Atmospheric River: “A narrow river of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere that can cause extreme precipitation and flooding,” Wikipedia says. That’s exactly what happened to the 60th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip east of Los Angeles.
The forecast didn’t look good at the start of last week and it progressed to dire as racers began to arrive at the massive Fairplex location. Lucas Oil Sportsman competition ran on Thursday, which turned out to be the only day of last week that had clear skies. From Thursday night through Sunday night. It rained, whether hard or in mists, precipitation ruled the weekend.
Unusual for the Los Angeles area, atmospheric rivers have happened in the past. Just not on this weekend when NHRA was attempting to use competition for the quarter-mile and 1,000-foot distances to determine year-long champions for its Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. NHRA’s Safety Safari spent hours upon hours attempting to scrape the track and to properly prepare it for runs. Every time they got close to having the track ready for competition, it would start to rain again. The damage to the track wasn’t fixable in a single day; moving to another circuit wouldn’t work either.
From Friday morning to the time Sunday morning rolled around, temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s, combined with deep-seated moisture had made racing an impossibility. And forcing teams, suppliers and fans to stick around for expected Monday – and possibly Tuesday – rainy days would be cruel. Cruel to the teams, to their vendors, to those fans that had come to see competition and had to get to work on Monday morning.
Why not hold it during the week or next weekend, this writer was asked? There would have been more minuses than pluses to making those changes. The cost of keeping teams on-site for another 2-4 days is astronomical. The cost to NHRA’s Safety Safari in terms of human participation and machinery expenses would have been high as well. While everyone on the grounds wanted and needed to see the natural progression of this Countdown to the Championship, the racer’s group PRO, along with NHRA, realized that the only viable outcome was to call it at 12:30pm (earlier than either Friday or Saturday racing cancellations) and award titles based on the standings following the Dodge Nevada NHRA Nationals held two weekends prior.
It wasn’t the best solution from a competitive standpoint, but it was the right one. Rain continued through the night and, while the skies looked cloudy and dry earlier in the day on Monday, added rain was predicted for the Pomona area through the afternoon and into Tuesday.
It was a lose-lose situation, so NHRA elected to close out its season with Las Vegas results, giving – on Saturday when qualifying was declared cancelled around 2PM, similar to Friday’s postponement of on-track action – Doug Kalitta his second Top Fuel championship in three campaigns. The award-giving and celebration took place under the big tent of the Top Eliminator Club behind the main grandstands. Kalitta accepted the giant trophy, his medal, white champion’s hat and his title – he gets his check at the Monday night banquet, held at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, about an hour from Pomona.
Kalitta admitted, “I’ve never had a relaxing Pomona at the end of the year… it’s always seemed to come down to the last race, the last day, but we had a nice string of runs throughout the Countdown and even at Sonoma and Brainerd before the Countdown,” he said. Coming into the six-race playoffs as the No. 4 seed, Kalitta quickly took charge: he went to the final round at the initial four of the six playoff races, winning two of those contests. After a semifinal result in Las Vegas two weeks before this aborted season finale, Kalitta’s 144-point lead. He needed only to qualify for the finals to earn his second title.
“My cousin [Scott Kalitta] did it back-to-back in 1994 and ’95, so I managed to tie him,” Doug Kalita said. “We didn’t do it in the style like he did, going back-to-back – that’s a tough act to follow – but we managed to tie his accomplishment. It’s just a dream come true. Connie (team owner Connie Kalitta) is out here with us, and we’ll be celebrating for sure. It’s a hell of an opportunity to drive for Connie and then, having Alan [Johnson, crew chief who’s won 11 Top Fuel titles and two in Top Alcohol Dragster with brother Blaine) and my guys and [general manager] Chad Head, they’re really focused. It’s so competitive out here: we’re all friends, but we all want to beat everyone else. I’m just very, very appreciative of the opportunity.”
On Sunday just after noon, when all competition was cancelled, Austin Prock’s John Force Racing Chevrolet SS team earned their second consecutive championship. KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn finally secured his first Pro Stock title, an outcome his closest pursuer, teammate and six-time titleholder Greg Anderson rued but accepted. Finally, 2024 Pro Stock Motorcycle rookie and 2025 points leader after Las Vegas, Vance and Hines Motorsports’ Richard Gadson won his intra-team battle with two-time champ Gaige Herrera to ensure his first NHRA class championship.
NHRA did everything it could to get some racing activities on the track, so it was the Safety Safari that won the weekend with their undaunted work in attempting to make the track capable of holding rubber and the insane horsepower generated in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. The safety aspect was the biggest and most viable rationale for canceling competition: “While we explored every possible option to complete the event this weekend,” Glen Cromwell, NHRA president explained, “the safety of our competitors, teams and fans remains the highest priority, which led to this difficult decision to cancel the event.”
Cromwell thanked “the incredible NHRA community – and especially the fans for bracing the elements – for their unwavering support throughout this challenging weekend and during an unforgettable 2025 season.”
