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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – BRITTANY FORCE’S CHOICE TO STEP AWAY ALSO YIELDS NEWS FROM HER DAD; MILLICAN, HYDE, GLENN, HERRERA TOP EARLY MAPLE GROVE CHARTS; HART SHARES PLANS FOR FUTURE; FREEMAN SAYS NO PLAN YET FOR DRAGSTER
1 – TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS IN ONE – Brittany Force’s announcement Friday before qualifying for the NHRA Reading Nationals presented by NitroFish yielded a glimpse of what direction John Force Racing (JFR) will go when no member of the Force family is on the dragstrip.
John Force, sidelined since June 2024 in the wake of a brain-injury accident, said his operation will expand and continue, despite no Force-family drivers.
Ashley Force Hood is heading John Force Entertainment, and her sons with JFR crew chief Danny Hood, Jacob and Noah, are involved in Jr. Drag Racing. Courtney Force Rahal and husband Graham have two daughters and a third baby on the way, and John Force said he expects the girls eventually will be immersed in IndyCar racing like their race-driver dad. Former son-in-law Robert Hight, the three-time Funny Car champion and former JFR President, is no longer racing.
Both John and Brittany Force confirmed that they “are working to keep [the David Grubnic-, John Collins-led crew from her Monster Energy dragster] together as one under the John Force Racing umbrella.”
Toward the end of their presentation Friday at Maple Grove Raceway, team owner John Force – the 157-time winner and 16-time Funny Car champion – offered his vision for JFR, and once again publicly acknowledged he doesn’t see himself returning to the seat of a Funny Car. He said, “We’re building. I’ve always been a driver. It looks like those days are passed, but what I’m looking at is multi-car teams.”
He said he had leaned hard on Brittany, trying to persuade her to stay in the seat of her dragster. Ultimately, he said, she has a mind of her own: “Brittany makes her own decisions. Brittany’s my last shot, and I didn’t want her to leave. We’ve argued over it. In fact, we argue all the time. But she’s done a great job. I don’t like her talking about quitting, but I know she had a plan, and she got married and she’s done all that.
“But I’m going to grow my team,” John Force said. “I’ve already started, and I’m going to have more teams. And I’ll have a place for her when she’s ready. And it came up in the meeting the other day in dealing with one of her sponsors. They said, ‘We don’t want to lose her.’ And without thinking, I said, ‘Well, you’re not losing her. If I fall over dead, she’ll run all this stuff. But she’s an owner. She’ll be with you forever. She owns it all. The girls [including eldest daughter Adria] … I know they’ll all come and help their dad. They love their mom, and they love me.’
“And I never thought about it all them years. I never told ’em if I die tomorrow, she’ll keep this thing afloat. So what I’m saying is she’s got a job here to help me run it. They know this world. They’ve grown up in it, all of them. And so I’m excited that this will live on through them.”
2 – MILLICAN LEADS TOP FUEL FILE SO FAR – Rick Ware Racing landed both dragsters in the upper half of the provisional Top Fuel field, with Clay Millican grabbing the No. 1 position and new teammate Tony Schumacher sitting in seventh with two more sessions scheduled Saturday.
Millican’s 3.704-second elapsed time at 336.32 mph in the PowerEdge dragster has him poised to lead the field for the 27th time in his career. Boosted by his runner-up finishes to Justin Ashley at Norwalk and to Doug Kalitta at Brainerd in the previous five events, Millican is seeking his first victory at Maple Grove Raceway, his second win of the season, and a rise from seventh place in the standings as the six-race Countdown to the Championship begins.
“It’s always fun coming here,” Millican said. “It’s only the provisional No. 1, but it was a good one. In qualifying, the only thing the driver can do is screw it up. I was pretty excited when it stayed No. 1, because we need these points.
“The biggest thing is consistency. Home-run hitters can go on streaks, but consistency usually wins,” he said. “We’ve been putting solid runs together lately. At Brainerd, we went to the final, then had a parts failure. At Indy, we beat Shawn Langdon first round, then had an electrical failure second round. But the car is going rounds, and I like our chances.”
Justin Ashley took second with a 3.738-second pass at 331.69 mph and Doug Kalitta is third at 3.756, 335.40.
