Anyone that loves straight-line racing will be on-site or glued to their devices this week, as the 72nd Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals takes place on the grounds of Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP), located in Clermont, IN. There’s action on the dragstrip from Thursday through Labor Day Monday and sufficient action off the strip to keep everyone enthralled.
While annual pilgrimages to IRP are normal for nearly everyone involved in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series, it’s also a venue where former stars and supporters of drag racing feel the need to congregate. With this year being the NGRA’s 75th anniversary season, having first run races under the august supervision of Wally Parks in 1951, just about every star of the sport will be in attendance this year. And if they can’t make it, they’ll send good wishes for everyone on-site.
Expect to see plenty of stars of the sport, including Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Joe Amato, Shirley Muldowney, Larry Dixon, John Force, Linda Vaughn, Richard Tharp, Darrell Gwynn, Steve Torrence and Al Segrini. NHRA guarantees many more star racers on the huge grounds for this gathering; many of those just named normally plan to attend the U.S. Nationals because it is The Big Go.
Every single Mission Foods class is oversubscribed for this race and that’s the way all 20 of them should be. Costs, obviously inhibit travel for some competitors, but to a person, this is the one race nearly everyone wants to take part in and, of course, wants to win. This year, in particular, with NHRA building diamond-colored Wally winner’s trophies, the U.S. Nationals prize is a treasure any racer wants to possess. And with points-and-a-half on offer for this race, the standings could ricochet.
There will be 22 dragsters negotiating, over five qualifying segments, to secure one of 16 Top Fuel slots in the pair of ladders that will determine this year’s winner. And with this being the close of NHRA’s regular season, that title is up fore grabs in each class, as is the race-winner and series titleholder for the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. With so much up for grabs, can any one driver win these two titles?
Right now, Doug Kalitta, the two-time and reigning Top Fuel champ is in front of his Kalitta Motorsports teammate, Shawn Langdon, by 67 points, with only Leah Pruett of Tony Stewart Racing and AB Motorsports’ Antron Brown securely in the Countdown to the Championship six-race playoffs that begin after the U.S. Nats. Behind this quartet are rookie Maddi Gordon from Ron Capps Motorsports, Tony Stewart at Elite Motorsports, John Force Racing’s Josh Hart, Billy Torrence, last year’s U.S. Nationals winner Justin Ashley and Clay Millican complete the top 10. Millican is 692 points behind Kalitta and 11th-placed Tony Schumacher, his Rick Ware Racing teammate is 89 points behind Millican!
The list of racers competing for a Top Fuel Wally this week includes teammates Shawn Reed and Ida Zetterstrom, the latter carrying the colors of Bandero Tequila, normally worn by her friend Alexis DeJoria in Funny Car. They’re joined by former Gatornationals winner Tripp Tatum III, Canadian Dan Mercier, Ashley’s teammate Will Smith, Lex Joon, the always competitive ChicagoanT.J. Zizzo, Jasmine Salinas, Krista Baldwin, Jacob Opatmy and Jake Sanders, the latter making his dragster debut in “The Menace,” a car purchased from Dom and Bobby Lagana. Sanders has been driving a Nitro Chaos front-engine dragster, also named “The Menace.”
There are quite a few drivers on this Top Fuel list that could earn a Wally this week; some have achieved that distinction in the past, others haven’t. In the “outsider” listing, remember that Zetterstrom has championships in the EU, Tatum is a race winner, Zizzo always qualifies well in Indy and maybe this year he’ll finally grab his Wally? Salinas came close in Sonoma, Reed got his first win last year and, well, the track will decide who wins this race, won’t it?
If the idea of having 22 Top Fuel cars is an enticement to attend this year’s Big Go, how about 23 Funny Car entries? Probably the one car and driver every fan will be watching is Jack Beckman, in the John Force Racing Chevrolet SS that carries a throwback scheme from the 16-time champion’s 1996 campaign, when Force won his second of a record five Ul.S. National races. The 30th anniversary color scheme consists of a two-toned body, with black upper half accented by PEAK’s logo and flames, and white lower half with Force’s signature on the car.
