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One of the most competitive and compelling activities taking place during the 2026 Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend, will be the 25th anniversary of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. NHRA\u2019s longest-running specialty race takes place on the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park dragstrip and has been a tradition at The Big Go since 2001.<\/p>\n
Showcasing the limited production 1968 HEMI Plymouth Barracudas and HEMI Dodge Darts racing heads-up in the SS\/AH class, these purpose-built \u2018Package Cars\u2019 have dominated NHRA\u2019s Super Stock class for more than 50 years, having claimed numerous championships. They carry through the tradition 25 years after they began competing on drag racing\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n The best of the best compete in this single-day event, and Buddy Martin, who ran the business side of the Sox & Martin team and Jake King, the team\u2019s master engine builder for its Barracudas and Darts, campaigning with driver Ronnie Sox is obviously happy to see the success of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. \u201cI\u2019m proud to be part of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge and its recognition of these hardworking sportsman racers and their HEMI-powered Mopars. Ronnie and I loved coming to the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and we won this prestigious race in Super Stock and Pro Stock many times,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n \u201cWith 2026 being the 25th anniversary of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge, it\u2019s a great way to honor the legacy and contributions that both Ronnie and I made to drag racing. This race also,\u201d he reminded, \u201ckeeps the Sox & Martin legacy relevant among today\u2019s racers and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin is sharing Grand Marshal status this year – a post he\u2019s had, along with honorary starter of the race – with Herb McCandless, the 1970s U.S. Nationals Pro Stock winner who\u2019s provided color commentary for nearly every Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge since 2001. \u201cI\u2019m honored to, once again, be a part of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge. This is the 25th anniversary of this prestigious event – and I\u2019ve never missed one,\u201d McCandless revealed.<\/p>\n \u201cI have great memories of this race and I enjoy talking to all the participants,\u201d McCandless continued. \u201cThe SS\/AH racers put on a great show with amazing ETs and speeds. What they\u2019ve done with these Super Stockers is amazing. The modern technology developed for these cars, while following the strict rules, is incredible and it shows. Last year\u2019s field,\u201d he recalled, \u201cwas very close in qualifying. During eliminations, they were side-by-side all the way down the track!\u201d Herb McCandless drove the Sox & Martin Plymouth HEMI Duster to the first Pro Stock NHRA U.S. Nationals win in 1970.<\/p>\n Mike McCandless, Herb\u2019s youngest son owns the McCandless Collection, an automotive museum featuring prime examples of vintage Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge automobiles, vintage HEMI Super Stockers and Pro Stockers, and even authentic dealership signage dating back over 100 years. He began organizing the event two years ago and states it\u2019s in his lineage to organize the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to have picked up the reins of this awesome event back in 2024 and take it to the next level. Now we\u2019ve reached a milestone on the Sox & martin HEMI Challenge,\u201d Mike McCandless stated, \u201cas 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of this historic race within a race. We\u2019re not done yet!\u201d<\/p>\n In 2025, the 24th Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge saw three-time Pro Stock titleholder and 51-time class winner Jason Line earn the victory against four-time event titleholder Jimmy Daniels. Both were disqualified later for technical infractions. Once their infractions were discovered and confirmed, organizers elected not to declare a victor. Prize money was shared by all remaining competitors.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s 25th anniversary Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge, which is part of NHRA\u2019s diamond, 75th anniversary Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 4 on the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park dragstrip, during the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most competitive and compelling activities taking place during the 2026 Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend, will be the 25th anniversary of the Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":107145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029],"tags":[11309,3946,427,13440,9846,7,3497,13532,13533,12529],"class_list":["post-107136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-cornwell-quality-tools-nhra-u-s-nationals","tag-dodge-dart","tag-hemi","tag-herb-mccandless","tag-lucas-oil-indianapolis-raceway-park","tag-nhra","tag-plymouth-barracuda","tag-plymouth-duster","tag-ronnie-sox","tag-sox-martin-hemi-challenge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Jimmy-Daniels-and-Jason-Line-were-both-DQd-Evan-Smith-photo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-rS0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107136"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107177,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107136\/revisions\/107177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bucky-Hess-was-the-1971-winner-300x189.jpg\")
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