3 – HYDE ENJOYS FIRST TRIP TO READING – Provisional No. 1 Funny Car qualifier Spencer Hyde is pragmatic. He said, “A No. 1 qualifier is obviously one of the boxes you want to check when you come out here, but qualifying doesn’t get you Wallys. I want to win one of these things so badly. We’ve been close a couple times in the finals, and the race just didn’t go our way. But qualifying No. 1 puts you in the best possible position on race day, and I’m confident that if we get to a final again, we’ll get it done.”
Hyde used a 3.868-second, 330.07-mph performance in the Jim Head Racing Ford Mustang to strengthen his bid for 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year honors. It put him .014 seconds ahead of No. 2 qualifier Austin Prock, the regular-season champion.
Already this season, Hyde, of Stratford, Ontario, has reached the finals at the New England Nationals at Epping, New Hampshire, and the Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma, California. He also won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at Las Vegas. He credits the team and how he continues to gell with its members.
“Jim [Head] has put together an awesome team. These guys are pumped every round,” Hyde said. “They’re just excited to be here, and it makes the experience a whole lot better. I want to get a win for this team so bad. They work hard. They do such a good job giving me an amazing car. I really feel like this could be our weekend.”
He is starting his first Countdown from the No. 9 slot. With the NHRA resetting the points after the U.S. Nationals that was completed Sept. 1, Hyde is mindful of low-E.T. bonus points and the fact they matter more than someone might expect. He started this weekend just two points behind Alexis DeJoria. The three bonus points he earned from going quickest of the second qualifying session were enough to already push him into No. 8, all before race day.
“Every point matters in the Countdown,” he said. “The weather is going to be warmer tomorrow. We’re going to run a little earlier in the day. Track conditions are probably going to be a little bit trickier. I’m hopeful that my 86 will hold up. But this team is hungry, and we’ll tackle whatever we are handed on Sunday.
“This is my first time at this track. The facility is beautiful,” Hyde said. “This area reminds me of home in Canada, where we live out in the sticks and in the hills. So this feels like home, and I love it. It would be incredible to get both my first No. 1 qualifier and Wally in the first Countdown race of my Funny Car career.”
4 – REGULAR-SEASON CHAMPS RULE – In the Pro Stock classes, the provisional No. 1 spots went to regular-season champions Dallas Glenn (car) and Gaige Herrera (motorcycle).
Friday qualifying was another battle between KB Titan Racing and Elite Motorsports. Glenn, of KB Titan, edged Elite’s Aaron Stanfield by three-thousandths of a second, powering to the top of the leaderboard with a 6.502-seond effort in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to Stanfield’s 6.505, 211.59. Glenn is on his way to his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 11th of his career.
Glenn, who is seeking his first victory at Maple Grove Raceway, said he was using a back-up engine, “but it’s running fantastic right now. I’m really pleased with it, and the car is starting to come around. When I got to the top end on that run, I didn’t think it was going to hold. I thought we would be able to go 6.49 for sure, but I was hoping for a 6.48. Sitting up there and being this late, the humidity probably came up more than I thought. But going into the Countdown, I’m feeling really good. I was .027 on the tree my first hit, and I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. I feel like we have the car to beat for the championship.”
Stanfield is second so far, and U.S. Nationals and 50-time Pro Stock winner Erica Enders is third, close on their heels with a 6.506-second E.T.
In the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, Herrera is off to a strong start in pursuit of a third straight championship, capturing the provisional No. 1 position with a 6.745 at 200.20 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. The U.S. Nationals victor has a specific goal this weekend: to conquer Maple Grove Raceway. It’s the lone racetrack at which he has not won any of his 26 trophies. If he secures his fifth No. 1 start of this campaign, it could give his an extra lift.
“Reading has definitely defeated me the last two seasons,” Herrera said. “My best here is a semifinal. So, my main goal this weekend is to go one round further and hopefully not leave here second in points like I have the last two years. This place is beautiful. The Koretsky family has done so much with it, and I’m glad to be back. To leave here with a win and check that box would mean a lot.
“It’s a different atmosphere here — there are tons of fans and they love motorcycles. It’s not more pressure – it’s just a different vibe. It’s a fast track. I love racing here, but it’s been tough on me.”
Matt Smith is second (6.753, 200.95), and Richard Gadson (6.763, 200.92) is third after two sessions.
