by Susan Wade; Bobby Bennett; Photos by Ron Lewis, Burghardt Photography, Chris Haverly, Nicole Clark
SUNDAY NOTEBOOK – PROCK CAPTURES FUNNY CAR CALL-OUT, TOP QUALIFIERS HOLD ON, LAUGHLIN PUT ON DRIVING CLINIC, HEMI CHALLENGE RESULTS VOIDED, ANDERSON HONORS BLACK
1 – THE ROCKET’S RED GLARE – Austin Prock earned his first specialty race victory Sunday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, winning the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout and collecting an $80,000 payday.
Prock ran 3.873 seconds at 333 mph in the final round to defeat Ron Capps, who slowed to a 4.048 at 302.01. The win also capped a $230,000 day for Prock, who earned a $150,000 bonus for clinching the Funny Car regular-season championship.
“This is my first specialty race win,” Prock said. “To get in there this year and then get the job done obviously felt good.”
Capps advanced with wins over Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan. Hagan’s semifinal loss extended his unusual record of never having defeated Prock in eliminations.
“They beat up on everybody out here, and the fact that we’re undefeated against them is just mind-blowing,” Prock said.
Prock delivered its best run of the weekend in the final.
“That 87 was stout on that racetrack,” he said. “It definitely gives us some confidence going into tomorrow. Getting comfortable behind the wheel again, as crazy as that sounds. It always feels good when there’s extra cash on the line to be able to cash that check at the end of the day.”
Prock recalled the frustration of missing the Callout in 2024 despite a season filled with top qualifying performances.
“We had 14 or 16 No. 1 qualifiers last year and weren’t able to play in the specialty race,” he said. “So to get in there this year and then get the job done obviously felt good.”
A delay caused by a power outage tested his patience during Sunday’s event.
“Anytime you’re sitting in the water box and they tell you to go home, it’s frustrating,” Prock said. “I was just amped up, ready to gom and that delay kind of stung. But definitely glad to get the job done. The Capps car, it’s coming around and it’s running really good.”
As the No. 1 seed, Prock had the chance to choose his opponents. He selected Cruz Pedregon in the opening round, followed by Hagan in the semifinals.
“My dad told me, ‘I really don’t care who you pick. We’re going to have to beat them all at some point anyways,’” Prock said. “Every one of these cars is competitive and we would’ve beaten any other car. To be honest, I picked Cruz because it was a Snap-on car. I figured we’d start out the day with some tool wars at the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals.”
He said he welcomed the challenge of facing Hagan, a four-time champion. “Hagan’s one of the toughest dudes in the game right now,” Prock said. “Matt’s a four-time champ for a reason.”
Prock’s performance drew praise from other drivers, including No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman. Prock said the numbers impressed him as well. “When I saw .87 come up on the board when I was throwing the laundry, I was impressed,” he said. “I knew we were going to send it, but I didn’t think we were going to send it like that and it was smooth as glass.”
Despite the victory, Prock said he remained frustrated by a mistake in qualifying that cost his team data and points. “I was very upset with myself screwing up that run in Q3 when I double-stepped it,” he said. “These runs are so valuable. Luckily we made it down the run prior to that and built off that.”
Looking ahead to Monday’s eliminations, Prock said the Callout victory gives him momentum but his focus remains on consistency. “It was running 283-plus all day long and putting up 330-mile-an-hour easily,” Prock said. “It shows what we’re capable of as a team.”
2 – TOP QUALIFIERS SAME – Friday was the day for pro-class racers. Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) kept their positions through five qualifying sessions across three days and will be ready for Monday eliminations, which are set to start at 10 a.m. EDT.
In Top Fuel, two-time series champion Force will seek her first U.S. Nationals victory, beginning with a match against Ida Zetterström. Force said, “We feel ready and confident going into race day tomorrow. You can’t look at all the excitement that is Indy. For me, it’s just – it’s no different than when we were running in Brainerd last weekend, or two weeks from now when we’ll be running in Reading. Our focus is always one run at a time, and we want to win everywhere we go. It doesn’t matter what racetrack we’re at or what event is happening. We always want to win. Now, the U.S. Nationals? Yes, this is a special one. This is on everybody’s bucket list. Everybody wants to win here, especially our team.”
Jordan Vandergriff qualified second with a 3.683-second elapsed time at 333.33 mph. T.J. Zizzo is third at 3.695, 333.08.
For the fifth time this year, two-time Indianapolis winner Jack Beckman will lead the Funny Car field in his “Brute Force” PEAK Chevrolet tribute car. His 3.865-second pass at 332.26 mph earned him a first-round race against No. 16 Justin Schriefer.
Beckman has won twice at the U.S. Nationals in Funny Car, but a third in his “Brute Force” would certainly be special for the veteran.
Austin Prock made it a 1-2 start for John Force Racing, and Ron Capps qualified third.
“We know exactly what we need to do for race day,” Beckman said, “and tomorrow’s going to be an exceptionally quick first round, because we’re starting an hour early. This race is as big as it gets, and it doesn’t take much other than riding the scooter up and down both sides of the racetrack to realize this is the biggest race. But until I won Indy in 2015, it took winning it to realize how big it was to win it.”
Anderson made it No. 6 this season in top-qualifier awards, relying on Friday’s track-record run of 6.491 seconds at 210.44 mph. It’s the 138th career No. 1 starting spot for the reigning champion, and ties him with Warren Johnson for the most in Pro Stock history. What’s more, Anderson will continue to battle KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn for the regular- season championship. They’re separated by only a few points. And on the line, too, for Anderson is a chance to claim an eighth U.S. Nationals triumph.
“It’s pretty cool when you can tie Warren’s records,” Anderson said. “We’ve been having a blast out here this weekend. It’s beautiful out here, and we’ve made five great runs. And we’re hoping for four more tomorrow. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but hopefully we can make some more history tomorrow.”
Glenn qualified second at 6.510, 210.90. Erica Enders was third in the order with 6.516, 211.39.
The No. 1 qualifying position in Pro Stock Motorcycle belongs to Herrera, who set the track 6.738 seconds (at 200.98 mph) in his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. It was his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season. “We’re not used to running here with such beautiful weather. I think that’s probably the best part about this whole weekend so far, is the weather. I’m also happy about my lights. Today, I was .009 and then .002, so, I feel like that gives me a lot of momentum going into tomorrow. I feel like I’ve got my spot on the Christmas tree, and just don’t want to push it too much harder tomorrow.”
His teammate, Richard Gadson, took second with a 6.744 at 201.01. Rising star Brayden Davis, who has Vance & Hines power, qualified third.
3 – LAUGHLIN’S DRIVING SKILLS SHINE – Alex Laughlin demonstrated his experience and driving skill Sunday afternoon during the fourth overall Funny Car qualifying session. Justin Schriefer was in the left lane, Laughlin in the right when Schriefer skated into the opposite lane and threw his parachutes onto the injectors of Laughlin’s car, all at 270 mph. Laughlin immediately swerved left to get out of Schriefer’s wake and avoid a disastrous collision.
Afterward, Laughlin said his adrenaline level was “9,000” and that the only equivalent experience might be “if I outran a bear.”
He said, “That’s going to take a minute to settle, for sure” and said his first instinct was to “go into survival mode, which you’re basically already in as soon as you hit the gas in one of these things. I’m not saying I’m the best driver that ever was, but I’m definitely a Swiss Army knife: I may not be the best tool for the job, but I always can get it done.”
Schriefer was just as shaken by the incident. He said the feeling is “really paralyzing.” He explained the mishap from his vantage point: “As soon as I headed over that way, I was just hoping that something on the run happened on his end that he was able to catch it or get stopped or whatever. I apologize for what happened to Alex, but I’m just glad he’s a great driver. The experience did pay off on his end.
“I never had that happen. I’ve had close ones, took out a cone but never went over in [the other] lane. It is scary,” he said.
4 – LANGDON SPEED MARK HISTORIC – Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon’s 340.90-mph speed record for Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park took on historic proportions. It came
61 years after team owner Connie Kalitta became the first driver to break the 200-mph barrier at this facility. Langdon will start Monday eliminations in his Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers dragster from the No. 6 slot against No. 11 qualifier Clay Millican, last year’s Top Fuel winner.
Kalitta’s 1964 record was the first 200-mph run at this venue, but the second in NHRA history. Don Garlits had already broken the barrier, but not in a national event. Langdon is the third Top Fuel driver to break the 340-mph barrier, following Brittany force and his teammate, Doug Kalitta.
