NHRA’s 2025 Champions will be Crowned in Pomona
With no titles given out – yet – the fields are set and the players are ready for action. NHRA is completing its six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. A single title is within reach, even as the sanctioning group is giving out points-and-a-half for all activities in four qualifying and four elimination races for all four classes.
Due to inclement weather, NHRA cancelled Friday’s qualifying sessions for Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition: Saturday’s initial session takes place at 10AM PT, starting with Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The second session is slated to take the same order, starting at 12:30PM. Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car take to the dragstrip at 9:15am and at noon. Stay tuned.
In addition to celebrating racers, NHRA plans to honor US military veterans by offering all veterans and active military members a free combo meal from In-N-Out on Friday, along with collecting their tickets at a special red-carpet box office window, dedicated to veterans and their families on Friday. There’s a special ticket discount through GOVX.
Prior to the first nitro qualifying on Friday at 1:30PM, a special parade and Veteran’s Day ceremony takes place to honor those that have served – and are still serving – in the country’s military.
No matter whether attendees are veterans or not, no doubt they’ll be on-site to see if a six-time runner-up in the 12,000-horsepower Top Fuel class can earn his second title in three campaigns. Doug Kalitta tried through 26 seasons to earn his first title, which he did at this track in 2023, defeating Leah Pruett in the final race of the season to finally earn a champion’s ring. He’s worn it with pride ever since but is hoping to add another championship to his laurels this weekend.
NHRA considers Kalitta’s chances “all but certain” as Kalitta simply needs to make a qualifying pass, something he’s waiting on bated breath to do Friday afternoon. After securing placement in final rounds at each of the first four playoff races, winning twice and moving away from pursuing racers, Kalitta should roll into Championship Sunday at Pomona with a world title already claimed; it won’t be official until qualifying is completed. Tuned by the estimatal Alan Johnson, Kalitta’s good fortunes reflect yeoman work by the crew this overall team for Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, his teammate in Top Fuel and 2018 Funny Car champion J.R. Todd has put together.
Some credit should go to Kalitta Motorsports’ general manager Chad Head, a veteran of more than straight-line racing; he did a stint in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in the first decade of this century. But the son of legendary team owner and tuner Jim Head, who grew up at dragstrips around the country, has been in the NHRA pits full-time since 2009. “My job is to keep everything moving forward,” Chad Head told NHRA earlier this year. That he has both of his dragster drivers deep in the Countdown and one of them headed to the champion’s table later this month is due to Head’s ability to keep everyone centered. On winning.
Sitting on 59 career victories, Doug Kalitta realizes, “We just have to qualify this weekend so we a definitely manage that. It’s a huge relief and it means a lot to Connie (team owner Connie Kalitta). I always hoped I’d be able to tie my cousin Scott with the number of championships he has, and there’s plenty of people who have won this twice. To be one of the guys that’s won it twice, with Alan as the crew chief, is really special for sure.”
There are 11 dragsters on the entry list, and all of them come to the water box with something to prove. After ousting Kalitta in the finals last year and earning his fourth championship in Top Fuel, Antron Brown is not having the year he’s hoped for sitting in ninth place. The top 10 are all in play – with the exception of Steve Torrence, who ended his season at home in Texas last month – so it’s an enviable, if small group.
Things in this class should be better in 2026, but for now, after Kalitta, his teammate Shawn Langdon is in second place, Justin Ashley 19 points behind Langdon, while Brittany Force makes her final full-time start in class, with momentum on her side after that Las Vegas victory; she’s 29 points behind Ashley. They’re followed by Tony Stewart in fifth, Clay Millican, Torrence, first-time winner Shawn Reed, Brown and Josh Hart, making his final start as a team owner before taking over the dragster Brittany Force has been using to set time and speed records across the nation. Canadian Dan Mercier and eight-time champ Tony Schumacher make up the balance of the Top Fuel field.
Last year at this time, Austin Prock was in the same catbird seat as Doug Kalitta, earning his first Funny Car title with John Force Racing with qualifying was complete, driving his Chevrolet SS. It’s a bit different in 2025 for the third-generation racer in the Prock family; he’s got to contend with Tony Stewart Racing’s mustachioed Matt Hagan, vying for a fifth class title in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Hagan’s victory in Las Vegas over the Halloween weekend tightened the standings but Prock still owns 101 points on his challenger.
With 21 Flopper entries on the grounds at Pomona, Prock knows he needs to make strong qualifying efforts, but the first Funny Car racer to hit the 340-mph speed at this track as he earned his championship last year knows he needs to keep calm and carry on. Prock has earned 22 No. 1 qualifiers over the past two seasons. And even though that really doesn’t matter much in the scheme of things, as long as Prock qualifies and goes past the first round, Hagan would have to win the race – unless he can get that points gap down by 11, under 90 points – during the four qualifying sessions scheduled on Friday and Saturday.
Prock understands the significance of earning back-to-back titles in this tough class. “It would put me in a pretty elite group of NHRA drivers to win back-to-back championships,” he said. “I’m really proud of the team and the fact that we are even in the talk of becoming two-time world champs is pretty incredible. I thought a lot last week in Las Vegas that this pressure you feel when you’re racing for these championships, it’s a privilege.”
Hagan recognizes the challenge he’s facing, despite winning twice during the six-race Countdown playoffs. The Virginia rancher has seven victories in Pomona, second only to John Force’s 17 in Funny Car. “Having an opportunity to win the world championship in Pomona is huge,” Hagan said. “We’ve been second in points for a lot of the Countdown and that’s been really impressive; it’s great that we’ve been able to win three races this year,” with new crew chief Mike Knudsen.
