NHRA Mission Foods Title Races should Tighten in Las Vegas
Halloween in Sin City is going to be fast, furious and more exciting than it usually is, as NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series contests its 19th of 20 races to determine national champions in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
What makes this second visit to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway exceptional is the number of contestants still vying for a title in most classes of drag racing’s premier series. That, and the fact that there’s extra money available in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session. Talk about giving candy to kids – both Top Fuel and Funny Car No. 1 qualifiers after Friday’s second session will each garner $3,500, while Pro Stock’s No. 1s get $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. This new Trick or Traction Award is sponsored by Ted Wiens Complete Auto Service and was announced just two days before racing commenced.
It’s another incentive to do well in this race. Needed? Of course not, but the dangling of an additional payday is always a good thing for racers. Parts aren’t cheap; travel isn’t cheap and the old adage applies that the insertion of added funding always makes the car work better.
After nearly a month of talk about his future, Josh Hart is working hard with his current group of employees to help the Florida Top Fuel racer achieve a third class victory by the close of this season. Sitting in the caboose of the Top Fuel top 10 standings, Hart obviously wants to end the season – and his Josh Hart Racing team ownership – on an upward trajectory. So does the racer he’s succeeding at John Force Racing, Brittany Force, whose seat he’ll occupy in NHRA’s 75th anniversary season next year.
Kalitta Racing’s Doug Kalitta is in the dragster catbird seat: he’s in first place, has been in four consecutive Countdown to the Championship final rounds, winning two of those races consecutively. That there have been four playoff races thus far shows how strong the Kalitta offense is playing. But as Kalitta reminisced, “I’ve finished second seven times, so for me, you never count your chickens until they’re hatched. We still have two races to go,” Kalitta reminded. “It’s great to have a lead, but would certainly be better if we could get far enough ahead so nobody can catch us – that’s the goal!”
He’ll have to contend with the youth of Justin Ashley and his SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster. A four-time winner this season, the former Rookie of the Year has been to seven final rounds. That’s all about consistency in performance, something the Kalitta team has shown in this Countdown far more than any other squad. While he’s 141 points behind the leader, “We are still in the championship hunt,” Ashley remarked. “I understand that, on paper it’s going to be a difficult task, but that’s never stopped us before. Earlier this year, Ashley made it to the final quad at Las Vegas; last fall he had a quarterfinal result.
This week’s Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection has only 13 dragsters on the entry list, but they are all strong competitors, including four-time reigning champion Antron Brown, Kalitta, Ashley, Brittany Force, former champ Shawn Langdon, 2025 race winner Shawn Reed, 2025 regular season champ Tony Stewart, eight-time champion Tony Schumacher, Clay Millican, Hart, Canadian Dan Mercier, Rob Passey and Kelly Harper.
The gap from Kalitta to Hart is 373 points, with Brown, in ninth place 90 points ahead of Hart. The standings could have rollercoaster changes by the time this is finished.
Funny Car, too, has a battle royale on its hands, with reigning champion Austin Prock of John Force Racing, owning nine winner’s trophies – through 18 races – in his Chevrolet SS for the season, yet sitting only 112 points ahead of Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Hagan seems to come to life when it’s crunch time and this year is no exception. Still, he’ll be looking in his mirrors at Prock’s teammate Jack Beckman, hovering 19 points behind him. Three time champ Ron Capps is hoping to give Toyota a great going-away gift as the manufacturer departs NHRA competition after 20 years at the close of the 2025 season. He’s 149 points behind Prock in his Toyota GR Supra and just 18 behind Beckman.
That’s tight quarters for any championship fight. The only other racer currently within 200 points of Prock is Daniel Wilkerson, driving the SCAG Ford Shelby Mustang. Incredibly, there are 14 Funny Cars eligible for this year’s title, with the final Dodge Charger entry of Jim Dunn Racing once again piloted by assigned driver Buddy Hull. Hull’s been sidelined since mid-July when he injured his left hand in an engine explosion. The final four playoff contestants include Bob Tasca III (Ford Mustang), 2012 champion J.R. Todd’s Toyota GR Supra, two surprises in the back end of the standings.
There are 21 entries in the Flopper class and, aside from the usual suspects in the top 14 in standings that includes Rookie of the Year candidate Spencer Hyde in Jim Head’s Mustang. Blake Alexander races again in Chad Green’s Dodge Charger, joined by occasional starters Jeff Diehl and his Toyota Camry, Del Worsham in his Toyota GR Supra, Tim Gibbons and Jason Rupert’s Mustangs, Chris Morrel and Dylan Winefsky in Dodge race cars. The latter racer is making his second 2025 appearance at Las Vegas this year as he wraps up his first attempts in a big car; Winefsky has worked his way all the way from Junior Dragster to Funny Car.
The Pro Stock national champion’s trophy looks like it’s bound to stay in North Carolina at KB Titan Racing, either in the hands of points leader Dallas Glenn or his team leader Greg Anderson, the reigning titleholder who defeated Glenn in the last race of the last race last year. NHRA smartly decided to hold Pro Stock’s finale aside and run the three other contests – those were completed – before putting Glenn vs Anderson as the season finale. Anderson was the victor that time; will he do it again? Only 60 points in arrears – and with points-and-a-half on tap for the season closer at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip – this one’s a real toss-up. KB Titan’s Matt Hartford is in third place, 225 points back, while Aaron Stanfield is the Elite Motorsports leader in fourth place, 230 points behind Glenn.