“I’m pretty pumped about that one,” Langdon said. “Good job to the team and good job to Brian [crew chief Husen] and everybody else on the team. They give us the opportunity to do cool stuff like going 340 mph. I was a little surprised. I thought I clicked it a little bit early, but regardless, it still said 340 on the scoreboard. Hat’s off to the team, SealMaster, Superior/PJH and Revchem.”
5 – TWO DECADES FROM HIS SCARY MOMENT – Veteran Funny Car tuner Dickie Venables has spent decades chasing performance in the NHRA, but one of his most valuable lessons came not from the data log, but from survival on the starting line.
“It’s a dangerous place,” Venables said. “That’s why they restrict the access up there just for safety reasons. I have a rule where I never turn my back on these cars up there because you don’t know. We can get run over, whatever. Things can happen. So you just got to pay attention up there. Things can happen pretty quick.”
That perspective came from a frightening moment during qualifying at the 2005 U.S. Nationals, when Venables was the crew chief for Tony Pedregon.
“It lurched forward when we went to raise the body up, and the headers went by me,” Venables said. “I was beside the car, and it literally blew my pants clear off. I was standing there in my underwear on the starting line at the U.S. Nationals. It is what it is. It wasn’t a good day, but it’s just a reminder of how much you got to pay attention up there. No matter how long you’ve been around it, shit can happen.”
The force of the exhaust left him with severe burns on his legs. Recovery was long and painful. “The worst thing was I had first-, second-, third-degree burns on my legs,” he said. “That took me months to get over. I had to go to Methodist Hospital two or three times a week. I call it acid dip where they put people that have been burned down in this big wash tank. It wasn’t any fun, but it came out fine. I didn’t end up with any scars or anything.”
The incident reinforced the dangers of a place where crew members often stand only feet from nitro engines producing more than 10,000 horsepower. Venables said the experience permanently shaped his approach at the starting line.
“Don’t turn your back on any car that’s running and pay attention,” he said.
Venables continued to build a career as one of the NHRA’s top tuners. He later guided Matt Hagan to multiple Funny Car championships with Don Schumacher Racing and earned a reputation for aggressive calls and fearless tuning strategies.
Now in his first season leading J.R. Todd’s DHL Toyota team at Kalitta Motorsports, Venables still leans on those lessons learned the hard way. Championships and records define a career, but survival on the starting line, he said, is what allows the work to continue.
“You would like to think that every time you go up there, nothing will happen,” Venables said. “But I know better. Pay attention. Don’t ever turn your back.”
6 – AND THE WINNER IS? NOBODY – NHRA confirmed the rumors running rampant at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park when it announced both finalists in the Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge had been disqualified for technical infractions. Winner Jason Line was stripped of his victory when a post-race inspection reportedly revealed a carburetor infraction consisting of larger-than-accepted venturis. Runner-up Jimmy Daniels, the next in line for the win, also failed his inspection when his cylinder heads revealed external modifications, though the heads were the proper CC measurement. As a result, the final-round money was divided among the 14 other qualifiers for the event.
7 – IT’S THE NEW 2026 SUPER SEASON OF NHRA – The National Hot Rod Association has announced Maryland International Raceway will join the 2026 schedule, marking the sanctioning body’s first new national-event facility in more than a decade and evoking comparisons to the sport’s 1970 “Super Season.”
The addition was confirmed Sunday at the U.S. Nationals, when NHRA President Glen Cromwell and track owner Royce Miller signed an agreement inside the new Wally Parks Tower. The race will be known as the Potomac Nationals and will bring the championship tour into the Baltimore-Washington market for the first time.
Miller, who has operated the Budds Creek, Md., facility since 1989, said the event fulfills a long-held ambition.
“We were NHRA the first two years I had the track,” Miller said. “We’re bringing the premier show to our market, and I really believe they’re ready for it. I’m proud to have taken the track to a level where we can host an NHRA national event.”
Cromwell said the move reflects NHRA’s broader growth strategy as it prepares for its 75th anniversary season.
“It’s time for the NHRA to move forward,” Cromwell said. “We need to go to new tracks, new opportunities. No more sitting still. Maryland International Raceway is a tremendous market, and Royce is a proven operator. This will be a tremendous event.”
Fans in the region responded immediately. Miller said that within days of the announcement, ticket sales began.
“I had guys come up and show me, ‘I already got my ticket. Thank you for bringing the Nationals to Maryland,’” he said.
Known for its doorslammer events and loyal base, the facility will now host Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars for the first time since it was an IHRA-sanctioned track.
The new event recalls 1970, when NHRA nearly doubled its schedule from four to seven races and added the Pro Stock class, setting the stage for the modern touring series. Cromwell said Maryland’s addition, along with South Georgia Motorsports Park also joining in 2026, signals a new era of expansion.
“It’s a big year for us and for America,” he said. “We’ll celebrate 75 years of NHRA and 250 years of the United States. What better place than the nation’s capital region?”
Miller, a former NHRA national-event winner, said his racing background shapes his approach as a promoter.
“Understanding, from a driver’s standpoint, what it means to a racer makes a difference,” he said. He credited mentors such as Bill Bader Sr. of Norwalk and Vinny Napp of Englishtown for influencing his philosophy.
“Some of the best ideas I have are stolen anyway,” he said with a smile.
Facility improvements, including taller retaining walls and infrastructure updates, will be in place before the 2026 debut. Miller stressed that beyond racing, the event will be about community.
“The racing between the guardrails is imperative, but what happens outside the guardrails is just as important,” Miller said. “It’s the camaraderie, the social aspect. That’s what makes memories.”
8 – DO COUNTDOWN SEEDINGS MATTER? – Factoring in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty bonus points that racers have accumulated this season, the sanctioning body will reset points before the Countdown to the Championship starts in two weeks at Pennsylvania’s Maple Grove Raceway. With this event awarding points-and-a-half, some classes will see the standings scrambled.
But do the seedings really matter? Yes and no.
The Top Fuel class has produced the most champions from the No. 1 berth (10), with Steve Torrence earning three of his four consecutive crowns that way. The 2020 season did not have a Countdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just four times did the Funny Car top-ranked driver become the champion, and Ron Capps did it twice (2016, 2021).
In Pro Stock, it happened seven times — and Erica Enders (2015, 2022) is the lone competitor to do it more than once.
Nine is the magic number in Pro Stock Motorcycle, with Matt Smith, Eddie Krawiec, Andrew Hines, and Gaige Herrera each doing it multiple times.
9 – LANGDON A ROLE MODEL – Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon received a compliment from a rather unlikely source.
“I use Langdon when I’m struggling out there,” eight-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher said. “I’m like, ‘Man, this car RPMs,’ when I pedal it real fast. I watch Langdon, because he’s really calm and good at stopping and waiting, whereas I’ll hit the gas twice. I’ll hit it, smoke the tires, hit it, smoke the tires, stop. He hits it once, stop. So I’ll watch, learn. And then a good driver in any sport pays attention to who’s doing something better and figures out how.”
For a long, long time, Schumacher was the standard everyone in the class was studying.
“I appreciate that, and that’s great,” Schumacher said. ”I think there’s a lot of good drivers out here.”
10 – HONORING KEN BLACK IS ANDERSON’S MISSION – Greg Anderson, one of the most decorated Pro Stock drivers in NHRA history, said his performance this weekend at the U.S. Nationals is fueled by the memory of his longtime team owner and mentor, Ken Black.
Black, a Las Vegas businessman who helped launch Anderson’s Pro Stock career and the powerhouse KB Racing engine program, died Aug. 26. He was 81.
Anderson said climbing into his car at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park has carried an entirely different feeling in the wake of Black’s passing.
“It’s just a different feeling,” Anderson said. “When I get in that race car right there, I’m just smiling, ’cause I know he’s watching me and I want to put a smile on Judy’s face. I know Ken is going to smile either way, and it’s just a special feeling.”
Anderson, a six-time world champion, admitted his focus this weekend is sharper than usual. He won Saturday’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and said the result was only the beginning of what he hopes to achieve during drag racing’s biggest event. Not to mention, Anderson has led qualifying from start to finish.
“I’m on a mission,” Anderson said. “That was the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, but I’m on a mission this weekend, I’m not going to lie,” Anderson said after Saturday’s triumph. “I will not leave this place satisfied unless I clean the table this weekend. I came here with one goal, one goal of mine, and we’re halfway home right now and right on schedule.”
Anderson also clinched the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty season championship as well.
