Photos bY: Mike Burghardt, Jeff Burghardt, Alex Owens
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – LANGDON, BECKMAN SIT ATOP THRONE OF TIRES, ALONG WITH GLADSTONE, HARTFORD; NHRA MOVES UP SATURDAY SESSIONS; GORDON MAKES FASTEST RUN AT LVMS
1 – TOP FUEL SPOILS GO TO LANGDON – Shawn Langdon prevailed in a flurry of 3.6-second passes in the Top Fuel class Friday night at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge, was the king on a custom-designed “Throne of Tires,” and earned five more precious points and $3,500 payout from the Ted Wiens Complete Auto Service “Trick or Traction” low-qualifier bonus program.
Langdon’s 3.672-second elapsed time put him in an especially prime position to grab his eighth No. 1 start, considering an uncertain weather forecast prompted the NHRA to move up Saturday’s qualifying sessions at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. PDT.
The points leader credited a “good pass [and] good conditions” for his performance but pointed to the “consistency [and] perfection” of his Brian Husen-led crew. “They give me a perfect car,” Langdon said after signing the oversized display check to the order of team boss Connie Kalitta.
Behind Langdon with 3.6-second E.T.s Friday night were, in order: Tony Stewart, the early-session leader; Josh Hart, who praised his crew chief as “the Dave Grubnic we all expect,” and Doug Kalitta, who rebounded from 16th place in the first qualifying session.
In the opening session of this fifth of six Countdown to the Championship races and 19th of 20 events on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, the quickest three drivers posted identical 3.719-second elapsed times. Speed was the determining factor in the order as Stewart took the No. 1 position at 336.99 mph. Langdon was No. 2 with a 335.73, and Spencer Massey was third at 332.67. Stewart said he was most impressed because everyone was battling “a little bit of a headwind.”
Maddi Gordon was fastest of the session with a track-record 340.56-mph speed, but was fourth at 3.724 seconds, four-thousandths of a second ahead of Billy Torrence.
2 – JFR TEAMMATES REIGN IN FUNNY CAR – Alexis DeJoria, still rockin’ it from attending the Metallica concert Thursday at The Sphere, grabbed the early No. 1 position in Las Vegas style with her Las Vegas Raiders-themed scheme on her Chevy Camaro. She kept her 3.874-second, 333.33-mph lead through most of the second session. But Jack Beckman, her John Force Racing teammate, swooped in during the night run and took over as the provisional No. 1 qualifier and recipient of the Ted Wiens “Trick or Traction” $3,500 bonus check – which he made out to “John Force.”
Two more sessions are scheduled for Saturday, but the rains that caused a significant interruption in Friday’s action might come back. Beckman is hoping to hold on for his fifth No. 1 start of the season. Even before the second session started, DeJoria said, “Jack always comes back and just slaps us right down.”
3 – HARTFORD TOPS PRO STOCK LIST – Matt Hartford sliced Dallas Glenn’s lead over him from 41 points to 38, grabbing the tentative No. 1 Pro Stock starter position. After being presented the Ted Wiens “Trick or Traction” bonus check, he said the extra $2,000 was a blessing: “For a small racer, this really means something.” He did say his family-run group would use some of it to have a special dinner with a bottle of wine, have some pasta, and talk about their day at The Strip.
Hartford said his crew “is a small, little family team, and we love it that way.”
He gets his power from KB Titan Racing and said, “KB has probably three people per car, but they’ve got – I don’t know how many people they have – maybe 30-plus people at the track all supporting their five cars. So they have an onslaught of technology with people. So if one car goes out, those people just migrate over to the next car, where for us, we only have one car, and there’s only four of us. So I would say that we’re probably one of the smallest teams competing for a championship out there.”
His Total Seal Chevy Camaro team entered the race ranked third behind Glenn and Greg Stanfield, who was the first-session leader Friday. But even with KB-Titan titan Greg Anderson on his heels and T.J. Coughlin just 99 points off Glenn’s pace coming into the weekend, Hartford knows he has a great chance to vie for his first title. And he nows he has to concentrate on the task at hand.
“We’re thrilled. Our goal is to keep our head down. We have two races left. It’s to try to win these next two races and win the championship. We’re in a very good position that we have a chance,” Hartford said. “The points will add up themselves. Math is a wonderful thing. It’s been around since the history of man. So it doesn’t matter what the numbers say. If we simply execute and qualify well and go rounds, the numbers will shake out where they will. And our goal is to qualify No. 1 and win the race for the next two races.”
4 – HERRERA GIVES LEADER GADSON FITS – When Gaige Herrera finished the first qualifying session by edging out points leader and Vance & Hines teammate Richard Gadson for the tentative top spot in the Pro Stock Motorcycle lineup, he said, “It’s a lot of fun” competing against his RevZilla/Motul Suzuki colleague. But, he said, “I kind of wish sometime he wasn’t my teammate” because he rather dislikes having to compete against his own organization.
And despite losing power on his second pass Friday, Herrera held onto the lead. Gadson completed the first day of qualifying in second place.
5 – DIAPER MONEY – Joey Gladstone, who’s finishing out the Pro Stock Motorcycle season for pregnant Jianna Evaristo but set to compete on his own RAD Torque Systems-backed bike next season, earned the Ted Wiens “Trick or Traction” bonus of $1,000 as low Friday-night qualifier.
“I didn’t expect to go low,” Gladstone said. “It’s a little more money for Baby Evaristo. I’m doing my part. I don’t know about the race win thing yet, but at least we’re getting some diaper money.”
