Photos by Alex Owens, NHRA
Competition Plus’ random water-cooler topics from the New England Nationals at Epping, New Hampshire’s New England Dragway
RAIN PREVENTS TOP FUEL, FUNNY CAR FINAL ROUNDS; GLENN CLAIMS THIRD PRO STOCK WIN OF YEAR BEFORE NHRA MOVES FINISH TO BRISTOL
1 – NHRA fans will have to wait until Friday to discover who their Top Fuel and Funny Car winners are from the New England Nationals.
Rain showers couldn’t hold off at Epping, N.H., until Leah Pruett and Shawn Langdon finished their Top Fuel showdown and John Force Racing teammates Jack Beckman and Jordan Vandergriff squared off in their Funny Car final round. So officials announced this eighth of 20 races on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series calendar will be completed Friday at the Supergrip Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn.
Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn was the lone pro winner Sunday at New England Dragway, defeating Matt Hartford.
2 – TOP FUEL FINAL INCLUDES ANOTHER KALITTA CAR – Dating back to last season’s rain-shortened conclusion, a Kalitta Motorsports dragster has appeared in 30 of the past 31 NHRA elimination rounds. Leah Pruett, of Tony Stewart Racing, will try to break the cycle of Kalitta supremacy as she faces Shawn Langdon and tries to prevent him from recording his fourth straight victory and fifth in eight events this year. She’s seeking her first victory of the season after reaching the final quad at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals and the Arizona Nationals earlier in 2026.
3 – ALL-JOHN FORCE RACING FUNNY CAR FINAL SET – South Georgia Motorsports Park Funny Car winner Jordan Vandergriff is aiming for his second victory in his class-rookie season in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro. Final-round opponent Jack Beckman, driver of the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro, is eyeing his 38th overall victory but first in 22 races; the last was last year’s Chicago triumph. This will be the first all-John Force Racing final of 2026, and it’s the first time since last September’s U.S. Nationals, when Austin Prock defeated Beckman. Beckman said, “I don’t want to say we’re overdue. We just need to work harder. We need to go out there and earn this, because that Cornwell team’s going to make us.”
4 – GLENN GETS THIRD PRO STOCK VICTORY – KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn lived up to his “Double-0 Dallas” nickname, cutting a .002-second reaction time to defeat Matt Hartford in the Pro Stock final for his third victory of the season and 24th overall in the Rad Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro. Hartford, driving the Total Seal Camaro, responded with an excellent .021-second light, had said, “We either win the race or lose in the first round.” But he didn’t do either Sunday. Meanwhile Glenn, the winner also at Phoenix and at South Georgia Motorsports Park, set his sights on this coming weekend’s race at Bristol, Tenn., where he hopes to tame the Thunder Valley dragstrip for the first time.
5 – ‘BIZARRE FIRST ROUND’ IN FUNNY CAR – Ron Capps said after his first-round victory against Dan Wilkerson, “What a bizarre Round One!” He was so right.
Matt Hagan and Del Worsham started things with some double trouble. Worsham, a series champion in both Top Fuel and Funny Car who unquestionably knows how to stage and race, fouled out with a -.171 reaction time, then hit a couple of timing cones on his way downtrack, flirting with the center line along the way. It admittedly was “a gift” for Hagan, who lost traction immediately and fought a blanket of pollen and his own Dodge en route to the second round, where he lost to Jack Beckman.
Afterward, Hagan said, “Del Worsham’s a great driver. I got a lot of respect for that guy. I look up to him. He’s obviously a world champion, but, man, I thought I was dead-late when he was red like that. I was like, ‘He had to go red.’ And then to see him hit a cone.” As for his own handful of issues, Hagan said, “It smoked the tires so hard that we had that front ‘death wobble.’ It ripped the wheels out of my hands, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, do I grab it and try to pedal again!’ and then they shut me off. But what a wild deal, man. I’ve never in my life drove to the racetrack and it looks like a sandstorm but it’s pollen. I’m just glad my eyes aren’t puffy and shut and I can see the tree and hopefully go a few more rounds.”