Anderson was first linked with Black in 2000, when he was hired as crew chief for Marnell-Black Racing. He later earned his first NHRA professional win in 2001 before Black, along with his son Kenny, formed KB Racing in 2002. From there, Anderson became the team’s driver and engine leader, launching one of the most successful careers in NHRA Pro Stock history.
Under Black’s leadership, KB Racing collected multiple championships and cemented itself as one of the most dominant engine-building operations in the sport. Anderson said even after Black stepped away from direct ownership, his legacy remained at the team’s core.
“Everything that we have and that we work in, the beautiful shop that we work in every day, he created it,” Anderson said. “Everything that we have is created by Ken Black, and we would not be here today without him. Regardless of who had come in and taken over ownership of the team, all the assets that he accrued and have put under our hands to work with, and to build these great race cars and race engines, he’s what it’s all about. So we feel like he’s still 100% involved every day, and we’re still going to feel like that.”
Anderson added that Black’s influence extended far beyond the cars. He was known for his integrity, loyalty, and commitment to the people who worked under his banner.
For Anderson, the U.S. Nationals weekend is now about more than trophies and points. It is about honoring the man who gave him a chance when few others did.
“It makes a hell of a difference,” Anderson said.
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – AUSTIN PROCK WANTS IT ALL; 2025 #2FAST2TASTY PROGRAM WRAPS UP; SMITH, JOHNSON HAVE 20-YEAR FLASHBACK
RUMOR HAS IT – Apparently, there is no Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge winner this year. Inside sources indicate both winner Jason Line and runner-up Jimmy Daniels have been disqualified. Reportedly there were technical infractions on both cars.
From what we hear, Line’s car was disqualified for for a carburetor venturi infraction. Daniels had a cylinder head external modification issue but still cc’d legally.
NHRA had told CompetitionPlus.com they would have a statement at 9 AM on Sunday, when they were asked on Saturday. This morning CompetitionPlus.com was told there would not be a statement until the show airs today.
1 – PROCK HAS EYE OF THE TIGER – After earning his fourth NHRA Funny Car victory in the past five races and his sixth so far this season two weeks ago at Brainerd, Minnesota, Austin Prock couldn’t wind down from the exhilaration. He still had that intense look of a warrior in his eyes, like he still had four more rounds to go.
“I was just amped up that day. I really wanted to get that win,” he said. “And a lot of my crew members – like Nate Hildahl [Northfield, Minn.] and Sam Stuckmayer [Dundas, Minn.] – had never won there. Nate had been trying; I think that was his 14th attempt to win at Brainerd, his home race. And last year I felt like I gave it – I didn’t feel like, I did give it away, and I wanted to make it a point that that wasn’t going to happen this year. I knew we had another race car capable of doing it, and there was no way we weren’t leaving with that trophy. And I got in another element of my mind, I guess, and I was amped up and ready to attack.”
The wild look in his eye was gone by Saturday qualifying at the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, but that same fire was in his gut.
The runaway points leader is on the verge of claiming the $150,000 that goes to the regular-season champion at the end of this event. But that’s only part of the jackpot he has his eye on. “I think it’s close to 400 grand on the line for us this weekend,” Prock said. “So if everything goes right, I’d like to walk out of there with all of it.”
He could, if he keeps up the level of performance he had displayed all season. He has six victories in eight final rounds during the first 13 races, four No. 1 qualifying positions, two Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenges, and a 29-7 race-day record. By Labor Day eliminations, Prock will have led the Funny Car standings for 10 of the 14 regular-season races.
He could earn $100,000 for winning the event, $150,000 for the regular-season championship, and $80,000 for the Funny Car All-Star Callout bonus race. Throw in a No. 1 qualifying payout and contingencies, and Prock’s calculations are right in the ballpark. He missed out on $10,000 in Saturday’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, which was won by J.R. Todd.
At Brainerd, Prock said that he “was on the pin all day long. As soon as I woke up, I just had kind of a chip on my shoulder. And it lasted all day long until the job was done; maybe about an hour after I finally kind of mellowed out. But that’s kind of the mindset I believe we need to have to be successful in this sport. And everybody’s been really stepping up their game, driving, especially on the starting line, and I wanted to make sure nothing was going to get past me. There was a lot of intensity in my eyes that day, and I plan on having that the rest of the year.”
Dad/crew chief Jimmy Prock agreed in a starting-line interview that their rivals are starting to catch up to their pace.
“Absolutely,” Austin Prock agreed. “When you have a season like we did last year, [in] the offseason, we go to work, but the teams that were behind, they really dive in deep, and they scratch and they claw and they have a lot of pressure on them to step their performance up – and they typically always do. And we’ve seen that this year, so we weren’t surprised. But we’ve been stepping up our performance, too. It’s like we have six wins on the season and we’re going into the U.S. Nationals with more wins than we had last year. So we just got to keep it up, but we can’t let them get any advantage on us in these next six.”
2 – WINNERS CROWNED IN FINAL 2025 #2FAST2TASTY -Doug Kalitta, J.R. Todd, Greg Anderson and Richard Gadson claimed Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victories Saturday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, adding momentum to their weekends at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.
Kalitta earned his fifth Challenge win of the season in Top Fuel, defeating Clay Millican with a 3.730-second run at 332.92 mph in his Mac Tools dragster. He had already clinched the season title in the specialty race, part of a dominant campaign that saw Kalitta and teammate Shawn Langdon combine for 10 wins in 13 events.
“That was really cool, especially down at the end. Mr. [Juan] Gonzalez [of Mission Foods] was down there, so that was very cool,” Kalitta said. “It didn’t seem like a lot of cars were getting down the track, and I was thinking, ‘If anybody can get my car down the track, it’s Alan [Johnson] and Mac [Savage] and all these Mac Tools/Toyota guys.’ It went straight down through there.”
Todd completed a Kalitta Motorsports sweep in Funny Car, benefiting from Austin Prock’s red-light foul in the final. The win marked Todd’s second specialty race victory of 2025 and his second straight at Indy.
“I heard him go, and I was about to go at the same time, and caught myself, and then thought, ‘I think he red-lit, and saw my win light come on,’” Todd said. “It’s our goal to win three races in one week, so that was step one.”
Todd earlier defeated Jack Beckman and will face Matt Hagan in Sunday’s Callout. Hagan finished the regular season as the Mission Challenge champion, earning 16 bonus points.
In Pro Stock, Anderson defeated Erica Enders in the final with a 6.523 at 210.14 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. It was his second consecutive Challenge win and secured the specialty title in the class.
“Obviously, the drag race with my old nemesis, they’re certainly knocking on the door again,” Anderson said. “It turned out right for me at that time. We’ll see what happens on Monday, but after today, I’m pretty damn happy.”
Gadson prevailed over rival Matt Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a 6.744 at 201.01 on his Vance & Hines Suzuki. It was his second Challenge win of 2025 and lifted him to second in qualifying.
“This was my first shot at him since Sonoma, so I wanted to win that a little bit more than normal,” Gadson said. “It’s always a pleasure to race Matt. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s not a six-time champ for no reason.”
3 – #2FAST2KALITTA HEADLINES MISSION SEASON CHAMPIONS – Doug Kalitta ran 3.730 seconds at 332 miles per hour to clinch a title he’d made clear by his actions was already his. The victory was his fifth of the season, beating Clay Millican in the final race-within-a-race of the season.
Team Kalitta accounted for 10 event wins out of 13 contested. The victory gives Kalitta 23 bonus points.
“That was really cool, especially down in the end, Mr. Gonzalez was down there, so that was very cool,” Kalitta said. “We definitely appreciate what Mission Foods does for the NHRA. I mean it’s just super cool. Everybody is walking through the pits, getting chips, just all the product that’s out here. I hope it’s working good for them, because we appreciate what they do for us.”
Other championships clinched on the final day of the #2Fast2Tasty included Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
4 – LEADERBOARD UNCHANGED – Brittany Force, Jack Beckman, Greg Anderson, and Gaige Herrera held provisional No. 1 qualifying positions Saturday at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The four led their categories through two days of qualifying at the 14th of 20 events in the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. The field was also set for Sunday’s PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout.
In Top Fuel, Force’s track-record 3.666-second run at 339.79 mph on Friday stayed at the top. The two-time NHRA champion is chasing her fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 56th of her career.
Jordan Vandergriff remained second at 3.683, 333.33, while T.J. Zizzo was third with a 3.695 at 333.08.
Beckman stayed in control of Funny Car qualifying after his 3.865 at 332.26 Friday night in the “Brute Force” tribute Chevrolet SS. The former champion is seeking his fifth No. 1 of the season.