The Matt Smith Racing rider said, “I’m getting more and more excited about next year,” saying he’ll be continuing “to do what I love to do: riding fast motorcycles and hopefully to be able to chase a championship.”
Smith said, “Jianna’s been on our team for four years now. And, man, I really wanted to get her a win so bad before she has her baby. She’s coming back. I just don’t know if it’s going to be a year [or] it’s going to be two years she going to take off. But she’s going to have a healthy little girl, and we’re going to take care of her bike. It’s going to sit at the shop and be ready, so when she’s ready to come back, it’ll be ready for her. And trust me, she’s got a fast motorcycle. Joey’s proved that. It’s fast. So it’s just going to sit in the corner and wait for her to come back.”
6 – BANAKA OWNS PRO MOD HONORS – Billy Banaka opened the season finale for the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series by zipping to the head of the provisional leaderboard. But he had slipped to sixth-best by the time he came to the starting line for his second qualifying pass. And he was not going to be denied.
Banaka blew away his competitors in that second session with a booming 5.700-second, 252.00-mph pass that gave him a four-hundredths-of-a-second gap on No. 2 J.R. Gray (5.745, 247.66).
This is the last of 11 races on the 2026 calendar for the class, with four title contenders – leader Justin Bond, Mike Stavrinos (17 points back), Derek Menholt (54 points for third place), and Gray (the current champion and the lone racer of the quartet with a title to his name).
7 – TAYLOR MADE FOR COMP CLASH – Jeff Taylor already had the credentials of a world champion. On Friday at the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals presented by Dodge, he added another $20,000 to his racing résumé.
The reigning NHRA Competition Eliminator world champion drove his David Nickens-prepared J&A Services A/Econo Dragster to victory in the Deecell Power Systems NHRA Comp Clash, defeating Taylor Chomiski in a final round that matched two of the category’s toughest competitors.
Taylor delivered a 6.70-second pass, running .49 under his index to defeat Chomiski’s Blind Frog Ranch E/Super Modified Chevrolet Cobalt. Along with the $20,000 payday, Taylor collected a Speedmaster small-block Chevrolet top-end kit.
Taylor made his strongest statement in the opening round, running .57 under his index to eliminate Kevin Carter. From there, his road to the winner’s circle became considerably less complicated when Ryan Priddy and Mike Dahl were unable to complete competitive runs against him in the second round and semifinals, respectively.
Chomiski, meanwhile, had to earn his way through a considerably tougher path. Steve Graham cut a .002 reaction time against him in the opening round but lifted early, allowing Chomiski to advance.
The next two rounds required considerably more horsepower from Chomiski’s Cobalt. He knocked off Ryan Warter in an all-E/Super Modified matchup with a run .53 under his index, then dispatched David Barton’s FS/Super Modified Dodge with a .52-under performance in the semifinals.
Both finalists also received two VP Racing 5.5-gallon blue utility jugs and two VP Racing trucker caps, although Taylor left Las Vegas with the considerably larger prize. – Bobby Bennett
8 – ‘FLYIN’ FORKLIFT’ FASTEST – Maddi Gordon erased Brittany Force’s 338.85-mph track speed record in the first qualifying session with a 340.56-mph blast, the first 340 clocking at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It came on her career-first pass on this 1,000-foot course, but it wasn’t her first at this facility.
“Vegas is an extremely familiar place for my family and me. I’ve raced Jr. Dragsters, Jr. Comp, Super Comp, Super Pro, Alcohol Funny Car. I’ve watched my dad [multi-time Top Alcohol Funny Car champion Doug Gordon] race there my entire life. So Vegas is a very familiar place and one of my favorites,” she said.
9 – MORE POWERS TO THE TOP FUEL CLASS – Chris Powers took the 13th place in the Top Fuel line-up in his debut in the class Friday. Afterward, he explained the learning curve he is dealing with following his two-time PDRA Extreme Pro Stock championship performance: “With the clutch, it’s totally different in this thing with the hand brake and everything,” the Carlisle, Pa., resident said. “And the G-force is incredible in the car. So, it’s a handful out there, and this is the fourth time in the car. So we’re just going to keep picking away and see what we can do.” In the night session, he ran two-thousandths of a second quicker in the Todd Paton-owned dragster.
10 – ROCKIN’ FOR THE RAIDERS – Alexis DeJoria might not have been able to keep her provisional No. 1 Funny status, but she arguably sported the most talked-about livery with her new Silver and Black tribute to the Las Vegas Raiders on her Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet Camaro.
Raider Nation superfans Wayne “Violator” Mabry and Mark Jones, president of the Black Hole fan club, clad in their signature game-day gear helped her unveil the scheme just before her first qualifying run Friday.
DeJoria will race with that look through the remainder of the season, touting Bandero Premium Tequila’s July announcement of its multi-year partnership with the Las Vegas Raiders.
DeJoria said, “Vegas has always been one of my favorite tracks. We’ve had really good success here. I’ve got two Wallys from here – just missing that diamond Wally from this year, so I’d love to triple up here in Vegas. We’re off to a great start. I’ve been a huge fan of the Raiders my entire life, ever since I was a little girl when they were the L.A. Raiders and they were playing at the [Los Angeles] Coliseum. I mean, I had a football signed by the whole team. My mom was friends with Marcus Allen. To have the Raider Nation here supporting us is massive. I hadn’t even seen the car until they took the cover off. And I’m sitting there going, ‘Everybody’s enjoying the car. I don’t even know what it looks like yet.’ Proud to be running that silver and black. Go Raiders.”