Beckman, an historian of the sport, had forgotten that paint scheme was only used once before, for the 1996 World Finals in Pomona. “The 1996 season,” he recalled, “was really when Force and Coil (Austin Coil, crew chief) were just steamrolling. The car that had this particular paint scheme is 1-0. It has a perfect record and, ironically, John beats his JFR teammate, Tony Pedregon, in the final round. So,” he mused, “I’d like to beat one of my JFR teammates in the final round at Indy and keep that streak alive.” This year marks PEAK’S 10th anniversary in the sport.
Beyond Beckman, currently fifth in the points chase for regular season honors and solid in the Countdown, it’s important to look at the drivers ahead of him, as only 22 points separate them. It’ll be more difficult for Beckman to earn regular season nods; he’s 74 points behind leader Matt Hagan, driving Tony Stewart Racing’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Teammate Jordan Vandergriff, who has made a winning start to his JFR career, is just seven points back, followed by three-time champ Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra – matching teammate Maddi Gordon in green Carlyle Tools colors – and Kalitta Motorsports’ J.R. Todd in his Supra.
Lagging that quintet are two-time reigning champion Austin Prock, driving Tasca Racing’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse (-167), Chad Green’s Mustang, Alexis DeJoria in the third JFR Chevy – using a throwback John Force Night Stalker tribute wrap, Daniel Wilkerson’s and Spencer Hyde’s Mustangs. The latter driver is 328 points behind Hagan but only five back of D Wilk. Several regular drivers haven’t secured points for the top 10 but still have opportunities to win or displace others ahead of them. Drivers like Paul Lee (Charger), Cruz Pedregon (Charger) – whose Thursday night open house is a don’t miss affair – Dave Richards’ Mustang, Terry Haddock’s Mustang, Jeff Arend in Jim Dunn’s Charger, John Smith’s Dodge, Blake Alexander in a Chad Green Charger, Chicago fireman Chris King’s Dodge, Jeff Diehl’s Camry, Justin Schriefer’s Charger, Bobby Bode III’s Mustang, Hunter Green in a Charger, Dylan Winefsky’s Charger and, finally, Julie Nataas driving Del Worsham’s GR Supra.
That’s a big and competitive field for Funny Car, bigger than any we’ve seen in years and certainly an accomplished grouping. Still, the folks manning the top 10 are probably the best ones to PlayNHRA with, as they hold so many cards and have so much experience to back their play. But still, this is drag racing and anything is possible, especially at this track. With five opportunities, starting with Friday night’s early evening session, we will be able to see who’s got their cars tuned for success.
A total of 21 Pro Stock cars have signed up to race in Indy this week; all but one of them a Chevrolet Camaro, as Alan Prusiensky is entered in his Dodge Dart. There will serves and volleys as drivers try to get into the Countdown to the Championship playoffs – only Greg Anderson, Dallas Glenn and Greg Stanfield have qualified by the close of Brainerd’s race, won by Minnesota native Anderson. The six-time titleholder with KB Titan Racing has 85 points on his teammate and reigning champ Dallas Glenn and 198 on Stanfield, the top Elite Motorsports driver who has campaigned a Jerry Haas racecar all season. HIs teammates have joined him and are showing the versatility of Haas’ product.
Still, KB Titan’s Matt Hartford is in fourth place, Aaron Stanfield and Erica Enders from Elite follow him, with Matt Latino seventh for KB Titan, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Troy Coughlin Jr. holding eighth and ninth for Elite and rookie Cody Anderson in tenth, 574 points behind his dad, the points leader. There are no slouches behind this group and many of them are on the grounds and wanting to make up some ground in the title fight. Start with Eric Latino, in 11th place, racing well with KB Titan power, Aussie Shane Tucker, Deric Kramer, Kenny Delco, Stephen Bell, Mason McGaha and his dad Chris McGaha, the very quick Chris Vang, Jerry Tucker and local David Vaseloff.