Ron Capps remained second at 3.877, 331.69, while Alexis DeJoria held third with a 3.891 at 329.02. In Sunday’s Callout, Austin Prock chose Cruz Pedregon, Beckman picked Bob Tasca III, and Capps selected Daniel Wilkerson, leaving Matt Hagan to face J.R. Todd.
In Pro Stock, Anderson’s 6.491 at 210.44 from Friday remained the benchmark. The reigning world champion followed with strong runs Saturday and also secured the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge crown by one point over Matt Hartford after defeating Erica Enders.
“As I said last night, my plan coming in here was to try and have a perfect weekend for the Black family, for Judy and Kent Black,” Anderson said. “And so far, we’re right on schedule. I’m doing all I can to try and lighten her heart a little bit and give her something to smile at this weekend.”
Dallas Glenn was second with a 6.523 at 209.59, while Enders placed third with a 6.528 at 211.26.
Herrera topped Pro Stock Motorcycle with his Friday pass of 6.739 at 200.98. The two-time world champion is seeking his fourth No. 1 of the season and 27th in his career.
Matt Smith moved into second with a 6.755 at 200.11, and Brayden Davis was third at 6.762, 199.64.
Qualifying continues Sunday at noon EDT, with the Funny Car All-Star Callout set to highlight the day’s action before eliminations begin Monday.
5 – NOW YOU WIN IT, NOW YOU DON’T – Twenty years later, the 2005 NHRA U.S. Nationals Pro Stock Motorcycle final still stands as one of the sport’s most debated finishes. Steve Johnson was awarded the victory days after Matt Smith celebrated on race day, the result of a rare reversal by NHRA.
Johnson left the starting line with a holeshot against Smith, who ran his quickest pass of the day to close the gap. Smith’s win light came on, he was interviewed as the champion, and his G-Squared team left with the trophy. But ESPN replays showed Johnson crossing the finish line first, sparking immediate controversy.
NHRA officials privately reviewed the tape, and four days later then-NHRA President Tom Compton called Johnson to say the result would be overturned. Smith kept the prize money, Johnson received the points, the trophy, and the official title.
“Luckily the sanction body made it right,” Johnson said. “But they never understood what was taken from me. To not stand in the winner’s circle, that was everything.”
The controversy stemmed from drag racing’s infrared beams, which can occasionally miss the narrow front tires of a Pro Stock Motorcycle traveling at more than 180 mph. Johnson said his wheel slipped past undetected.
“I went over the lights, the bike was bouncing, the beam has a pulse, and it missed the front tire,” Johnson said.
Smith remembered the moment differently. “We did such a willy out there. We hit a bump and I felt the bike come up,” he said. “We were actually celebrating, and [NHRA’s] Graham Light came on TV and said, ‘We go by win lights, not the photo finish.’ A day later they called me and said, ‘We got to overturn this.’”
Smith said officials let him keep the purse but required him to return the trophy. “It was a win-win,” he said. “But I came back next year and won it anyway, legally.”
The episode became one of the most unusual rulings in NHRA history.
For Johnson, it was vindication at drag racing’s biggest race. “At the end of the day cool heads prevailed,” he said. “The NHRA came up with the right answer. And, hey, did you hear? I won the U.S. Nationals.”
In the midst of their current rivalry, Smith said nothing would pry that trophy away if it happened today.
“No, not today,” Smith said with a smile. “I’ll fight him for that thing.”
6 – NOT PLAYING THE GAME – Richard Gadson got the better of rival Matt Smith on Saturday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, winning the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Pro Stock Motorcycle during the NHRA U.S. Nationals.
Gadson rode his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to a 6.744-second pass at 201 mph to defeat Smith in the final. The victory marked Gadson’s second Mission Challenge win of the season and added another chapter to the growing rivalry between the two riders.
“That was my first shot back at him since Sonoma,” Gadson said. “I wanted to win that a little bit more than normal. I knew he’d probably do something at the start line, didn’t know what it was. But that one was all business. No playing around on that one.”
Gadson said he ignored advice from teammate Gaige Herrera to engage in staging games with Smith. “Gaige saw me at the trailer, he was like, ‘You’re going to make him stage last,’” Gadson said. “And I was like, ‘I’m not playing no games. When I get ready to go in, I’m going to go in and he’s got seven seconds to meet me there.’”
The matchup extended a rivalry that has often featured playful back-and-forth and starting line antics. Gadson admitted he approached Saturday’s race differently after his red-light loss to Smith in Sonoma.
“Sometimes, you get up there and it’s all fun and games until you get back to your trailer and you’re the reason why you lost,” he said. “So today I just was like, ‘I don’t care. When I get ready to go in, I don’t care if he’s there already, if he’s last or he’s got seven seconds to get in there.’”
Despite the rivalry, Gadson stressed his respect for Smith.
“It’s always a pleasure racing Matt. I got a lot of respect for him,” Gadson said. “He’s not a six-time champ for no reason, but I want to be one of those guys in the mix with him. That’s kind of how I’m motivated right now.”
Gadson has now won twice in the last few races, and he sees the rivalry with Smith as motivation heading into the Countdown to the Championship.
“When you’re on a roll like this, you really got to make it count,” Gadson said. “While my bike’s this good, I want to be equally good to match it.”
7 – PEDREGON READY TO BREAK INDIANAPOLIS DROUGHT – It has been 35 years since two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon won the last of his three U.S. Nationals trophies.
The fact that he still is competing at age 61 – he’ll turn 62 just 18 days after drag racing’s marquee event this weekend – is not all that’s remarkable. Tour regulars Paul Lee, Dale Creasy Jr., and Jim Campbell are older, with Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, and Jeff Diehl are within three years.)
Pedregon is the dean of Funny Car drivers now that Force is sidelined following a June 2024 crash. Force won 12 championships from 1990-2002, with only Pedregon interrupting that streak and doing so as a Funny Car rookie.
“This weekend will mark my 700th career start, second only to the great John Force,” Pedregon said. “I feel very fortunate to have been out here this long, competing at a high level, and I’m proud of the longevity we’ve been able to achieve in this sport.”
And if he wins the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals in his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger, he’ll tie legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme with four victories at the “Big Go.” Only inactive John Force and Ed “The Ace” McCulloch, with five each, have more.
It was at the U.S. Nationals, as a non-competitor but candidate for a prestigious award, that Pedregon met Larry Minor, the man who launched his impressive decades-long career – ironically, with a major assist from the grandfather of reigning Funny Car champion Austin Prock and father of crew chief Jimmy Prock.
“I was hanging out with Jimmy Prock’s dad, Tom Prock, who worked for Venolia Pistons at the time. Tom took me around and introduced me to people. Joe Pisano, who was racing there with Mike Dunn driving, introduced me to Larry just briefly in his pit area,” Pedregon said. The next season, Pedregon drove a Top Alcohol Funny Car, and that summer, he recalled, “Joe took me in a Mercedes to Hemet {California] to meet Larry. And that was really the introduction.”
Minor, who passed away June 25 at age 85, was a wealthy potato farmer and sand-drags star who became immersed in NHRA drag racing; arguably, the first multi-car team owner.
“Shirley [Muldowney] had just vacated the Otter Pops [Top Fuel] dragster, so there was an opening there for me,” Pedregon said. “It was ’91. I raced his dragster, and then ’92 was the McDonald’s Funny Car. So I started working for Larry in the winter of 1991.”
Because Minor had fielded the dragsters for Muldowney and 1974 and 1983 Top Fuel champion Gary Beck and 1987 Top Fuel champion Dick LaHaie, as well as McCulloch’s Funny Car, Pedregon said joining Minor’s team “was quite the honor for a guy like me. It was definitely a career boost. I was in the big leagues, for sure.”
He said Minor “shifted gears with me, and so I was kind of the new guy on the block, but I think I was a breath of fresh air for him because I rolled up my sleeves and I was working, drove the truck. I was a kind of a do-it-all kind of guy.”
What many might not realize about Minor was that, as Pedregon said, “he was really one of the first, or probably you could argue, he was the first multi-car team owner of his time. There were no multi-car teams at the time, and Larry had a three-car team at one time. He had two dragsters and a Funny Car [for] quite a bit of the ’80s. And then when I joined the team, he had Ed McCullouch and Shirley, and so then it was Ed, and then Ed switched from the Funny Car to the dragster. And then I drove the first year I drove Top Fuel. The second year was ’92. I drove the Funny Car.”
