, barely moving from the Christmas tree lights and not even going to half-track.
It was a crazy final round between the two KB Titan Racing standouts. “I’m still trying to figure out how the heck I won,” Anderson said afterwards. “When you go into a final against Dallas, you know he’s going to be double .00 (reaction time) and you’re just on edge trying to leave the starting line. I saw some sort of flash of light and I let the clutch out and red-lit, but obviously that flash of light was Dallas’ red light coming on first, so he red-lighted before I did under the first or worst!
“My car made it about a foot,” Anderson explained, “and it shut right off and now I’m going to have to sit in front of the (packed) grandstands and want to sink underneath the seat because I just red-lighted and threw the race away. I wondered why Dallas didn’t go by me… reached out trying to restart the car and it won’t start. I red-lighted and somehow Dallas did something worse than I did. So a crazy final round but, like they say, a win is a win.”
In Congruity NHRA Pro Mod competition, the finals from Gainesville were completed and the full Phoenix race held. In either case, trophies went to a single driver, Mike Stavrinos in his AAP Camaro, who won the postponed Gatornationals and the 40th NHRA Arizona Nationals. Both victories came against veteran and former champ Rickie Smith. “This is something I wanted to do my whole life, and we did it twice in one weekend,” he crowed. “This isn’t even real to me. I really do owe it all to my crew – without those guys, this wouldn’t happen. I’m just out here having fun.”
There isn’t much time to celebrate or commiserate after this hot date in the desert, as teams are on their way to Pomona, California, the ancestral home of the National Hot Rod Association for the 65th annual Lucas Oil Winternationals, held on In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this coming weekend.
Now that two, of 20 races are complete, the standings are a bit shuffled from Gainesville. In Top Fuel, Langdon is on top, followed by Antron Brown, Kalitta, Jasmine Salinas, Brittany Force, Tony Stewart, Clay Millican, Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Shawn Reed. Paul Lee holds the lead in Funny Car, with John Force Racing’s Jack Beckman second, Bob Tasca III, Chad Green, Ron Capps, Austin Prock, Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan, Alexis DeJoria and a tie between Bobby Bode and Cruz Pedregon. Anderson has seven points on Glenn in Pro Stock, followed by KB Titan’s Cory Reed, Matt Hartford and Eric Latino. Mason McGaha is sixth, with Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Troy Coughlin Jr. and Greg Stanfield completing the top 10.
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