Wow, I guess pollen annoys people late up north, huh? Aren’t you glad you aren’t there?
Two pairs later, Jeff Arend knocked out two more timing blocks. In two more pairs, Cruz Pedregon crossed the center line and demolished four cones against Alexis DeJoria, who drove despite getting a faceful of nitro when her clean-air supply malfunctioned on the launch.
So officials had to replace a total of eight foam timing blocks in just that one Funny Car round.
Finally, Chad Green’s bproauto Ford advanced on a solo pass because opponent Dave Richards’ SCAG/Bluebird Turf Mustang was cut off at the starting line. It had lurched forward when the crew tried to start it and the crew couldn’t fix whatever the problem seemed to be. Richards, puzzled about what his car did, “We had no neutral, or something was going on. I’m sure something silly broke, because it’s not from lack of an effort or assembly with my guys. I bet you we’re going to find that little $2 part that bit us for some reason.”
But Green, who had a body-destroying engine detonation Saturday that cost him 10 points, had trouble getting his engine to fire after waiting on Richards. And co-crew chief Joe Serena, who said he was “trying not to cuss,” said he was “pissed off at some of the guys – they’ve been messing up left and right.” He apologized to sponsor bproauto, because he had to revert to the back-up body with Bond Coat livery. “I just want to first apologize to bpro. This whole weekend has been great. I apologize for not having another body ready with stickers but didn’t plan on doing that Q3. Come up here, it’s like our first day. I’m trying not to cuss. But we’re going to keep coming back up here and represent bpro the rest of the weekend. Then if we win, we’re going to throw that blown up body on there and take pictures with it.”
6 – JFR CARS ON A ROLL – JFR Funny Cars seized the top three starting spots in qualifying and fought their way to an all-JFR final round. The only team Funny Car driver missing from the semifinal (and the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty competition next weekend at Bristol, Tenn.) was Alexis DeJoria, who lost in the second round to Ron Capps by 18/10,000ths of a second (.0018). Beckman, who reached the final round against teammate Jordan Vandergriff, said, “John [Force] didn’t come out this week. He didn’t want to do all three in a row. We miss you, Boss. We qualified one, two, three, and three [the last with Josh Hart in Top Fuel], and we got two Chevys in the final,” he said. The last time JFR cars started 1-2-3 in the Funny Car class was in 2017, at the Four-Wide event at Charlotte, with drivers Courtney Force, Robert Hight, and John Force.
7 –THEY SAID IT – “Pollen” replaced the early buzz phrase “pucker factor” during Sunday’s eliminations. But a couple more memorable quotes from the New England Nationals came from the Tony Stewart Racing Nitro team:
“This track is a little hairy.” – Top Fuel’s Leah Pruett
“That team needs to get an award for the hardest-working team. They were out here later than us, and they were here before us. I’m just glad to see him out there.” – Tony Stewart Racing crew chief Neal Strausbaugh, referring to Scott Farley’s ScottRod independent Top Fuel team that repaired its car after a spectacular engine explosion on the starting line during qualifying.
8 – LOCAL RACERS JOIN LIST OF SPORTSMAN WINNERS – Ava Meloni, appearing in only her second race, earned her first trophy in Top Dragster competition, and New England Dragway racing friend Eric Cabral, who captured his first victory with the Top Sportsman trophy, told her, “These are hard to come by, so enjoy it.” Others enjoying their Diamond Wally statues Sunday were Joe Carnasciale (Comp Eliminator), Todd Bednaz (Stock), Shane Oakes (Super Stock and also runner-up in Stock), Jason Mazzotta (Super Street), Jack Sepanek (Super Comp), Charlie Knopic (Super Gas, winning for the first time in eight years), and Marco Philippon (Pro Stock 800 Sled).