That also was the first year Pedregon won the U.S. Nationals. He went on to win in 1994 and ’95.
8 – BABY STEPS FOR SCHUMACHER – Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher naturally would rather be higher in the order than he has been this weekend so far. However, he understands it will take some time for all the elements to come together at Rick Ware Racing before he can regain the form he had when he was compiling 10 U.S. Nationals victories, 88 overall victories, and eight series championships. In fairness to Schumacher, he had only two passes on his American Communications Construction dragster before arriving in Indy for his RWR debut.
“I think more of it was shakedown runs: new parts, new pieces, getting ’em all to fit, getting ’em all to work. These guys, when they come to a race like this, they have data on how to run. [Teammate] Clay [ Millican] won it last year in the finals at the last race. A lot of that stuff’s adaptable, but getting brand-new parts to work, we had a couple little issues. So you go through those little growing pains, come out here, and just try to win this race, man,” Schumacher said.
It’s his maiden race with crew chief Rob Flynn. And Schumacher said, “Not only a great crew chief, but we got a bunch of young kids working on it. And behind each one of them, a veteran ‘almost-crew chiefs’ watching over ’em. It’s an insane amount of people we have here right now. And I think when you’re teaching these young kids, that’s what we need. We need these young energetic kids, but you need the elder behind them, watching, making sure they’re doing it right. So stoked to be here. Love that we’re doing it here.”
Flynn also is getting used to working with a canopy car. Jim Oberhofer, Millican’s tuner, hasn’t been a “canopy guy,” either. Schumacher said, “These two cars are almost replicas; one just has a canopy on it. And I wish every driver would run a canopy. That’s my opinion. So it’s a great car. They’re a little heavier in the middle, but you give it a little more fuel, a little more clutch, you get it moving. We got drivers out there that are much heavier in Funny Cars and they’re running just as good. It’s just a matter of adapting to what you got and burning that fuel the right way, using that clutch to do it. And these guys know what they’re doing.”
Once he knew he would be joining Rick Ware Racing, Schumacher was exuberant, ready to get right on the track but he said he has learned to temper his enthusiasm.
“I thought we’d be out sooner, and Rick Ware was adamant about, ‘Let’s go out at the right time.’ And it took a long time to get parts and pieces – a long time to wait for a guy like Rob Flynn to become available,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Let’s go!’ And he was like, ‘Wait, we want the right guy. You want to go and win championships.’ So the patience has paid off. We’ll go out here now.”
Although Schumacher said he was excited that he’s at Indianapolis with “absolutely perfect” conditions. And Friday, he spoke realistically: “Do I think we’re going to go out and set low E.T. on the first run? I do not. I think it takes a little time. I don’t know that Rob’s ever run a canopy car. So once you get ’em going, we know they can run three-40 something, right? We’ve seen Brittany do it with a canopy, so we know what we got. We just got to fine-tune this thing, step on it a little at a time.”
Because he missed the first 13 races of the year, some might be skeptical about Schumacher’s chance to win an 11th U.S. Nationals and tie Top Alcohol Funny Car legend Frank Manzo. But he went to the final round here in his professional debut in 1996. “It was an awful lot longer the first time – like, my whole life.”
Schumacher is the Top Fuel king of the U.S. Nationals and the most successful driver in the sport’s headline class. But, he said, “You can always be great, and you can always do fine – but you can always get better. You can always learn something.
“I think sometimes you’re better when you take a breather. I’m better at golf when I take a year off. I mean, I hit the ball straight the first time, because I forget all the stupid things I used to do and I forget about all the thought I put into it. You’re not supposed to think when you swing a damn golf club. You’re supposed to walk up, look at the ball and hit it forward. And that’s the key. You train and train so you’re doing the same thing. Then you don’t think about it. These race cars when you start to overthink, you tend to screw stuff up.”
9 – THE MEMORABLE MEMORY – Paul Lee still calls his 2024 Funny Car All-Star Callout victory one of the most unlikely wins of his career. He only entered the specialty race as an alternate after John Force was sidelined by a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park.
“We squeaked in at No. 9 because John got hurt,” Lee said. “We were fillers from the ninth spot. We didn’t even qualify – and then Ron Capps calls us out.”
Lee beat Capps in the opening round, then faced Matt Hagan in round two after being called out again. “That was more satisfying, is getting called out than winning the round,” Lee said.
In the final, Lee met Bob Tasca III, who had been running quicker. Both cars shut off after their pan-pressure switches activated, but Lee coasted across first.
“I had a little bit more momentum than he did and got lucky, and that’s how we won it,” Lee said.
He described the day as one when everything fell into place.
“Some days it’s just your day, no matter what you do, you don’t do anything wrong,” Lee said. “And some days it’s not your day and you can’t do anything right. That day was one of our days where we couldn’t do anything wrong.”
But Lee won’t have the chance to defend his title in 2025. For the second straight year, his team finished ninth in points, one spot short of the Callout field.
“We’re not in the top eight,” Lee said. “We’re No. 9 again.”
The shortfall traced back to last year, when Lee’s team skipped Reading, Charlotte and St. Louis to save money after missing the Countdown to the Championship.
“Since we’re not in the Countdown, why waste our time going to run?” Lee said. “So we didn’t run those races, and that cost us being in the top eight.”
This year, the deficit was about 90 points. “If we would’ve went to those three, we’d have been in it,” Lee said.
Despite the disappointment, Lee said the memories of his surprise victory remain strong. “That day was one of our days,” he said.
10 – REED STILL EYEING READING RETURN BUT CONTENT WITH ‘LITTLE BUDDY JV’ – Shawn Reed, progressing in his rehab following his Seattle accident, said he’s “OK with sitting on the sidelines” while his “little buddy, JV” drives the dragster. “JV” is Jordan Vandergriff, who is filling in for Reed for the second consecutive event.
Reed has been adamant that he wants to drive his car at all six races of the Countdown to the Championship, although it’s not clear if he’ll be able to meet his self-imposed deadline.
In typical racer fashion, it wasn’t all that long after his wreck before Reed wondered how soon he could get back in the race car. But he found out quickly that “nothing was going to happen until I got the pin out of my thumb here [which happened this past week]. And now things are starting to roll, and I always said that I want to be the one driving my car in the Countdown. So that’s what we’re on schedule for.”
He said, “Of course, I got my little buddy as a backup if I need him, but I’m hoping to get back in the car and ready, and we’ll just see what the doctors and the NHRA doctors and my surgeon will say.”
Reed readily admitted that his timetable is just his own hopeful thinking: “That’s my brain. That’s my time out of my brain. If it was up to me, I’d tell Jordan to go pack bags right now, but I feel like I can get in the car and drive the car right now. I just maybe [will] have a little hard time getting it [the dragster] off the top end, going hand over hand. Not a lot of lateral movement yet, but I can grip things and stuff like that. So I think another two weeks is pretty good. But again, I don’t know.” He even envisioned a scenario in which a “doctor puts a can of silly putty in my hand.” He said, “We’ll just wait and see, and hopefully we can make it back.”
If not, Reed indicated he knows his Countdown run would be in reliable hands with Vandergriff. The 30-year-old former FOX TV reporter has performed admirably, qualifying second so far for the U.S. Nationals and advancing to the second round at Brainerd despite a weekend in which two engines blew.
Overall, Reed indicated he was impressed. He said, “It’s kind of cool seeing somebody drive my car. It wasn’t cool when the top of it fell off twice in Brainerd. But that being said, Jordan’s a great kid, man. I fell in love with that kid back when we drove together in ’19, and he’s just a good kid and he’s so appreciative of the opportunity. And sometimes it’s not about money or things like that. It’s about what it can do for that individual, and I like that. It’s just surreal, but it is an OK feeling. I’m OK with sitting on the sidelines.
“I wasn’t a young puppy when I started this thing. As you get older, you get more into the giving thing. And I always really started my team with the hopes that I could get it going, drive the car for three, four, or five years and then give other people an opportunity to get in the car,” Reed continued, “because I think there there’s so many people out there that can drive these race cars that never get the opportunity because they’re not in with the people that can make them decisions.”
He recalled how he got his big boost.
“It all changed with me back when I was just paying my way through boat racing, and I met this gal, Barbara Hughes, at a boat race in 2011.” She was, he said, “the one that pretty much funded all the things that I’ve done in racing. Started with boats and into getting my fuel license in 2014 with the Patons [Barry and Todd], and then driving in ’15, ’16, and ’17 with the Patons. And she funded all that for me and then even into the Vandergriff days in ’19 and ’20. So that woman’s done more for me than anybody in my family, and some members in my family have 10 times the money she’s ever thought about having. So it made a side of me that hopefully I could do that one day.”
