One down; five to go. NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs for its four Mission Foods Drag Racing Series categories: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle yielded some big surprises in the first of six races, held last weekend at Maple Grove Raceway outside Reading, PA. Just about the only non-shocker was Austin Prock’s continuing domination of Funny Car, as he drives in relief of Robert Hight, who won the Maple Grove race two years in a row leading up to 2024.
The John Force Racing team has shown dominance since the season began; team owner John Force held down second place before his June accident that sidelined the 157-race winner and 16-time champion, whose seat is being kept warmed nicely by 2012 Flopper champ Jack Beckman. Prock has led the standings from the start and that hasn’t changed. No matter what curve balls his father, Jimmy Prock, loads into the setup for his son’s Chevrolet Camaro SS race car, it’s apparent his 29-year-old son can handle anything.
Maybe? Maybe not. There are still five contests for the balance of the Funny Car field to halt what looks like an inevitable finale, where the substitute driver attains a championship. Who can stop this train? Four-time and reigning champ Matt Hagan (Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) always seems to switch on a light bulb when the Countdown begins, but that wasn’t apparent at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals last weekend; he was gone in the first round. Three-time champ Ron Capps is a three-time winner of this upcoming NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway, most recently in 2022 with his Toyota GR Supra and, like his former teammate Hagan, definitely needs some momentum heading his way. J.R. Todd’s quest for a second Kalitta Motorsports championship in Funny Car isn’t out of the question as he’s fourth in the title fight after the first, Reading race. Alexis DeJoria’s semifinal run in Reading moved her to seventh, just behind Capps in her Toyota GR Supra.
The Ford Mustang contingent in NHRA Funny Car, led by Bob Tasca III, is a body of strength and will, as Tasca is joined by Chad Green, Blake Alexander and Daniel Wilkerson, in particular. Tasca has always been in the mix but finds a way to count himself out by the time the NHRA circus arrives in Pomona for its season finale. Is this the year he turns it around and gets the title that Ford and the entire Tasca clan have been clamoring for?
There are 15 Funny Car entries in Charlotte this week for the Carolina NHRA Nationals, including Beckman subbing for John Force, Buddy Hull in Jim Dunn’s Charger, the Charger of two-time champ Cruz Pedregon, Dave Richards’ Toyota, Mike Smith’s Mustang and John Smith in a Charger. Everyone on the entry list will race on Sunday.
Top Fuel is ruled by Toyota runners this year, just as it was in 2023 when Doug Kalitta attained a long hoped-for first championship. This year, the top five runners are all racing with Toyota assistance, including points leader Justin Ashley, Reading winner – and four-time North Carolina Nationals event champion – Antron Brown, Reading runner-up Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta and four-time champ Steve Torrence.
Still, after his Indy win it’s tough to count out Clay Millican in Top Fuel, and it’s important to look at two guys named Tony – Stewart and Schumacher – who have been running well in the latter stages of this 20-race season. Schumacher’s new teammate Ida Zetterstrom, the 2023 European Top Fuel titleholder, is helping to motivate her eight-time champion teammate as he does the same for her. Zetterstrom’s Reading results were bumpy at best, but she did go to the quarterfinals in her first race at Brainerd and the semifinals in Indy.
With 18 dragsters entered in Charlotte, two racers will be on the sidelines on Sunday. It’s a strong entry field, one that includes two-time champ Brittany Force, Josh Hart, Dan Mercier, Mike Bucher, tenth-placed Billy Torrence, Jasmine Salinas, Shawn Reed, Cameron Ferre and Doug Foley. Any one of these racers could upset the favorites’ apple cart with their round wins. Mercier, in particular has been exceptionally strong the past few races and could be the purveyor of havoc for those intent on earning a title in November.
Aaron Stanfield of Elite Motorsports stripped KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn of his Pro Stock championship lead in Reading and carries some big momentum into the second of six contests to crown a champion in the door-slammer category. Second gen racer Stanfield has been ultra-competitive since Brainerd and performed a singular feat at Indy, during the 70th Toyota U.S. Nationals, when he won both Pro Stock and Factory X the same day. Never been done before.
There are 19 Pro Stock entries for the NHRA Carolina Nationals, led by six-time champ Erica Enders and five-time titleholder Greg Anderson, each headlining one of the two big teams in this class, Elite and KB Titan. Along with Glenn, they pose the biggest competitors to a Stanfield runaway, which in this class can be laughable. One driver not in the title hunt who needs to be feared is KB Titan’s Camrie Caruso, truly recovered from her Phoenix injury and driving well once again. Then, it’s also smart not to shrug off the talents of the two Coughlin entries, five-time Pro Stock champ Jeg Jr. and his cousin Troy Jr. Both Coughlin racers have the talent and Elite’s backing for their prospective and possible wins this weekend.
While he had difficulties at the start of this year’s 20-race campaign, Matt Hartford (KB Titan) is showing signs of competitiveness, and it would be silly to dismiss some of the other racers entered this weekend, including sole Elite Ford Mustang-bodied racer Cristian Cuadra, KB Titan’s Brandon Foster, veterans Larry Morgan, Deric Kramer (KB Titan), Kenny Delco, KB Titan’s Eric Latino and Cory Reed, Chris and Mason McGaha, Elite’s Jerry Tucker and Derrick Reese, who’s racing a Ford Mustang body with Chevrolet power.
It’s a short field for Pro Stock Motorcycle this weekend, with 15 bikes on the grounds of zMAX Dragway. While Gaige Herrera continues to lead the standings, he can’t afford to make more mistakes like his red-light foul in Reading. Fouling at the line is something that’s easy to do on a motorcycle, as even Herrera showed on his Vance & Hines Suzuki Hayabusa3, but for Hector Arana Jr., keeping his cool and matching the lights was key to winning last Sunday’s race. Riding back with his dad to salute the crowd probably gave this racer even more momentum for a second straight victory.
Not only Herrera is the bullseye in everyone’s targets. Matt Smith’s Buell is running exceptionally well, as are each of his team’s motorcycles, for wife Angie, John Hall and Jianna Evaristo. Conversely, while Gaige Herrera is showing some signs of being human, his teammate Richard Gadson is edging towards his first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle win and it could happen this week! There are eight Buells entered this week, including Marc Ingwersen, Marcus Hylton (of Eden, NC) and Ron Tornow. The Suzuki contingent includes veteran Steve Johnson, WAR Racing’s Chase Van Sant and Chris Bostick, Kelly Clontz and 2003 champ Geno Scali, riding a V&H Suzuki wheeled earlier in the season by 2010 titleholder LE Tonglet.
In addition to the Mission Foods classes, Congruity Pro Mod is on the grounds with only three rounds of competition remaining, joined by Lucas Oil Sportsman classes Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. Top Fuel Motorcycle will also be putting on their exhilarating show Friday through Sunday.
Sportsman qualifying begins on Thursday and continues through Saturday, while the Mission Foods groups have a single Friday night qualifying starting at 6:30PM ET and two sessions on Saturday, at 12:30 and 3PM ET. Eliminations are set to begin Sunday at the crack of noon. The weather forecasts, at this particular moment in time, call for only a slight chance of thunderstorms on Thursday, but clear and increasingly warmer conditions throughout the weekend, culminating with an 87-degree and sunny Sunday.
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