CLICK HERE – READ THE QUALIFYING TEN
9 – CREW CHIEF CONFIDENTIAL – Four-time championship-winning crew chief Brian Corradi, Antron Brown’s tuner for the Matco Tools dragster, shared his strategy about this second half of the regular season. Corradi, who owns several pizza restaurants in suburban Cleveland, used a “foodie’s” metaphor to explain his approach. He had said early in the day that he figured every race at this stage of the season is “going to be a test session all the way to Indy,” when the Countdown to the Championship fields are set. Then he said, “Even though Indy’s a big one to win the season leading up to the championship run, I like to just test to the end and then put it all together like good soup.”
Brown has mentioned clutch discs, which announcer Joe Castello called “the secret sauce that is in drag racing. The challenge, no matter who you are, what you do, how good you are, how good you’ve been, if you get one that is a little mysterious, it’s hard to figure out.”
Corradi said, “That’s for sure. That’s what we’re fighting. We had to make about three disc changes this year, and we ran out of some of the stuff that we ran for a couple years. And that’s where we’re at. So trying to get the personalities right in the bellhousing is a big thing. And when you get them, you want to have them for as long as you can. And one of the things with having a multi-car team, you can test a bunch of different discs. Well, we don’t have that. We just got the one car that we’re running.
“That was one of the benefits at Don Schumacher Racing. Not only you’re buying them in bulk, so if it’s like something that you like, you got a lot of them as a independent team. I know Ron Capps made a big deal about this and has talked a little bit about this. They had that problem a year ago or so. At Don’s, it was a list you got to pick. He made your pick and if you didn’t like them, you fought for another pick and then you went and ran. I mean, then you have all these other cars that you can talk to about it,” he said.
As for his current dragster, he said, “We’re going to get it sorted out. I think we’re pretty close – a couple here and a couple there. Then maybe we can catch these Kalitta guys and Leah and all these other guys that are ahead of us.”
Castello tried to get Corradi to describe what the “old-school Don Schumacher Racing ‘clutch disc draft’ was like. Corradi said it “was pretty fun.” Castello asked about how the order of clutch-disc selection was determined – “Like world champion first? Or what was the order? How was it determined?” Corradi said, “I don’t know.” Castello pressed: “Random draws?” Corradi said, “No, I don’t think it was like that. Now, there was some backdoor stuff going on. But it was some uniform[ity] to it. Wasn’t who was the best got the best.” And they left it at that.
10 – TODD CREDITS IHRA FOR HIS START – Kalitta Motorsports’ DHL Toyota Supra Funny Car driver J.R. Todd spent a decent amount of time in the International Hot Rod Association before getting his break in the sport’s elite series, with the NHRA. Since then, Todd has made some history in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, and the IHRA has undergone at least four ownership changes with varying degrees of sustainability. But Todd said this week that the time he spent in IHRA competition has helped shaped his career, and that he sees potential for the NHRA and the latest iteration of the IHRA to work together or at least to develop a way to enhance drag racing in general.
“I like the idea of it,” said Todd, the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion. “I mean, when I ran there, it was back in 2000, when Bill Bader Sr. was involved with it. And for us it was good, because you could be a big fish in a small pond, and I think it was an eight-car field. So they’re kind of on that path now. It’s just different, but I like the idea of it. It gives the lower-funded teams that can’t run all 20 NHRA events a place to go race and race for some decent money.
“Those cars definitely need a place to go race, and that’s good. And then in the end, I think competition is good. I’m not saying that IHRA is good or bad, but in the end, I hope it makes the NHRA better,” Todd said.
“I thought that was the perfect opportunity for me to get my feet wet and not dive head-first in the NHRA, which I didn’t have an opportunity to go race NHRA back then. We didn’t have funding or anything like that. And IHRA was more affordable, and that’s how I got my start,” he said. “So without the IHRA, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.