Sunday’s celebrations began outside the Top Eliminator Club (TEC) shortly before 1PM, but before the remaining three Mission Foods Drag Racing Series champions could accept their prizes, something very special occurred: one of the two cars next to the open-air TEC entry area, where NHRA celebrated Austin Prock’s second title with his full team and with the car on-site, either Cruz Pedregon (two-time Funny Car champion) or Josh Hart (two-time race winner who’s taking over the Top Fuel seat at John Force Racing) decided to burn some nitro and started their 12,000-horsepower engine. It was such a relief to see people gravitate that direction and cry nitro tears! Music for the ears.
“To win one world championship is one thing,” Prock stated, “and to win two is another and it puts you in a select group. I think there’s only seven of us who have ever done it, and to add my name to that list, I wish my entire team could be added to that list. I get all the praise and the glory from the media and the fans, but it’s not just me. I couldn’t accomplish what I’ve done in the last two years without the people behind me, and I’m really proud of them!”
Prock earned nine race wins this year, including two in the playoffs; he had a 101-point advantage coming to Pomona, over Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan, the Virginian looking for a fifth title with new crew chief Mike Knudsen. “Last year,” Prock admitted, “a lot of people told me it’s not going to come as easily next year after the season that you had. We came in there and ended up getting the championship [a second straight time]. I think that says a lot about this race team and says a lot about me as a driver. I’m looking forward to 2026 already.” Two-time consecutive champions in Funny Car include his boss, John Force, Ron Capps, Kenny Bernstein, Frank Hawley, Raymond Beadle and Don Prudhomme.
Last year’s Pro Stock battle came down to the final run of the season, with then-five-time champion Greg Anderson battling his teammate Dallas Glenn. Anderson won the race, became the six-time titleholder and continues to blaze new win trails in the door slammer class.He owns 112 class victories. This season he wasn’t able to repeat as Glenn’s masterful season gave the 2021 Rookie of the Year eight victories in the class’ 17 races, going to 13 final rounds with a win-loss record of 50-9, including at Las Vegas two weeks prior to the intended Pomona finale. Glenn couldn’t wipe the smile from his face as he relished the pomp and circumstance of being a champion, albeit having to do so inside the TEC tent as rain returned during Prock’s celebration.
“It’s definitely really special, especially getting so close last year,” Glenn stated. “It feels good and I honestly don’t think it’s really hit me yet. Maybe it will hit me on the long, four-day drive home later in the week? But no, it feels really good right now. You know, there’s a lot of – just a lot of stuff – a lot of emotions and you’re just trying to process everything. It definitely feels good. You know,” his smile widened, “I get to race all next season with number one of my car. I get to take it from Greg, take it off of Greg’s car and put it on mine. We get to swap numbers!” Anderson will be running the No. 2 in 2026, just as Glenn did in 2025.
Nearly everyone on the grounds at Pomona was really looking forward to seeing the battle between Vance and Hines Motorsports’ (VHM) two stellar riders: two-time consecutive champion Gaige Herrera and his second-season teammate, Richard Gadson. With ladders set according to points, had there been any racing on Sunday, this duo were on opposite sides of the ladder and would likely have met in the finals as everyone hoped. Gadson was intending to race the Suzuki of Brad Hawkes and, had he won, enjoy a bye round in the quarterfinal. Herrera’s first-round match-up was against VHM Suzuki client Fred Camarena, the second-longest tenured rider after Steve Johnson, also on a Suzuki.
“Definitely not the way I envisioned it ending and it sucks tor it to be such an anticlimactic end to the 2025 season,” Gadson said on Monday morning. “But nobody can control Mother Nature and NHRA had to make the decision to put safety first, as the race track was damaged beyond fixing,” due to the atmospheric river conditions. “We fought our asses off to be in that No. 1` position; I fought in the fashion that, most of you have known me to do and expected me to do: grinding for every point, every round and racing like the rent is due,” he explained.
“What a year it’s been! I just wanted to win a Wally [winner’s trophy] but this year ended up bringing so much more: four wins, three No. 1 qualifiers and a No. 1 plate!” Coming into the Countdown second in points with two victories, Gadson broke through by winning the four-wide race in Charlotte and adding his fourth victory of the season at Dallas after qualifying first. After Herrera won in Las Vegas, Gadson came to Pomona with a slim,, 21-point advantage; points-and-a-half were on offer for this race and, for this rider, it meant a different way of racing,
“Me and Eddie [Krawiec, his crew chief and a three-time titleholder with VHM] both had to dig deep and figure out in what ways we can be better individually, and then how we mix that together and make us better on results,” Gadson explained. “I think we really, really, really have come a long way this year!”
After holding their year-end banquet at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula Monday night, the NHRA’s winners get to celebrate and losers commiserate until the 75th anniversary NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series takes flight March 5-8 with the NHRA Gatornationals, held at legendary Gainesville Raceway.
Leave a Reply