5 – HART ‘NOT GOING ANYWHERE’ – Top Fuel racer Josh Hart raised eyebrows for a number of reasons this week when he put his dragster operation on the sales block and Elite Motorsports maestro Richard Freeman snapped it up. Hart reassured his fans Friday after taking the provisional No.9 qualifying spot, saying, “I’m not going anywhere. Nobody asks the right questions, and I’m not bashful, but I plan on driving for somebody. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
He added, “Being a team owner is stressful. I got a big business back at home. A lot of people know that, but you don’t want to go up there and try to cut a light, and you’re thinking about invoices and payroll and all that kind of stuff. And I was starting to get distracted. So my wife and I built an awesome business out here. We built an awesome business back there. And it was just time for us to try to change the landscape a little bit. So, excited. There’s going to be some big announcements coming soon, and we’re not going anywhere. [Sponsor] R+L Carriers, we’re together forever.”
6 – ‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE PLAN IS’ – Richard Freeman declared Friday that he has yet to finalize what he plans to do with the assets he said Wednesday he had purchased from Josh Hart.
“I don’t know what the plan is. All I know is I bought a Top Fuel team, and there’s a lot to be worked on and we got a long ways to go,” the Elite Motorsports owner said. “And hopefully we can field the car for ’26.”
In what he conceded was “a wild week,” Freeman also announced that Elite and Tony Stewart Racing have formed a business alliance that encompasses sales, marketing, and hospitality.
He said the move amounted to “joining forces for all of our partners. We got a lot of partners that coincide, and Tony and I’s thought processes align, and so we look forward to working together and giving our partners more for their money. And the drivers that we have in each stable are unbelievable and [with] Leah [Pruett] stepping back in the car [TSR’s Top Fuel dragster] and we’ll see what happens.”
7 – FARLEY ON FIRE – Eager to build on the impressive turnaround his ScottRod Racing team has experienced this season, part-time Top Fuel racer Scott Farley wanted maybe not to set the world on fire but certainly to join the “super part-timers” club with some memorable runs. His opening-session qualifying pass was hot, all right. He was surrounded by flames for much of his 4.136-second run, but with swift reaction from the Safety Safari team, he exited the car without any injuries.
“Just got a little out of the groove. I let out of it and boom!” Farley said moments after collecting himself. He said what really got his attention were “flames up around me in the cockpit. It was exciting – exciting. Pulled the fire bottle. The [emergency safety] crews were on me. Fantastic. I mean, they were like, ‘Get out! Get out!’ [They] covered me. Super-safe, super-quick response. And we will live to fight another day. Might not be tomorrow. We’ll see. But very, very, very exciting. I’m OK. So, life is good. Glad I didn’t cause any problems in the other lane. That’s racing.”
Although he had experienced a similar situation in a Pro Mod car, it was scary nonetheless.
“Well, it was just exciting that the flames kept coming up front from around the cockpit and stuff. And it’s like, ‘That’s probably not good. We’ve got a lot of fuel here going, and yeah, we need to get this thing stopped.’ So yeah, really exciting,” he said.
That one Friday appearance was not representative of Farley’s potential. After struggling to qualify in previous years – he made one of two races in both 2023 and 2024 – Farley has qualified at three of his previous four events in 2025 and recently clocked a career-best 3.973-second elapsed time.
The turning point came when co-team owner Michelle Torromeo, Farley’s wife, stepped up with a more hands-on management approach and brought veteran nitro crew chief Bob Peck aboard. That helped boost him to that 3.973-second pass during the Norwalk Nationals earlier this summer.
“The transformation has been incredible. Going from struggling to qualify to consistently making the show and running career-best numbers – it’s validation that all the changes Michelle made are working,” Farley said. “Bob’s influence on our program has been transformative. We’re not just hoping to qualify anymore, we’re expecting to compete.
Even with the incident Friday, Farley was 10th in the line-up – at the time ahead of surprisingly uncharacteristic bottom-halfers Doug Foley, Antron Brown, eventual provisional leader Clay Millican, Justin Ashley, and Shawn Langdon. Despite not being able to recover for the second session, Farley hung onto the No. 13 spot overnight, ahead of Foley and Brown with two Saturday sessions remaining before the fields are set for Sunday’s eliminations.
“The goal is simple: Continue my development as a driver and show everyone that ScottRod Racing is here to stay. That 3.97 at Norwalk is just the beginning,” Farley, of Ellington, Connecticut, said.
8 – REED RELISHING RETURN – NHRA on FOX reporter Jordan Vandergriff, who filled in for Shawn Reed when the Top Fuel owner-driver was injured in an on-track accident at his Seattle home track in July, congratulated Reed on his return to action.