“NHRA definitely needs a series like that for these entry-level teams and what have you to go race and get their feet wet before going head-first into the big show. And I kind of wish they would work together. I don’t want to see one or the other thinking they’re better than the other and trying to outdo one or the other. Big picture: It’d be great if they could work together.”
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – LANGDON, VANDERGRIFF, ANDERSON LEAD THEIR FIELDS AT NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS
1 – LANGDON TIGHTENS TOP FUEL GRIP – Points leader Shawn Langdon showed only a tiny weak spot in his Top Fuel program Saturday at New England Dragway in qualifying for the New England Nationals presented by bproauto, yielding the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge title to teammate Doug Kalitta. But he retained the No. 1 qualifying award he staked himself to Friday evening with his 3.709-seconds, 334.98-mph on the 1,000-foot Epping, N.H., course in the Kalitta Air dragster.
With that, Langdon ran his career total to 26 top-starter honors and recorded his fourth of the season.
He earned a bye round when eliminations open Sunday and will meet the winner of the Justin Ashley-Clay Millican pairing in the quarterfinals as he goes after his fourth consecutive victory and first at New England Dragway.
That free pass into the quarterfinals, he said, will allow crew chief Brian Husen to “press it and see if we’re able to get away with anything. You want to make a good run for the conditions.”
2 – VANDERGRIFF AMASSING FUNNY CAR SPOILS – Jordan Vandergriff is piling up achievements in whirlwind style.
With his 3.913-second pass in the final round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge as he beat Ron Capps, Vandergriff claimed his second bonus-race victory and his treasured first No. 1 qualifying berth. And he knew he was quick.
“Right when I crossed the finish line and the parachutes hit, I thought, ‘God, that felt quick.’ To get the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win and the No. 1 qualifier in the same day is unbelievable,” Vandergriff said. “I never thought I was going to get one of these No. 1 qualifier hats, but now I’ve got one. This No. 1, it means something to me. I think No. 1 qualifier has been something that I’ve wanted my entire life, really, and it just felt like it was just so unattainable. I got to win before I got this No. 1 qualifier.
“We’re one, two, and three [in the starting line-up for eliminations]. That’s a testament to John Force, what he’s built, the equipment he has, and the people he has working for him. Right now, we’re the best three Funny Cars on the property,” he said. “[No. 2 starter] Jack Beckman has helped me a lot with driving and [No. 3] Alexis DeJoria has helped me with handling the emotions. Having teammates like that is huge. To be eight races into my Funny Car career with two Mission wins, a Wally, and now a No. 1 qualifier — it’s pretty incredible.”
3 – ANDERSON STILL GOING STRONG – Greg Anderson’s fifth No. 1 qualifying position in the past seven events is the most among all pro drivers in all classes, and his 145th is first among active drivers and second all-time only to Funny Car icon John Force. He has 114 victories, also most among active pro drivers in NHRA history, along with six championships, equal to Erica Enders but four behind the late, great Bob Glidden. Earlier in the week, Anderson discussed what keeps him racing and coming to grips with what his legacy might be.
“I think that seventh championship would be awesome, at least to break that tie. And you know, records are made to be broken, no doubt about that,” he said. “Obviously, someday, you know, she’ll bypass me, regardless of whether I get another one or not. So that’s kind of big on the list” of things to accomplish before he retires.
“I’d like that 114 number to keep climbing a little bit, because somebody will come along. I don’t know if it’s going to be a Dallas Glenn or, who knows, a Cody Anderson,” he said, referring to his son, who’s a rookie Pro Stock driver. “You never know – somebody’s going to come along and beat that number someday. So I’d like to get it as high as I can before I step away.