At this event last year, Enders secured her 50th career Pro Stock victory and fourth at Indy. Now that she’s racing a Haas-engineered-and-built Camaro, her confidence level has obviously risen, along with that of her teammates. An outing in an Elite Top Fuel car last week (along with Aaron Stanfield) juiced the driver’s competitive nature. Aaron Stanfield certainly understands the significance of an Indy win: “Winning the U.S. Nationals puts you in the history books,” he stated. “Besides winning the championship, a victory at The Big Go is probably the next biggest thing you could do in NHRA. I’ve been fortunate enough to win in multiple categories; doubling up in Pro Stock and Factory Stock Showdown in 2024 was probably one of the coolest moments.”
The two-wheel set has been absent from Mission Foods Drag Racing Series action since the end of June – that’s a century in racing terms, isn’t it? Pro Stock Motorcycle hasn’t raced since Norwalk, with the sole exception being the eight outstanding PSM riders invited for the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout in Sonoma. That event went to two-time champ Gaige Herrera, who beat his teammate, reigning titleholder Richard Gadson in the finals. That seems to be the way this class is going, with the Vance & Hines duo leading all comers on their Suzuki Hayabusa3 motorcycles.
Gadson is the points leader coming into this race in Indy, leading Herrera by 83 points. Only that duo and the Smiths – Angie and Matt with their Matt Smith Racing (MSR) Buells – have qualified for the Countdown, and while Angie is -111 to Gadson and Matt needs to make up 136 points, the balance of the top 10 has some gaping holes to fill. Matt Smith Racing’s third Buell rider, John Hall is fifth, 271 points behind Gadson; he’s followed by WAR RAcing’s Chase an Sant on a Suzuki, Ryan Oehler’s Buell, MSR’s Jianna Evaristo on her Buell, Brayden Davis – who is not on the entry list – in ninth on an Oehler Buell and Suzuki rider Clayton Howey in tenth place, 367 behind Gadson.
Pro Stock Motorcycle fields have been light this year, but this weekend the field is full, with three motorcycles beyond the 16-entry max for Sunday eliminations. There are 19 motorcycles on the grounds, with some interesting affiliations this week. The PSM class welcomes back the Arana family, as both Hector and Hector Arana Jr. are set to go rounds, along with Suzuki’s Steve Johnson, celebrating 40 years in the class. Johnson is a two-time U.S. Nationals winner and is hungry to add to his 12 career Wally trophies.
Chris Bostick returns to action with WAR on a Suzuki, Geno Scali is back on his Suzuki, as are Wesley Wells and Kelly Clontz, the latter using V&H equipment. As mentioned earlier, Brayden Davis is not racing, but Clayton Howey is, which means that rider will likely move up in the standings. On the Buell side, beyond the top 10 riders, watch for Marc Ingwersen, who has finally decided to race with the Gen 2 Buell head, Malcolm Phillips Jr., on the second Oehler Buell and Michigan’s Mark Paquette riding a Buell.
Not being able to challenge his teammate for the title last November in Pomona was really tough on Herrera and his competitive nature. After all, until Richard Gadson took over the seat formerly occupied by three-time champ Eddie Krawiec, Herrera was omnipotent in Suzuki’s Pro Stock Motorcycle brigade, for the most part. Last year, Herrera rolled to his second consecutive victory at The Big Go by defeating Brayden Davis who, at that time was also racing a Vance & Hines Suzuki.
An enticing and delicious event at The Big Go, the Princess Pink Lemonade Stand returns on Sunday morning from 9-10am at the Torrence Racing/CAPCO Contractors compound in the NHRA Top Fuel pits. The distinctive pink lemonade stand was built by Torrence Racing crew chief, Bobby Lagana Jr. and friends; all proceeds benefit Riley Children’s Hospital, so make sure to have some cooling pink lemonade and give a proper donation for this hospital. If unable to attend, fans may donate in support of a princess – even a non-racing princess – to benefit Riley Children’s Hospital through https://give.rileykids.org/PrincessPink.
There are some weather issues on the horizon that could amend the five qualifying sessions a bit or even a bunch. At this writing, inclement weather is expected in the area Friday and Saturday, with hot temps and customary humidity accompanying. There’s even a chance of a thunderstorm hurtling through on Saturday afternoon and evening. Sunday and Labor Day should be cooler and dry, making for optimal racing conditions.
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