Behind this duo and looking to boost their own fortunes are Prock’s JFR teammate Jack Beckman, who won this race last year, three-time champ Ron Capps in his Toyota GR Supra, Ford Mustang racer Daniel Wilkerson, Paul Lee and his Dodge Charger, Chad Green with his Mustang, Cruz Pedregon with his Charger, rookie Spencer Hyde in his Mustang and Bob Tasca III’s Mustang. Joining them this weekend are J.R. Todd’s Supra (11th place currently), Terry Haddock’s and Dave Richards’ Mustangs, Buddy Hull’s Dodge, Steven Densham’s Mustang, a Chevy for Jim Campbell, Jeff Diehl’s Camry, Del Worsham in his Supra, Jason Rupert’s Mustang and Alexis DeJoria (12th in points) with her Dodge.
Eighteen Pro Stock cars have signed up to race in Pomona and the two drivers at the top of the door slammer standings are the same as last year. NHRA elected to make Pro Stock’s season finale the last race run in 2024 and the wait was worth it, with a winner-take-all between [now] six-time champion Greg Anderson and his teammate Dallas Glenn, the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year.
The same duo are battling it out again in 2025 and, while Anderson’s race win sealed his title last year, he’s got a bigger deficit to overcome in Pomona this season. There is no other driver close to Glenn and Anderson, with the latter 92 points behind his teammate, and with third-place Matt Hartford a full 249 points behind Glenn. These three drivers, if anyone needs reminding all race with KB Titan Racing, while fourth-place driver Aaron Stanfield is the top Elite Motorsports racer in the field. He’s followed by KB’s Cory Reed, Elite’s Erica Enders, KB’s Eric Latino, Jeg Coughlin Jr. of Elite, the absent Cody Coughlin from KB Titan – Dave Connolly is racing in his stead again this weekend – and Elite’s Troy Coughlin Jr. in tenth, 490 points behind Glenn.
After losing to Anderson by the slimmest .002-second margin last year, Glenn has eight wins on the season and four in this Countdown. “I definitely feel way more relaxed and way less nervous,” Glenn said of this second straight battle with his teammate. “I was a wreck last year, even though I felt like I was still driving well. Now, having another year of experience has definitely helped. I know I need to go up there and do my thing, and just take it one round at a time.”
The balance of the field at this weekend’s race include KB Titan’s Deric Kramer, Kenny Delco, KB’s Matthew Latino, Elite’s Greg Stanfield, Joey Grose, Elite’s Cristian, David and Fernando Cuadra Jr. This group is capable of taking down anyone in the top 10’s points tally, and several of them are race winners. Still it remains to be seen if anyone can stop Dallas Glenn from earning his first NHRA Pro Stock championship on Sunday.
There’s an intra-squad battle in Pro Stock Motorcycle, as well, with the two Vance and Hines Motorsports’ (V&H) Suzuki Hayabusa3 riders fighting for a championship. While Gaige Herrera, the reigning two-time champion won the “regular” season title, his teammate Richard Gadson picked up three wins this year and currently holds a slim 21-point advantage on Herrera. That’s nothing when points-and-a-half are on order for the weekend. The points are close enough to breathe on, and were set when the duo met in the semifinals at Las Vegas, the penultimate race on the calendar. Herrera had a perfect, .000-sec reaction time, while Gadson left at .005-sec That was the decider in this race, which had a margin of victory of .0272-sec!
Even with six-time titleholder Matt Smith lurking in third place with his Matt Smith Racing (MSR) Buell, he’s got to make up 129 points, but could be a spoiler. Matt Smith won this race last year, despite not earning the seventh championship he had hoped to achieve. While Smith will likely settle for third place, that result is not yet set in stone. Gadson and Herrera will battle for the big prize, but behind Smith are his wife Angie (-163), rookie Brayden Davis keeping everyone in this class honest, riding a V&H Suzuki and coming oh-so-close to his first class win. Davis has qualified for every race he’s entered, earned No. 1 twice this year, and has a trio of runner-up finishes at Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Dallas.
John Hall, a two-time winner this season, is in 6th place with his Matt Smith Racing Buell, followed by teammate Jianna Evaristo, WAR Racing’s Chase Van Sant on his Suzuki, veteran Steve Johnson’s and Chris Bostick’s Suzukis. There’s a full, 16-motorcycle field in Pomona, embracing riders like local Fred Camarena’s Suzuki, Marc Inghewrsen’s Buell, Brad Hawkes on a Suzuki, Kelly Clontz’s V&H Suzuki, Ryan Oehler’s Buell, and Clayton Howey on a Suzuki. There are 10 Suzuki motorcycles and six Buells vying for the Wally this weekend.
One winner no one on the grounds is hoping for is rain. Weather reports initially stated there was a possibility of wet weather for Thursday and Friday, but amended that to extend well into next week. As a result, NHRA is allowing withdrawals from the event this week, which is an unusual situation, particularly for a championship race weekend.
At this time NHRA is considering schedule changes to adapt to the climate situations. All Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series qualifying and eliminations are now scheduled for Thursday. Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car will have a single qualifying session and start their eliminations as the final runs on Thursday afternoon. Friday calls for qualifying at 12:30PM PT and 3PM, while Saturday’s schedule sees qualifying at 11:30 and 2PM. Final eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11am Sunday. If the weather holds, and even if it doesn’t FS1 intends to provide broadcasting for this race, including eliminations coverage that begins at 5PM ET on Sunday, November 16.