“And I don’t have one foot out the door yet. I’m not ready to quit yet,” Anderson said, “but I tell everybody when it gets to the point where I don’t think that I can win anymore, I need to get out. I need to step aside and let somebody else take over that can win. I’ll step aside, but right now it’s not quite there. I can still find a way to get it done. And I’m going to keep digging as long as I can and make – try and make – all those numbers as big as I can. I told everybody the other day, ‘You never know when the end is – 114 could be the number. Who knows? Or six could be the number.’ If it is, I can live with that. Certainly been a great run, great, great career, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying before that happens. But you never know the number could be set right now, but I hope not.”
He said he has been “pleasantly surprised” with his son’s progress, considering Cody Anderson is “someone that’s never sat in a race car of any type, never even gone down a dragstrip in a street car or anything three, four months ago. I think he’s come a long way, and you can kind of step back and see it. You can see the people that kind of have it and the people that struggle. He’s got it. He’s absolutely got it. He needs to refine some [things], get some more seat time and get some of the ‘brain talk’ out of it. Right now, he’s having to think about everything when he goes up to the starting line, and he just needs more laps so it all becomes muscle memory, doesn’t have to use that brain – because when you can shut that brain off, that’s when the reaction time comes, and that’s when everything else comes along with it. But you just got to get relaxed to be able to get to that point. So he’s getting closer every race, but the natural ability seems to be there and he’s definitely going to be able to do this. So I feel that, looking forward, we’re in good hands here when that day comes for me [that I can] step out and be proud and watch Cody and he’s going to carry that torch.”
4 – EARLY ELIMINATIONS – The NHRA announced that the starting time for Sunday’s eliminations has been moved ahead by 30 minutes because of inclement-weather concerns. The Top Fuel class will kick off things at 10:30 a.m. EDT. Spectator gates will open at 8 a.m.
5 – FIFTH SELLOUT – NHRA officials announced a Saturday sellout at New England Dragway. It is the fifth overall sellout day of the sanctioning body’s milestone 75th season. Sellout crowds also flocked to the season opener at Gainesville, Fla., for the iconic Gatornationals and to South Georgia Motorsports Park on back-to-back days for the revived Southern Nationals at Valdosta/Adel, Ga. Last Saturday’s qualifying show at Maryland International Raceway was also a sellout.
New England Dragway president Paul Lorenti said fans at his track “are known for being one of the best on the NHRA circuit. To see a sold-out Saturday crowd during our 60th season and NHRA’s 75th anniversary is truly special. Thank you to our fans, racers, teams, sponsors, and staff for making the NHRA New England Nationals such an exciting weekend. We’re proud to host our 13th NHRA national event, and even prouder to call New England home.”
Lorenti is correct about the fans’ loyalty. Ten years ago, in June 2016, rain pushed eliminations at Epping to Monday, and when racers reconvened, the crowd was almost as thick as it was during the weekend. Saturday’s audience filled the grandstands and stood three-deep at the fences at New England Dragway.
6 – FAMILIAR #2FAST2TASTY WINNERS – Doug Kalitta [Top Fuel], Jordan Vandergriff [Funny Car], and Greg Anderson [Pro Stock] added to their Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge bonus race accomplishments Saturday, earning medals, cash, and bonus-point deposits into their Countdown bank accounts.
Kalitta scored a rather rare feat, beating teammate and final-round opponent Shawn Langdon off the starting line and at the finish line to earn his third Challenge victory. He had a 0.44-second reaction time to Langdon’s .081. Along with Justin Ashley, Langdon is widely considered one of the sport’s best “leavers.”
Langdon, who retained his top-qualifier position, said Kalitta and his crew chief Alan Johnson “earned that one. They did a good job there. We’re trying to press it a little bit right there, and it was a little too fast, but that’s OK. We kept the win in the Kalitta house. That’s good. But we’ll be able to get that No. 1 qualifier.”
Funny Car rookie Vandergriff claimed his second #2Fast2Tasty triumph and doubled his gains – with his run that closed Funny Car qualifying, he also became top qualifier with a 3.913-second elapsed time against Ron Capps. He attributed the success to crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Jason Bunker.