He shared some of the physical aspects of his crash and the aftermath.
“Well, the first week or two, I don’t really remember. I remember the initial impact and I don’t remember anything for a week or two, although I heard I was talking. So yeah, that was a bummer,” Reed said. “My process for the first few days was I thought I did something wrong, and I couldn’t really think about anything except for I did something wrong. I didn’t want to let the team down or whatever. But as soon as I got right, my brain got right, I watched the crash enough to know that nobody could have stopped that one. So it got better for me after that.”
He lost his index finger and had a pin inserted into his thumb, took nearly 60 stitches, and suffered five broken ribs and a bruised sternum. “When I went to the surgeon 10 days after my deal, and she said that we’ve got to keep the stitches in for 14 days. I went for a follow-up and I told her my timeline. The stitches looked pretty good. They got about what, 46 or 47 stitches out of about 55. And then on the 10-day mark, then we took the rest of them out later on when we could get to them. And then I was supposed to have the pin out on the 27th. They needed to stay in for five weeks,” he said.
“When I got the stitches out, they wanted to put me in a hard cast, and I am like, ‘Man, I won’t be able to do anything,’” Reed said. “So they put me in this half-cast. I was able to start physical therapy on my fingers, which I did probably four or five sessions, and then I went back to Seattle after Brainerd. I didn’t do any PT [physical therapy] back there for a week and a half, but I got my pin out. So now I go back to St. Louis [on] Monday and I got physical therapy at least two times and I can up it to three next week. And then I’ll do two or three the following week to prepare for Reading.” He said his therapy has become “more strenuous.”
“But on a side note, I walked in physical therapy, and there’s probably 20 people in there that do this. [My therapist] was 6-foot-6, 290. I love that guy, but he’s hard on me. He bends things that you just don’t bend right. But I’m starting to feel pretty good. It’s all pretty good now.
“God has a plan for me. I don’t really know what it is,” Reed said. “I got to lose a bunch and I got to crash. He got to take a finger before He let me win something, but He’s going to let me do it sooner or later. So we just keep plugging away. I love the sport. I loved it for my whole life. It just took me 58 years to get here. So here I am, and I plan on staying for a while.”
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – THE FORCE TRIBUTE CAR SHINES LIKE NO OTHER AS BRITTANY GRABS MORE SPEED ACCOLADES
1 – BECKMAN WAXES NOSTALGIC – Jack Beckman drove the “Brute Force” tribute Funny Car to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, posting a 3.865-second run at 332 mph at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.
If the pass holds, it will mark Beckman’s fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 33rd of his career. The performance carried extra meaning as Beckman piloted a car honoring John Force’s 1976 “Brute Force” machine.
“We did the unveiling of the Brute Force body at Graham Rahal’s [Thursday], and a lot of media showed up,” Beckman said. “I told them, ‘I’m trying to do a better job about living in the moment.’ I don’t know if that run will hold, but I know it was the best of Friday night. Pretty cool.”
Beckman said the tie-in with the 50th anniversary of Force’s car made the lap especially significant. “It couldn’t match this car any better if I had tried,” he said. “So cool, because as a little kid, you get it. … And John Force then wasn’t the John Force that the next 35 years saw.”
The run also gave Beckman perspective on the sport’s history. “Pat Foster, Don Schumacher and [Don] Prudhomme were top of their game back then, and John Force was just getting his footing,” he said. “When you’re strapped in that car towing up in the staging lanes, last pair at Indy with Austin Prock in the other lane [and you’re] driving a John Force Brute Force tribute car, that’s about as good as it gets.”
Beckman said longtime mentor Frank Hawley visited him before the run.
“When I was 18, stationed in Aurora, Colorado, in Air Force Tech School and went to the Mile High Nationals, I pointed out to my roommate, ‘That car right there, the Chi-Town Hustler, they’re the two-time defending world champions, and the guy that drives it is Frank Hawley,’” Beckman said. “Would I have thought that 41 years later he’d come over to my pits, and we’d be sitting down at just two guys talking about race cars and life?”
Beckman also tied the run to a late ESPN cameraman known as Stumpy.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Would you be willing to do something for his son?’ So, on that run in the pocket of my fire suit, [some of Stumpy’s ashes] rode with me to low ET on Friday night,” Beckman said. “That is the coolest thing, but icing on the cake is we had to stay up there for a while because we clinched the Countdown. The gentleman that drove us back said, ‘I’m tearing up, man.’ That’s pretty damn cool.”
Beckman said his focus is on balance. “I’m getting pretty good at taking this incrementally,” he said. “I’m pretty cool with, ‘It’s Friday night at Indy and our car just went low ET.’ And it’s a tribute to 50 years of Brute Force.”
2 – HE’S A BRUTE FORCE ALRIGHT – John Force’s iconic “Brute Force” paint scheme returned to the NHRA stage Friday, when Jack Beckman rolled the tribute Funny Car out of the hauler ahead of the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The blue Chevrolet SS, carrying the original “Brute Force” lettering and closed-fist insignia, will be driven by Beckman during the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals. The 16-time Funny Car champion admitted the design looked even sharper under sunlight than when it was unveiled Thursday at Graham Rahal’s shop.
“No, this was [the idea of PEAK’s Brian Bohlander], and they did a great job, T-shirts, and they designed the car,” Force said. “Just to see this goes back a lot of years, to the beginning, and I’m really proud of it.”
Force first campaigned the “Brute Force” look in the mid-1970s, a period he admitted was more about grit and determination than polish. The tribute coincides with NHRA’s 75th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of Force’s “Brute Force” Funny Cars.
“This blue paint scheme is where you got the “Brute Force” lettering and the iron gauntlet insignia and it really ties in well with the PEAK squad colors,” Beckman said. “This is the one that really made the big statement that, ‘I’m John Force and I’m going to be racing nitro funny cars.’”
Beckman, a two-time U.S. Nationals Funny Car champion, noted the tribute’s personal twist. “Ironically, the paint-scheme design on the helmet I’ve been wearing all year is a tribute to John,” he said. “The helmet looks like it was painted to match the ‘Brute Force’ car but, when I had it painted, I didn’t know we would be doing the tribute car.”
Bohlander said the time was right to revisit the iconic design. “The fans have been asking for this particular car for years, and the perfect place to run it is at the biggest race of the year,” he said.
Force recalled how the ‘Brute Force ‘name came about, crediting his uncle, drag racing figure Gene “Uncle Beavs” Beaver, for the inspiration. “It was my original logo in the early days, and it was created by my Uncle Beavs,” Force said. “Years later I asked, ‘Where did you find that?’ ‘Brute Force,’ because he was trying to put Brut Force, and then they said it was one of those [porno] movies.”
The name stuck, and Force raced under the ‘Brute Force’ banner for years. The paint scheme became a marker of his early climb, long before 155 career victories and 16 championships made him the most prolific driver in Funny Car history.
Force, now 76, said he never imagined his career reaching these heights.
“If I came up to you right after you burned the original car to the ground in 1976 at Pomona, and said, ‘John Force, one day you’re going to be the most prolific drag racer in the world,’ you would’ve said what?” A reporter asked.
Force responded. “I would’ve laughed at you. I would’ve said, ‘You must be on drugs.’ No, I did this not for the money. I sent my kids to school, but I did it for the love of this sport.”
Force said the ‘Brute Force’ tribute reflects both history and continuity.
“I’m very honored and proud to have the ‘Brute Force’ paint scheme back out on the track,” he said. “It’s got the big fist on the side with the lightning bolts … I think it’s pretty awesome.”
3 – A SHOW OF FORCE – Brittany Force opened Top Fuel qualifying at the U.S. Nationals with a run of 3.666 seconds at track-record 339.79 mph Friday, putting her in the provisional No. 1 spot at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. If it holds, it would mark her fourth No. 1 of the season and the 56th of her career.
Force said the opening pass set the tone for a pivotal weekend.
“Yes, that’s an ideal way to take our race car down the track, Q1,” Force said. “Climb out of the car and our team clinched into the Countdown, so that’s pretty exciting to come off a run like that. Indy, this weekend, when the points reset, and now it’s game on for this Countdown. It was an exciting way to do that, put a 3.66 on the board. Killer run for David Grubnic and all these guys in Cornwell colors.”
