Stewart, Beckman, Herrera Win in Very Windy City
The 25th Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK presented obstacles to racing that pretty much define the location of Route 66 Raceway. Held in Joliet, IL near Chicago, wind dominated the proceeding’s outcome over three days.
The damaging winds actually began on Thursday when Lucas Oil Sportsman were on-track and Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle squads were setting up their work stations. Many teams declined to put up their awnings in the fear they might be damaged. A bit of rain Thursday night added to teams’ work the following morning.
Friday was one of the more difficult days of competition in NHRA’s Chicago history, as the Windy City let loose with more-than-blustery conditions, with gusts of 40-plus miles per hour changing direction throughout the day. At the close of the second qualifying session Friday evening, dust storm warnings chimed in on everyone’s cell phones, even as Pro Stock Motorcycle declined to run, citing the possibility of injury once the Suzuki and Buell riders cleared the massive grandstands en route to their quarter-mile finish lines.
There had been discussions throughout Friday about whether the motorcycles would run. They completed their first qualifying session but by the time for Q2, blowing winds were so severe that they opted not to take to the track. Both Funny Car and Top Fuel did both sessions of their second qualifying, but the two-wheel set’s decision not to race was right and proper.
By the time Sunday beckoned with clear, moderate skies and only breezy conditions, many teams had already folded their hauler’s awnings in defense and tied down much of their equipment.
What they couldn’t tie down was the march to victory by Tony Stewart, who battled Justin Ashley to his second Top Fuel win in a span of three races, Jack Beckman’s starting line mastery over John Force Racing teammate and reigning titleholder Austin Prock in Funny Car and Gaige Herrera’s ownership of the Chicago area racetrack, where he’s won every time he’s competed on this dragstrip. All three Mission Foods Drag Racing Series victors came from the left lane on Sunday.
Stewart, who needed more than a year to secure his initial NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel victory, scored at the Nevada Four-Wide NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, qualified second for this race with his career best 3.679-second lap time and romped past Terry Totten, Shawn Reed, and four-time champ Steve Torrence to meet Ashley in the final round. Stewart’s 3.777-second lap at 329.10 mph beat Ashley’s 3.818/324.12. With his win Stewart moved into the points lead for the first time, with a three-point margin over Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon.
Langdon had to be satisfied with his Saturday Top Fuel victory in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, as Stewart’s teammate Matt Hagan secured the Challenge win for Tony Stewart Racing in Funny Car with his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat while Herrera steamrolled to yet another win on his Vance & Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa3 to double up for the weekend against his perennial rival Matt Smth.
Stewart knew he had to step up against Ashley, who is renown for his ability to set top reaction times in his SCAG Racing dragster. “You know,” Stewart said, “when you race Justin, you have to bring your ‘A’ game and rise to the occasion. His reaction times are the best out here, and he does that both in qualifying and eliminations. That makes today’s win that much more special. They have a great team and program,” Stewart said of the No. 5 qualifier. “When you can beat them, it is a feather in your cap because you’re beating one of the best teams in the business.”
Stewart has assumed the points lead, followed by Ashley, Torrence, Kalitta, Shawn Reed, Langdon, Antron Brown, Josh Hart (who earned another round win in Joliet), Clay Millican and Canadian Dan Mercier rounding out the top 10.
Beckman earned the No. 1 slot in qualifying on Saturday afternoon in his Chevrolet SS, then marched past Dave Richards’ Ford Mustang, Chad Green’s similar car and Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to meet his teammate Prock in the final round. He used a better reaction time to get a hole shot win against Prock, putting up an RT of .049 against Prock’s .063 to gain the win despite his slower ET of 3.935/325.77 to his teammate’s 3.933/329.02. Yes, it was that close at the finish line, with a margin of victory of .012 second!
Winning for the fourth time since taking over John Force’s seat, as the 16-time champion recovers from injuries sustained last June at Richmond, last August Beckman, who had not raced competitively since 2020 (winning his final race with Don Schumacher Racing after earning a 2012 title with the team) was circumspect about his victory. After being unable to post a fourth qualifying time when an electronics issue foiled his final attempt, “Every win is great, but winning here in Chicago, a track that was off the tour for a while, is as good as it gets,” he said after racing in Joliet for the first time since 2019.
For the 55th time, John Force Racing teammates met in the final round but it’s just the second time at Chicago, where Force beat Robert Hight, Prock’s predecessor to win the Funny Car trophy in 2006. Force won that match-up with a hole shot. Prock reflected, “All we wanted to do was race each other today. We’re in the backyard of PEAK (and its parent company, Old World Industries).” Prock, who won four times in a JFR Top Fuel car before getting the opportunity to race with his father, Jimmy, turning the knobs, dispatched Boby Bode’s Ford Mustang, Dodge Charger racers Paul Lee and Hagan, who won here last year against Force, to reach the final round.
Beckman and Prock lead the point standings, followed by Hagan, Pedregon and Paul Lee’s Dodge Chargers Ron Capps Toyota GR Supra, Chad Green, Bob Tasca III and Spencer Hyde’s Mustangs and Alexis DeJoria’s Dodge Charger.
Pro Stock Motorcycle continues to be a battle between Vance & Hines Motorsports and Matt Smith Racing. Reigning two-time titleholder Gaige Herrera continued to be six-time champ Smith’s foil here in Chicago, where he’s won three times in a row. Winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, earning the No. 1 slot for eliminations the same day and knocking off John Hall’s Matt Smith Racing Buell and Chris Bostick’s WAR Racing Suzuki after a first-round bye, Herrera swept the weekend when he raced Smith in the final.
“The final was fun,” he admitted. “Matt whacked the throttle and then I whacked the throttle and we both played with the stage lights. He brings out the best in me, but we’ve got a fast hot rod. I had a great reaction time (.005 to Smith’s .024) and we came out on top – and that’s our main goal,” Herrera said. “I expect games when I race Matt. I actually like it. It takes me back to my grudge racing days when you’d ace your friends and blow them kisses on the starting line. Matt and I haven’t gotten to that point yet!”
Smith made the final round for the third consecutive time in 2025, beating Wesley Wells’ Suzuki, teammate Jianna Evaristo and Suzuki stalwart Steve Johnson. Even so, he’s leaving the Chicago area second in points, as he has a single victory this year to Herrera’s two wins in a three-race season to date. Behind this duo are Herrera’s teammate Richard Gadson, Chase Van Sant and Steve Johnson on their Suzukis, Friday top qualifier Angie Smith’s Buell, a tie between Suzuki rider Kelly Clontz and Evaristo, John Hall’s Buell and Bostick’s Suzuki.
NHRA takes the Memorial Day weekend off but resumes competition at Epping, NH with the May 30-June 1 New England Nationals and New England Dragway.