Vandergriff said, “There were a lot of questions coming into this year about how this Cornwall Quality Tools car was going to perform, and those guys picked up right where it left off. So it’s an honor for me to drive this race car. We’re going into race day No. 1 – with a medal.”
Anderson has won Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenges, but Saturday’s victory in the Pro Stock version of the final round over Troy Coughlin Jr. marked his first of 2026.
7 – HARD GUY’S HAS HARD TIME IN QUALIFYING – With veteran driver Phil Burkart returning to the seat of their Ford Funny Car, Weymouth, Mass.-based Dana Hard and his Hard Guy’s CAMCO Mustang Funny Car team were hopeful that this primo opportunity to impress at their local track would do just that. In the opening qualifying session, they were elated.
Burkart put the “new” 2018 Mustang car obtained from John Force Racing in the provisional No. 4 spot, clocking a 4.075-second elapsed time. Over time, that 4.075 slid down in the order and left Burkart No. 15, awaiting a Round 1 match-up Sunday with No. 2 Jack Beckman, of John Force Racing.
His 15th-place start on the 16-car grid doesn’t bother Burkart, though. “The race car is still new, straight out of John Force Racing’s shop, and with guys like Jay Lewis, Mike Smith, and John Wall making all the decisions, we feel very strongly we can hold our own,” he said.
He’s hoping he can stun someone – starting with Beckman – Sunday morning, just like he did to powerhouse racer Bob Tasca III here last June.
“Last year’s Epping race was a highlight, for sure,” Burkart said. “We posted our first 300-mph run and scored a major shocker on race day by beating Bob Tasca III, another Northeast guy with a huge following in this area. He’s definitely a heavyweight. We’re hoping to surprise some more people this time, though. It’s never easy for a part-time team to tangle with the big boys, but we’ve shown we’re capable of doing just that at various times in the past.”
Burkart, who’s from Yorkville, N.Y., has won numerous events during his Funny Car career, both in the nitro and alcohol ranks, and at the national and divisional levels. One of the highlights of his career was being chosen to substitute for Force in late 2007, when the drag racing legend suffered a season-ending crash at Dallas.
But Burkart is living and thinking in the present. Even before the race began, he said, “It looks to be a challenging weekend for the tuners. I see lots of heat and humidity in the forecast, and then possibly some rain mixed in for good measure,” he said. And he was correct. He said, “Varying conditions could play to our favor, I believe, so we’ll see what happens.
“I’m humbled to be asked to drive Dana’s car again. He places a lot of faith in me, and I try to repay him by sharpening up my skills to remove as many variables as I can from the driver’s seat. I know one thing for sure, we’re going to have a lot of fun, with lots of our friends planning to be there to support us.”
8 – DRAG RACING COMMUNITY RALLIES AROUND DOW FAMILY – Just 23 days after saying goodbye to wife and mother Jaime Dow, who lost her bout with breast cancer, the Salem, N.H., family of Dana Dow and Jr. Dragster-driving daughter Addison Dow gathered at the dragstrip to carry on in the embrace of the supportive drag-racing community.
Flanked by her brothers and ringed by their NHRA family of racers Saturday afternoon, Addison Dow accepted the Holley Never Rest Performer of the Race Award.
Presenter Joe Castello told the family, “This is all we can do. But we want you to know here at the NHRA and [from] all these people who never met you but appreciate all you’re going through, that we care about you and love you. And we appreciate [that] you put your personal grief aside to come and be in [your] happy place. Thank you for coming to the dragstrip to spend the day with us. Being around those you love, when you can’t be around those you love, can make all the difference in the world. Sometime it’s going to be victory, and sometimes it’s going to be sadness. But we all experience it together.”
9 – BOSS’ WISH COMES TRUE – Alex DeJoria, who had the provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday and earned her team a lobster dinner, fell to third place for eliminations. But she wasn’t as bummed as she might have been since the two drivers who leapfrogged her were John Force Racing teammates Jordan Vandergriff and Jack Beckman.