The track record run adds to Force’s career accomplishments, but she said her focus remains on winning Indy for the first time.
“An Indy win is huge, it’s what every driver wants,” Force said. “It’s definitely been on my bucket list for a long time. We’ve accomplished a lot, but one thing we haven’t done is won here in Indy. I was runner-up twice a few years ago, so we’ve been successful here, but we’ve never been able to take it to the winner’s circle, and we’d love to do that.”
The two-time Top Fuel champion reflected on her qualifying ledger, which now includes 56 No. 1 starts since her rookie year in 2013.
“Just to hear that number, it’s very much a ‘wow’ moment to look at,” Force said. “My career, I came out in 2013, it was my rookie season, and my first win was years later at the Winternationals. We’ve done so much since then, so much that I’m so proud of. Alongside different crew chiefs, different sponsors, different crew guys – it’s been just incredible, what we’ve done. But to hear 56, that’s where it’s, ‘Wow.’ That number seems huge and it’s something I’m very proud of, but again, we always want more than that. It’s never enough.”
Force said her drive to keep improving has not changed, even with records and championships already on her résumé.
“You always want to excel, you want to improve, and you want to just keep on growing in the right direction,” she said. “This team, this weekend, we’re looking for a win.”
4 – ANDERSON VISITS THE 6.40S – Greg Anderson opened Pro Stock qualifying at the U.S. Nationals with a record-setting performance, running 6.491 seconds at 210 mph Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. If it holds, it will be his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season.
Anderson said the conditions were ideal.
“It is rare air for Indy in August. We don’t usually get this, so when we saw the weather forecast, it’s just a Pro Stock racer’s dream,” Anderson said. “Low ETs and great weather. And when you get in that race car and you don’t wilt, and sweat and drip sweat in your eyes, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”
The four-time U.S. Nationals winner said the race carries added meaning following the death of longtime team owner Ken Black earlier this week.
“Obviously we all know why. … It’s a sad, sad deal,” Anderson explained. “But we’re going to celebrate it. He wants us to be here racing, and he wants us to go there and kick everybody’s ass. And that’s what I want to try and do this weekend.”
Anderson said the fast start helped set the tone.
“That’s a great start here, and I feel like I’ve got a great attitude this weekend,” he said. “So we’ll see how far that attitude can take me.”
The qualifying battle also carries championship implications. Anderson trails leader Dallas Glenn by only nine points heading into the final race of the regular season. A sizable bonus is also on the line for the leader at the end of the weekend.
“It does,” Anderson said when asked if the bonus adds motivation. “I definitely came here to try and get that carrot, no doubt. And as I said … the good news is it’s going back to KB Titan. But don’t think for one minute that Dallas doesn’t want it just as bad as I do.”
Anderson said the battle with Glenn will be decided on the racetrack.
“The racers, and it doesn’t really matter who’s in the other lane, you want that piece of cheese,” Anderson said. “And he’s after my piece of cheese, and I’m after his piece of cheese. And we’ll see who can get it.”
4B – HERRERA SETS TRACK RECORD – Gaige Herrera opened qualifying at the U.S. Nationals with a track record, riding to the provisional No. 1 spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Herrera clocked a 6.739-second run at 198 mph to lead the field after the first of five sessions.
Herrera, who has consistently set the pace this season, said even he was surprised by the lap.
“I was really shocked we ran what we did,” Herrera said. “That was a picture-perfect run. I didn’t have to make any adjustments, hit all my shift points. Going the 6.739 at 200, that’s basically all she got.”
The U.S. Nationals format provides one qualifying session Friday, followed by two each on Saturday and Sunday. Herrera said the extended schedule allows teams to test different combinations.
“It’s hard to prepare. With different weather and track conditions, we could try a few different things,” he said. “Luckily, we just hit it on the head there. I don’t see us going any faster, but anything’s possible.”
Cooler conditions in Indianapolis gave teams a boost. Herrera said past notes offered little guidance.
“We can’t even look at last year or the last couple years’ notes,” Herrera said. “We got to go back to Seattle, Sonoma notes. That’s one thing about Indiana, you never know what you’re going to get. But it looks like the weather’s going to be nice all weekend.”
Despite holding low-elapsed time at most events this season, Herrera said the 6.739 exceeded his expectations.
“We figured a 75, 76,” Herrera said. “So to get a 73, I feel like it was honestly just because it was a picture-perfect run. I didn’t move the bike probably a quarter inch left to right all the way down the track, and that doesn’t happen too often.”
5 – LINE WINS HEMI CHALLENGE – Jason Line added another achievement to his career Friday, winning the prestigious Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Line powered his Fish Stick ’68 Barracuda to an 8.280-second pass at 160.92 mph, defeating multi-time event champion Jimmy Daniels, who clocked an 8.334 in the final.
For Line, the victory carried personal meaning. Just days after the passing of Ken Black, longtime NHRA Pro Stock team owner and supporter, Line said the timing felt like fate. “This one ranks right up there, especially from a timing standpoint,” Line said. “Losing Ken a couple of days ago was, he suffered a lot the last 16 years, but he was a great man. He did a lot for us. And to be able to win it right now, I feel like the winner was determined before we got here, so just very cool. For sure.”
Line’s path to the final included wins over David Bogner, Charlie Westcott, and Anthony Rhodes. Daniels advanced with victories over Rich Johnson, Eric Bell, and defending champion Steve Comella.
The event, featuring Super Stock/A Hemi cars, has long been one of the most distinctive specialty races during the NHRA U.S. Nationals. For Line, the types of cars make the win even more rewarding. “They’re unique and they’re super hard to build,” Line said. “It’s a really tough car. It really is. And the Charlie Westcotts and the Bartons, all those people that have done all this for years, I mean, listen, they’re chock-full of talent. It’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of effort, for sure.”
Line’s victory marked his first in the Mopar specialty event, which has been dominated in recent years by Daniels and Comella. But on this day, with added motivation, the outcome seemed inevitable. “When you’re racing inspired as Line was, it looks effortless,” one official remarked as Line celebrated.
The Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge, held annually as part of the U.S. Nationals, honors the legacy of the famed Sox & Martin team and showcases the history and craftsmanship of the Super Stock/A Hemi class. With his victory, Line added his name to the short list of winners in one of drag racing’s most unique and respected events.
For Line, the moment was more than just a race win. It was a tribute. “To be able to win it right now,” Line repeated, “I feel like the winner was determined before we got here.”
WHAT GOES UP – Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge racer Anthony Rhodes shows off what happens when a Barracuda comes crashing down to earth. (Mighty Mack Photo)
6 – SOUTHERN COMFORT – The NHRA will return to Georgia in 2026 with the revival of the Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park, the sanctioning body’s first new national-event track in more than a decade.
The announcement came Thursday during the unveiling of NHRA’s 20-race schedule for its 75th anniversary season. On Friday at the U.S. Nationals, the news became even more real for track owners Raul and Jennifer Torres, who purchased the Adel, Georgia, facility in 2023. The event will be contested May 1-3, 2026.
“This is a dream come true,” Raul Torres said. “When my wife, Jennifer, and I bought the track two years ago, we wanted to build a community for drag racers and fans to enjoy quality family entertainment. We have put in a lot of blood, sweat and some tears to get to this point. We are dedicated to hosting premiere events at every level and adding the NHRA Southern Nationals next season will be a great opportunity and challenge. We are up to the task, and we can’t wait to roll out the red carpet for thousands of fans from across the country.”
The NHRA last staged a Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event in Georgia in 2021, when the Southern Nationals closed out Atlanta Dragway’s existence. The return marks the first time since 2013 a new venue has been added to the NHRA tour.
NHRA President Glen Cromwell said the move represents both tradition and growth.
“For us to grow, we have to go to new markets. We need to take our athletes and our superstars to new fans, new eyeballs, and this is just the beginning of what I see the future of NHRA,” Cromwell said. “It starts with Raul, Jennifer, a great team, and of course, a great market. I’m excited to bring the superstars of the NHRA to a great racetrack and a great track owner.”
RauL Torres said the track, which has hosted bracket races, divisional events and specialty promotions, will be upgraded before 2026.
“We’re not going to sell 40,000 tickets,” he said. “We want everyone to have an experience, not just watch a race. We’re bringing in more grandstands, we’re going to extend our campsites, and we’re confident we can fit a race of this size.”
The economic impact is expected to be significant, drawing fans from Georgia, Florida, and beyond. “Hosting an NHRA national event will raise awareness for the area and bring in new dollars to the surrounding community,” Torres said.