There were 13 racers eligible to compete in the Countdown to the Championship’s Pro Stock challenge for these six final races: 11th through 13th is occupied by Deric Kramer of KB Titan, Greg Stanfield from Elite Motorsports and independent racer Kenny Delco. With 21 entries on the concrete grounds next to The Strip, there’s plenty of opportunities for “the others” to upset KB Titan’s apple cart. Included among those not in the championship hunt are the Cuadra Boys: Cristian, Fernando Jr. and David Cuadra, Chris and Mason McGaha, Matthew Latino, Joey Grose and Chris Vang. The gap from first through tenth place (occupied by Elite Motorsports’ Troy Coughlin Jr.) is a canyonesque 403 points.
One of the “spoilers” aiming for a great outing this weekend is Dave Connolly, taking over the KB Titan seat formerly used by Cody Coughlin, who resigned from the team before this event. It will be interesting to see if this exceptional racer needs an oil can to get any rust removed; we’re thinking he’ll just get in the seat and go down the track without any issues as he’s been crew chief on KB Titan’s squad and always seems to be able to jump in and go.
If the 17 entries in Pro Stock Motorcycle all show up in Sin City for Halloween, one rider will definitely be on the outside looking in. The two-wheeled class is pretty much a crap shoot, because it’s so volatile. We have two major teams here, as well: Vance and Hines Motorsports (V&H) and Matt Smith Racing (MSR). The Suzuki Hayabusa-based V&H squad counts two-time and reigning titleholder Gaige Herrera, points leader and three-time race winner Richard Gadson and affiliate Brayden Davis on their RevZilla-sponsored machines, while MSR boasts a four-Buell squad of six-time champ Matt Smith, wife Angie Smith, two-time 2025 winner (and amazing pizza chef) John Hall, along with Jianna Evaristo.
The balance of the entries don’t have quite the same panache as these two squads, but they’re not to be dismissed because, as we all know in drag racing, it’s not how you start a race; rather, it’s how you finish. The hunger among the rest of this entry list is, indeed, strong. Chase Van Sant wants to take his Suzuki to a second Winner’s Circle for WAR Racing, and teammate Chris Bostick wants his first, now that he’s firmly back on the trail from his own injuries in Seattle. Veteran Steve Johnson hungers for his next victory riding his Suzuki, as does Ryan Oehler, whose Buell is either in the groove or totally out of it.
Joining this group are Fed Camarena on a Suzuki, Marc Ingwersen, ever improving with his adoption of the Series 2 Buell S&S case, Kelly Clontz on a V&H-prepped Suzuki, Local las Vegas rider Kahea Woods Jr. on an older Suzuki, Clayton Howey’s Suzuki and – saving the best for last – the return of mega-rider Karen Stoffer on a Suzuki. Stoffer has mentored Evaristo since she began racing in this class and is one of the quickest and fastest riders of the last decade. Her absence has been noted throughout this season and, no doubt, the class will be either thrilled or suitably frightened to see her on-site and in her leathers.
Gadson has a 72-point advantage on teammate Herrera, followed by Matt Smith, Brayden Davis, John Hall, Angie Smith, Jianna Evaristo, Chase Van Sant, Steve JOhnson and Cheis Bostick. There’s a 359-point canyon between first place and tenth.
But that’s not all! Las Vegas marks the close of the 2025 Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series with five racers vying for this year’s championship. The class’ 10-race season closes on The Strip, with almost 180 points up for grabs. Beyond the top five, there’s actually 11 drivers who could change this series’ title swing. Billy Banaka has the points lead, but it’s all of 11 points over Michael Stavrinos with Derek Menholt (the St. Louis winner), in third and 16 points back. J.R. Gray, who dominated the six-race regular season is fourth and just 24 points back. Sidnei Frigo has a 51-point deficit.
“Las Vegas is where it all comes together,” Banaka decreed. “We’ve worked all season for this moment and the team’s got the car in a great place. Every round counts now and we’re going all-in to finish the year strong.” Other title hopefuls include Mike Castellana, Mason Wright, Ken Qurtuccio Jr., Alex Laughlin and multi-time champion Rickie Smith. Past champ Mike Janis holds 11th place and has a long shot chance for another title. This class is both deep and unpredictable. There are 20 entries for this season finale.
There are few places as fun to visit as The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Halloween weekend. Everything starts for the Mission Foods and Congruity racers on Friday, but before action begins on the dragstrip, there will be morning trick-or-treat festivities in team pit areas and the midway. Congruity Pro Mod starts at 11:15am on Friday, followed by Legends Nitro Series, Pro Stock and Nitro qualifying (1:30pm). The second, money round begins with the two Pro Stock classes at 3pm, followed by nitro qualifying. Saturday’s festivities begin with nitro qualifying at noon and again at 2:30pm – positions in the qualifying line are reversed from Friday, an interesting move for NHRA this year. Final, Sunday eliminations start at 11am on Sunday morning, once everyone’s reset their body clocks to standard time.
We can expect typical Las Vegas weather for this weekend’s activities, with highs in the mid-80s during daytime hours and lows in the mid-50s. Not a speck of rainfall is on the forecast. One thing we can be fairly certain about: there will be some awesome air shows throughout the weekend from the troops at Nellis AFB next door.