“Well, we finally did it. John’s wishes came true. We got the JFR cars in the top three qualifying spots,” she said. “I was happy to carry the No. 1 qualifier on Friday. I thought if anybody could go around us, it’d be one of our cars. It’s an all-JFR affair on the top half of the field.”
She’ll square off against No. 14 Cruz Pedregon, Beckman will race No. 15 Phil Burkart, and Vandergriff will take on No. 16. Jeff Arend.
10 – CHAMPS V. CHAMPS – No. 7 Funny Car qualifier Matt Hagan said, “Last weekend in Maryland was tough with a parts failure and an exit in the first round that is really tough, especially against [two-time and current champion Austin] Prock. Those guys were bound to figure their car out. You just hate for it to be against you.”
In Round 1 of eliminations at Epping, Hagan will face another multi-time champion in Del Worsham. Prock was the No. 5 qualifier Saturday, and he’ll meet No. 12 Blake Alexander in the opening round.
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – LANGDON, DeJORIA, ANDERSON TAKE LEADS; TASCA TO GET BACK IN FUNNY CAR; MATT LATINO WANTS TO BE SEEN; LOBSTERMANIA COMES TO DRAG RACING
1 – LANGDON CONTINUES TOP FUEL ROLL – Once again, Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon showed he’s still the Top Fuel driver to beat, capturing the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Friday’s first day of qualifying at the NHRA New England Nationals at Epping, N.H.
“I guess if I can do it, anybody can do it,” Langdon said after spoiling Leah Pruett’s hopes of holding onto the late lead at New England Dragway.
The Kalitta Air dragster driver, recently named one of the NHRA’s top 50 sportsman drivers of all-time, said, “I’m just a kid with a dream, and I get the opportunity to drive a Top Fuel car. It seems like yesterday I was racing sportsman to pay my bills, and I wake up and I’m sitting here” as the No. 1 qualifier at Epping, N.H.
Referring to the lobster who just might be part of the main course of the dinner he earned for his team, Langdon said, “I got him all pissed off at me, so I sat him down.” Langdon might not have angered his colleagues, but rather resigned them to the fact they likely will have to go through him if they want to win the championship this year.
Neal Strausbaugh, Pruett’s crew chief, said of Langdon and crew chief Brian Husen, “They’re making great runs. They’ve got it in a wheelhouse right now that on any given run, they just run a couple of numbers better every time. And their teammate’s car [Doug Kalitta’s dragster] is not doing it as consistent as they are. That gives me hope that maybe they’ll fall back to where their teammate’s car’s at.”
Right now, that prospect looks bleak, as Langdon is poised – but not guaranteed – to win his fourth consecutive event.
John Force Racing’s Josh Hart said of Langdon and the entire Kalitta Motorsports operation, which has been commandeered the standings after Hart won the season-opening Gatornationals, “They’re doing a great job. I mean, fabulous numbers and fabulous, fabulous everything, really. I try to take any of their advice if they’re willing to give it. I listen to any constructive criticism. Shawn’s a damn good driver. Doug’s done things in a Top Fuel car I didn’t even think was possible. So, you can’t call me a rookie anymore, but I look up to those guys. I pay attention. You want to surround yourself with the people in the room that are smarter and sharper than you, and hopefully I learn a thing or two.”
If Langdon’s 3.709-second elapsed time holds up as best through two qualifying sessions Saturday, he’ll have his fourth No. 1 starting position in eight races this season.