To support improvements, the track launched its “Legacy Lane Wall” campaign, selling personalized bricks and tiles to fund new grandstands and suites. “The Legacy Lane Wall is a way for all parts of our support system to play a role in our success,” Torres said.
Cromwell said bringing NHRA back to Georgia was a priority.
“Commerce [Atlanta Dragway] was a big event for us for many, many years, and that was a difficult decision for us coming out of COVID,” he said. “But we knew when we did it, we wanted to be back there and now we’re back there and we’re in a great place with a great track owner that’s going to take us to new heights.”
The Southern Nationals’ return also coincides with NHRA’s 75th anniversary. Torres called it an honor. “It’s huge for us to be able to represent Wally Parks and his family and his legacy. That isn’t taken lightly. We want to make sure we make him and his family proud and we’re going to do that,” he said.
Torres said he hopes to one day be compared to the sport’s most respected track-owning families. “We can’t be compared to those families. Those are legacies. We hope to one day be able to be compared to them,” he said. “We certainly share their vision, but we want to prove ourselves in this industry. We’ve just begun, but we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
7 – IF AUSTIN COIL SAID IT – Dickie Venables has built a career as one of drag racing’s most aggressive tuners, a crew chief known for swinging hard at racetracks with championship results. But in his first season with Kalitta Motorsports and J.R. Todd’s DHL Toyota Funny Car, Venables has leaned on a different virtue – patience.
Venables, who previously guided Matt Hagan to multiple Funny Car titles, has been tasked with steering Todd’s program into contention. The transition, he admitted, has tested his instincts as a tuner who often pushed combinations to the limit.
That adjustment came with advice from one of the sport’s most accomplished minds, legendary tuner Austin Coil.
“He said if he was ever in that situation that he would tell the owner that he needs a hundred runs to get it sorted out,” Venables said. “And I’ve always remembered that, but now I’m living that. So that’s kind of where we’re at in the season, and that’s a pretty accurate statement.”
For Venables, reaching that point comes at the right time of the year. The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is heading into its Countdown to the Championship stretch, when teams aim to peak. “You always want to be running good come ending the Countdown,” he said. “So we’re not where we need to be yet, but the car will make some good runs and we got something to work with. I think we will be a contender for winning some races, starting here and throughout the rest of the year.”
The contrast between his former reputation and his current approach hasn’t gone unnoticed. Venables admitted the patience-first method can be frustrating.
“It’s easier now because I’ve got more experience doing it,” he said. “It’s just you cannot force these things to run good. You have to get everything in place. You got to get the engine where it’s happy, get the clutch where it’s working. Because if you don’t get the engine happy and you step on the clutch, it’s going to blow the thing up. It’ll just blow up in your face. So knowing that, just wait till you get everything sorted out, and when it’s time to run quick, try and do that.”
That measured philosophy has Todd and the DHL team gradually building consistency. Still, Venables admitted he is eager to shift from cautious steps to bold swings. “It’s kind of to the point I’m tired of creeping,” he said. “I’m ready to get after it. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Venables, who cut his teeth under Coil’s leadership at John Force Racing before establishing himself as one of the top crew chiefs in the category, has seen both the value of restraint and the rewards of aggression. As the 2025 season heads into its defining months, he said the timing may finally be right to merge the two.
8 – NO FENCE-CLIMBING IN THE PLAN – Twenty years ago this month, Tony Stewart won NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and climbed the fence in celebration. If Stewart wins the Top Fuel trophy here Monday, about seven miles down the road at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, he really has no fence to climb and interact with the fans.
And he indicated that’s a fortunate thing. Stewart, 54, said he’s “too old to be climbing fences. We don’t have to climb a fence anymore.”
Besides, he said, “Let’s just win the race first and we’ll figure out that s—.”
Stewart has a lot more pressing things to figure out. He’s second in the standings and eager to overtake Shawn Langdon to earn the $150,000 regular-season champion’s prize awarded at the conclusion of this race.
And thoughts of driving a Pro Stock car might have been dancing in his head a bit, depending on the future plans of his wife, Leah Pruett.
“Right now, we’re just trying to figure out what Leah’s going to do and then after that we’ll figure out what we’re going to do. So, we just got to wait and see,” he said. “My wife’s got to figure out what she wants to do before I do anything, but obviously at the point that she decides that she wants her car back, I’m going to have to figure out what I’m going to do. We all know I can spectate for a little bit, but I’m not very good at standing around when there’s race cars around. So we’ll just wait and see what happens. We’ve got to see what her stuff’s going to be first.”
Pruett stepped away from her Top Fuel dragster after the 2023 season to focus on starting a family, and has been busy since last November with their baby son, Dominic. Stewart has maintained that the dragster he’s driving is hers and she can take it back anytime she chooses to make a return to competition with it.
He said the notion of driving in the Pro Stock class started with Elite Motorsports owner Richard Freeman. Stewart said, “Richard Freeman and I are really good friends and very close, and he has been wearing me out for a year now to just go drive one. So we finally found a time in the schedule that worked out for both of us, and were able to go do it and didn’t even run. We were there two days, but we only ran in the afternoon the first day and two runs in the morning the second day.
“It was nice to try something different. I think that’s kind of been my M.O. in my racing careers, always not being afraid to try something new and just see what it’s about,” Stewart said.
“There’s a lot more things to do in the car than you have to do in a fuel car, just learning procedures and just learning a new car. I mean, Erica Enders sent me a four-page list of what it took to do one run and all the steps that it took to do it, do it correctly,” he said. “So to me that was a lot to digest. And I can’t even remember what I had for lunch the day before. So trying to figure out and remember four pages of notes of how to do a run correctly was definitely the hardest part.”
9 – DANGER FOR BOND, JUSTIN BOND – Canadian Pro Modified racer Justin Bond, of Mission, British Columbia, walked away seemingly uninjured from a high-speed accident during qualifying. After he crossed the left-lane finish line, his ’69 Camaro made a hard right, crossed into the opposite lane, and nosed into the wall. The car flipped and skidded to a halt on its roof. Bond exited the car on his own power, and was examined by NHRA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phil Surface before being sent to a local hospital for further evaluation.
10 – AFRONTI WINS COMP CLASH AS SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING WINDS DOWN – Frank Affronti captured the DeeCell Comp Clash on Friday, defeating Ryan Priddy in the final round. Affronti ran 8.357 at 159.31 to Priddy’s 6.421 at 217.81. His path to the win included victories over Bruno Massel, Pete D’Agnolo and Rodger Brogdon.
In Top Alcohol Dragster, Matthew Cummings led after two sessions with a 5.196 at 273.00. Shawn Cowie followed at 5.215, 277.77, and Will Smith was third at 5.218, 275.00. Shaunda Blinzler (5.240, 278.06) and Jackie Fricke (5.262, 276.46) rounded out the top five. Jon Bradford, Anthony Troyer, Brandon Greco, Melanie Johnson and Taylor Januik completed the top 10.
Annie Whiteley set the pace in Top Alcohol Funny Car with a 5.455 at 269.83. Phil Esz was second at 5.467, 264.08, and Madison Gordon third at 5.474, 268.60. Christine Foster’s 5.484 at 261.22 held fourth, with Stan Sipos close behind at 5.500, 268.17. Jim Whiteley (5.544), Brian Hough (5.558), Steve Macklyn (5.600), Chip Beverett (5.646) and Shane Westerfield (5.652) rounded out the first 10.
Factory Stock Showdown qualifying saw Lenny Lottig take the provisional No. 1 spot with a 7.707 at 177.32 in his 2023 Camaro. Veteran Mark Pawuk was second with a 7.733 at 178.12 in his Challenger. Jesse Alexandra posted a 7.764 at 177.42 for third. Jonathan Allegrucci (7.780, 177.42) and Lee Hartman (7.782, 176.84) completed the top five. Ricky Hord, David Janac, Tony Scott Jr., Anthony Berge and Raymond Nash slotted into positions six through 10.
In Competition Eliminator, Don Thomas held the top spot in C/D with a 6.753, .727 under his index. Priddy’s A/A Camaro followed at 6.405, .675 under, and Jason Coan was third in G/EA at 8.069, .671 under. Doug Engels (7.264, .666 under) and Chase Williams (6.805, .665 under) completed the top five. Brogdon’s ’34 Chevrolet, Mike Farrell’s B/SR entry, Taylor Chomiski’s E/SM, Jeremy Bailey’s C/DA and D’Agnolo’s E/SMA filled out the top 10.
