NHRA adds 5 to 75 Top Drivers, 2027 celebrates 50 Years of Force, John Medlen to AB Motorsports
NHRA has massive plans for its 75th anniversary season that kicks off with the 57th Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway the first weekend of March. Special trophies, special tickets, special legendary figures appearing at each of 20 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series events are on the docket. NHRA is close to completing the selection of its 75 greatest members of the straight-line community, having designated five more heroes:
Within the past two weeks, NHRA named Doug Kalitta, Matt Hagan, Eddie Krawiec, Jason Line and Sean Bellemeur to its Top 75 drivers list, this week adding Shawn Langdon, Gary Scelzi, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Angelle Sampey and Jeff Taylor to this list. Langdon, racing with Kalitta Motorsports has a single, 2013 Top Fuel championship and finished second to teammate Kalitta in 2025; Gary Scelzi is one of only three drivers to earn NHRA titles in both nitro categories: Top Fuel and Funny Car. He has three Top Fuel titles and a single Funny Car championship.
Jeg Coughlin Jr., racing with Elite Motorsports in his black and yellow Jeg’s Chevrolet, is a five-time Pro Stock titleholder and the first NHRA driver to win national events in seven different racing classes as he’s attained 88 career wins – including four at the U.S. Nationals. Riding with Star Racing, Angelle Sampey earned three Pro Stock Motorcycle titles and has 47 national event wins. A barrier breaker in women’s competition, Sampey currently races and wins in Top Alcohol Dragster as she vies to compete in Top Fuel, like her mentor, Antron Brown. Jeff Taylor won his first world Stock championship in 1981, added Super Stock titles in 1988 and 1991, earning Comp Eliminator world championships in 2005 – and then again last season, 2025! That’s almost 45 years to earn more than 50 national event wins!
Once the excitement dissipates a bit for the 75th anniversary season, it will be NHRA’s time – and opportunity – to turn its sights on the career of 16-time NHRA Funny Car titleholder John Force, who retired just before the aborted 2025 season finale in Pomona last November. NHRA has already announced that 2027 will celebrate “50 Years of Force, with special events and merch. Paramount among the latter is the opportunity to receive a special commemorative championship ring honoring the Hall of Fame legend when renewing race tickets onsite at any given track this season.
Fifty Years of Force will celebrate those 16 Funny Car titles – including 10 straight from 1993-2002, his nearly 1,500 round wins, 157 national event victories, 166 final round appearances and 166 No. 1 qualifiers. Those numbers might never be broached but we always say, records were meant to be broken? Force has been dominant in the sport for five decades, and the team he produced has been awarded another eight titles over the years: three of those were achieved by son-in-law Robert Hight in Funny Car, two by daughter Brittany Force in Top Fuel, two from Flopper racer Austin Prock and a single Funny Car title from Tony Pedregon, currently behind the microphone for NHRA on FOX.
The 2027 celebrations will include special trackside displays, personal appearances, celebrations of Force’s numerous accomplishments and moments on the circuit, together with other special merch items yet to be disclosed. All of these will be delineated during the upcoming season.
A crew chief who has worked with John Force Racing and who is considered family to the team owner, has changed affiliations. After helping Paul Lee to his first-ever NHRA national event win at Phoenix last year, John Medlen, this writer’s favorite mad scientist, is filling a gap at Antron Brown Motorsports, joining Brian Corradi and Brad Mason to help gain the four-time dragster champ a fifth title. Brown, who earned his fourth title in 2024 with Corradi assisted by now-retired Mark Oswald, had tough 2025 campaign, finishing ninth, 332 points behind champ Doug Kalitta.
As he did with Lee’s operation, Medlen is serving as a consultant, something that allows his hands-on experience, deep knowledge of the sport and leadership qualities to add to Brown’s already strong squad. With more than three decades assisting teams like Force’s and Don Schumacher Racing, He was part of Ron Capps’ brain trust when that owner/driver won two back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. “I’m very excited, encouraged and optimistic,” Medlen said of his new position. “I’ve had the privilege to work with Brian and Brad previously; I’ve also worked with many of the crew guys and even hired some of them who are on Antron’s team. I’m looking forward to a very fun and interesting season, and complementing the team with my years of knowledge and tuning experience.”