Reed missed three races while mending from several broken ribs and the amputation of his index finger. Vandergriff then teasingly asked if Reed might want him to get back in the Reed Trucking and Excavating dragster and make the Q2 qualifying run. Reed told him, ‘N-O. No,’ laughing. Reed clearly was enjoying his comeback, which came on the heels of his IHRA victory last week at Hebron, Ohio. He finished the day’s action with the tentative No. 4 berth in the order. Crew chief Rob Wendland quipped, “He’s driving the car better than he did when he had 10 fingers. It’s best to get this guy down through there and just give him some runs. I mean, he’s doing great.”
9 – ENDERS PUSHES BACK – During an episode of the NHRA Insider podcast Friday morning, Pro Stock champion Erica Enders rejected speculation that her U.S. Nationals victory in Indianapolis came with help from manipulated rounds. The exchange with analyst Tony Pedregon and NHRA lead announcer Brian Lohnes underscored the ongoing sensitivity of team orders in drag racing.
Enders opened the interview by praising her team’s resilience following a difficult season. “We’ve won the championship six different times. I have the best guys in the universe under the banner at Elite Motorsports,” she said. “We’ve had some serious health issues this year with Mark Ingersoll and Jake Hairston. We finally had the band all back together, and I just feel like everything’s gelling at the right time. What will happen? I have no idea, but you can bet your butt, we’ll fight our butts off for it.”
Moments later, Pedregon pressed her on whether opening-round wins against teammates Greg and Aaron Stanfield raised questions. He noted that Greg appeared ahead before slowing and that Aaron’s car failed to leave the starting line. “My job as an analyst is I have to point out what we see in front of us,” Pedregon said. “Some of it’s conjecture. That’s what an analyst does.”
Enders firmly rejected the notion. “Did you hear it in the burnout and backing up, when it was running on half the cylinders? I could show a picture of his piston,” she said. “To have a teammate dive first or second round is not cool at all.”
The six-time champion said any accusations of team orders are offensive. “We don’t have team orders at Elite Motorsports,” Enders said. “Greg Stanfield and Aaron Stanfield pay over a million dollars each for the cars that they drive, so if you think that they’re going to write checks like that and then take dives, I take it highly offensive.”
The subject carried extra weight because of past controversies in NHRA. At the 2009 U.S. Nationals, Pedregon clashed publicly with John Force after a round that appeared to aid Robert Hight’s Countdown berth, a confrontation that nearly came to blows. In 1997 at the NHRA Finals, when Pedregon drove for John Force Racing, he was on the other end of accusations when Force’s car stumbled against him in a race that influenced the final standings.
Enders countered that facts should take precedence over conjecture. “Let’s base our opinions on education. Come over to our pit and see what’s going on. Come take a cylinder head off of our race car,” she said. Team owner Richard Freeman, she added, confirmed Aaron’s broken engine over her radio during the round, telling her, “Aaron’s engine is broken. Don’t mess up.”
The debate shifted to NHRA’s technical department, which both Pedregon and Lohnes said could reduce doubt by immediately inspecting questionable runs. Enders agreed but urged accuracy. “Do a better job,” she said.
Her Indianapolis win, ending a 30-race drought, also carried symbolism. Enders defeated KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn and Matt Hartford to secure her fifth U.S. Nationals trophy. Lohnes, serving in his role as NHRA lead announcer, pointed to similarities to 2019, when she lost the Indy final after a transmission failure despite being in control of the race.
Enders admitted that luck played a role but said it works both ways. “Sometimes things go your way for you to win a race, but I promise you I’ve been on the opposite end where you do everything in your power and you deserve to win that round, and you don’t,” she said. “Did we have some breaks last week? Absolutely.”
As the discussion closed, Pedregon credited Enders for addressing the issue directly. “With you as a driver, with the team that has found the performance, the U.S. Nationals was an indication it’s not going to be a free pass like they had earlier in the season,” he said.
Enders embraced the challenge. “It’s more fun when it’s tight,” she said. “Anytime. That’s what we do.” – Bobby Bennett
10 – REMEMBERING JUNGLE JIM – New Jersey native Paul Lee has watched drag racing at this facility since the 1960s and ’70s, and one of his favorite racers to watch then was the popular, flamboyant “Jungle” Jim Liberman. And during qualifying Friday, Lee reminded everyone that it was Liberman’s birthday. He said, “Jungle Jim would have been 80 years old today. Happy Heavenly Birthday to Jungle Jim Liberman.”
