As NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series of Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes inch towards their six-race playoffs, key personnel are consumed by the challenges of making the playoffs and winning the regular season crown.
For three of those four classes, there are two opportunities to show their capabilities and aspirations, as the 43rd Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on Brainerd International Raceway’s dragstrip are scheduled to take place this weekend. All but Pro Stock Motorcycle have the chance to make changes to the order of play at a track known as much for its playfulness as its competition.
The rewards of finishing first in the regular season have increased as the sanctioning organization decided to attach a regular season, funded championship to its six-race Countdown to the Championship. With funds available – in addition to added points – for the No. 1 seed after this weekend’s race in Brainerd MN and the 71st Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals two weeks hence at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP), there’s a lot on the line for everyone.
Staying in the top 10 is nearly as important a goal as earning that No. 1 seed once these two races are complete. With a guy like Shawn Reed, currently tenth in the standings and unable to compete, finding a suitable substitute was a necessity. Reed, who raced as a teammate to his substitute, Jordan Vandergiff, made the easy decision to tab the current NHRA on FOX analyst. Despite being out of a dragster for nearly five seasons, Vandergriff has been at the tracks and chomping at the bit to get a nitro ride again.
Reed will be on-site and has been active, albeit not in a race car, since his debilitating accident at his home race near Seattle a month ago. He’s planning to return to the seat at Reading, first race in the six-contest playoffs. Vandergriff, while nervous to have the responsibility of driving his former teammates rail, has been fitted for his seat, while the team “made some small adjustments to make me feel a little more comfortable.” While this is Vandergriff’s first time racing at Brainerd, “I love the racetrack and especially the fans out there. They are true NHRA fans, and I can’t wait to make my return in front of them,” he said.
While Vandergriff is ensured to make the Top Fuel field in Brainerd – there are 14 cars entered – it’s a stout field and boasts the return of Billy Torrence, driving son Steve’s dragster for the first time this season. Steve Torrence, NHRA’s four-time consecutive champion who won earlier this season at Bristol, will miss his fourth race of the season despite sitting in eighth place. Billy Torrence is not racing as a replacement driver for his son; rather he’s racing for the sheer joy of it, having won at this track in his first, 2018 appearance. It was the first of eight dragster wins for the Texan. He’ll also be competing in Super Comp at Brainerd.
With these two races remaining in the regular season, only five Top Fuel drivers have qualified for the Countdown: points leader Shawn Langdon of Kalitta Motorsports, Tony Stewart, SCAG Racing’s Justin Ashley, Doug Kalitta and reigning titleholder Antron Brown. Vandergriff’s appearance in Minnesota is serving to, he and Reed hope, keep Ida Zetterstrom from JCM Racing out of the top 10. She’s 148 points behind Reed, but with points-and-a-half on offer in Indy, Vandergriff’s success could be critical to Reed’s making the playoff show. Zetterstrom returns to the scene of her first NHRA competition, where she went to the semifinals.
The Brainerd race weekend always has its own little wrinkles, especially with the fan-friendly Zoo area that boasts its own band shell and will have entertainment Thursday through Saturday nights. Racers are known to venture to the Zoo and party with fans, so be prepared to see them trolling the campgrounds. There’s a competitive wrinkle as well this weekend, as the second Friday qualifying session beginning at 6:15 for Pro Stock and 6:45PM CT for Funny Car and Top Fuel features American Rebel Light’s “Battle for the Rebel Axe”. The low qualifiers in each class will get a special cash bonus together with a unique Rebel Axe trophy.
The Rebel Axe trophy is a fully functional electric cigar box guitar, custom-built in the shape of an American Rebel Light 12-pack and will have all three top qualifiers sitting on a special “Throne of the North” – made from American Rebel Light cases – until they are either dethroned or take the low qualifier of the session. In Top Fuel and Funny Car, the bonus payouts are $4,000 to the low qualifier and $2,000 in Pro Stock.
In addition, there’s the penultimate Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, won last year by Antron Brown in Top Fuel, Austin Prock in Funny Car and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock. The overall winners in 2024 were Justin Ashley, who earned his first Wally trophy of the year at Brainerd, Blake Alexander in Funny Car, driving then for Jim Head and Dallas Glenn in Pro Stock.
Brainerd International Raceway has the distinction of being one of the most successful track for the GOAT of Funny Car, John Force, who has earned 11 Wally winner’s trophies at this Minnesota racetrack. One guy who’s not far being and racing here this weekend is three-time champ Ron Capps, who has seven wins adjacent to the Zoo, who has own Capps Corner” section in the Zoo’s camping area. While most teams spend the summer months trying to find new ways to overcome a track and their competitors, Capps knows that, “Brainerd is a unique race in and of itself, but for the teams, it’s always an event that you circle on the calendar. You want to make sure, performance-wise, you have a race car that’s ready to go for battle heading into the playoffs.
“By the time you leave there, you want to feel confident knowing that you have a car that can go win the U.S. Nationals. You don’t want to go into Indy and be searching for a tune-up at the biggest NHRA event of the year.” Capps realizes that teams and drivers shouldn’t overlook Brainerd. “It is one of those tracks that can hold anything under good conditions, It surely can catapult you, confidence-wise, when you have a good race in Brainerd into Indy and, overall, it’s probably the most fun event we have on the circuit.”
There are 16 class entries in Funny Car for this race and, of that number only three of them are qualified for the Countdown: reigning champion Austin Prock of John Force Racing, Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan and John Force’s replacement driver, Jack Beckman, who returned to Flopper competition at this race last year, helping propel Force to second place in the final standings, which is where he was in the standings when injured at Richmond in June of 2024. Capps is next in line to qualify, pending a good run this weekend, yet everyone in this class is at least 201 points behind Prock!
Has Elite Motorsports turned the corner in their – so far – losing battle against KB Titan Racing. Placing both Greg and Aaron Stanfield in the final round in Sonoma had to be good for this team’s morale, as this was its first win of the 2025 Pro Stock campaign. Now, with a health 20 cars eligible to run for points and money in Brainerd, perhaps the doorslammer class will see more inter- rather than intra-squad competition? Dallas Glenn won the race last year; teammate and six-time Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson was the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge title claimant.
Both Glenn, leading the standings, and Anderson, just 37 points behind him, have qualified for the Countdown, as have Matt Hartford, Cory Reed and Eric Latino, all with KB Titan Racing. Eric Latino, who’s been on medical leave the past few races, returns this week, leaving son – and stand-in – Matt Latino on the sidelines. One reason for the swell in entries for Pro Stock is the return of the Cuadra family, with Cristian, Fernando Jr. and David all racing in Brainerd. This weekend Sonoma winner Greg Stanfield debuts a new Jerry Haas-built racecar; incredibly, his first race at this track came in Super Stock, back in Stanfield’s dark-hair age of 1987. Six-time champ Erica Enders of Elite is working to bring home her first Wally trophy of the season and fourth victory at this track.
With two late qualifying sessions on Friday and two daytime outings for Saturday, the action should be heavy both of those days. That is, if the weather cooperates. The warmest temperatures are set for Friday but it’s not temps that could be an issue: there are “chances” of showers, thunderstorms and cooler temps through the weekend and into Monday. FS1 intends to show qualifying Friday and Saturday, while finals are on FOX from 36PM on Sunday.
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