2 – DEJORIA REIGNS IN FUNNY CAR OVERNIGHT – Tentative Funny Car qualifying leader Alexis DeJoria was swarmed by her John Force Racing teammates Jordan Vandergriff and Jack Beckman congratulating her when she became the No. 1 qualifier and got to chase Vandergriff from New England Dragway’s novelty lobster-pot chair Friday evening. She said the camaraderie “is real, 100 percent. I was shocked, and that was 100 percent real, too.” She said she is happy to “call them my teammates and friends and [be] racing for one of my all-time heroes” – and to be at the top of Friday’s leaderboard in familiar territory with her Bandero Chevy Camaro.
DeJoria, who has two runner-up finishes and a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win this season, said, “The Funny Car class is very competitive. Any one of these cars can beat you on any given Sunday. I’ve been on both sides of that. My guys have done such a great job, they’ve got a good handle on the car. We’ve got a consistent race car, and now they’re stepping it up and making it quicker and quicker, and it showed right there.”
Many of her family members are from nearby Rhode Island, and the Texas resident and California native spent summers there, so she said it was a hometown race for her. “I’ve got my mom here and my sister, my nephew James, my aunt and uncle, and some friends from the East Coast. This is a hometown race for me. It’s the closest place we go to Rhode Island, where half my family’s from, so, man, this feels really good to be able to do this here in front of them.”
DeJoria hammed it up with the lobster, nicknamed “Clawsty” in tribute to former track regular Kosty Ivanof, telling it, “Very nice to meet you. Very nice to eat you.”
She said, “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made” with crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jonnie Lindberg. “Right now, we’re No. 1, and that’s all that matters. I got to sit in the lobster chair tonight, and we’re sitting No. 1. Our team really needed that. We’ve come so close to so many things and just missed them. Tonight, everything paid off. We’ve worked really hard to build a consistent race car, and now we’re starting to take that next step. We’re one, two and four. That’s a pretty good night” for John Force Racing.
3 – ANDERSON AIMS FOR No. 145 – Greg Anderson is the early Pro Stock leader with two more qualifying sessions remaining Saturday. And earlier in the week, FOX’s Brian Lohnes told him he thinks of the Pro Stock class as a vise, “and it’s like every week, we just kind of turn that screw on the vise and the pressure kind of keeps coming up.” Anderson said, “That’s a pretty good way to describe it, ’cause that’s certainly what my head feels like most of the time. It’s a crazy class. People ask me all the time why I run this class. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I like things hard in life. I don’t like the easy way. And it’s certainly the toughest challenge I could ever come up with. So it’s pretty darn cool.” Ditto for being No. 1 Friday night.
If his 6.508-second elapsed time holds up as quickest Saturday, he’ll have his 145th overall No. 1 start, best among all active drivers across all pro classes, and fifth No. 1 of 2026, best among all pro racers this year.
4 – NEW STARTING-TIME ALERT – Because of a forecast for some rain showers, the NHRA announced an earlier start for Saturday qualifying in the NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series. The new starting time for the third round of qualifying is set for 11:30 a.m. EDT, starting with Top Fuel and Funny Car. Pro Stock will follow at 12:30 p.m. The fourth and final round of qualifying is slated for 2 p.m. for Top Fuel and Funny Car, with Pro Stock at 3 p.m.
5 – TASCA NOT PLANNING TO RETIRE – Bob Tasca III’s offseason surprise hire of two-time and reigning Funny Car champion Austin Prock and his whole crew didn’t signal his own exit from drag racing. He’ll be testing his Ford Mustang – the one Prock drove to victory last Sunday at Maryland International Raceway – June 29 at Summit Motorsports Park at Norwalk, Ohio.
“I’m getting back in the Prock Rocket. I’m going to drive the car. Obviously, I want to keep my license current,” Tasca said. “The bottom line is we just couldn’t do two cars this season; there was too much going on. We didn’t have the funding for the second car in full. And quite frankly, we didn’t have the parts and pieces. It would have been a big distraction to Jimmy [Prock, Austin’s crew chief father] and the guys.”
He discredited the chatter that the decision to step from his Ford Mustang at the end of the 2025 season was difficult.
“Listen, people say it was hard. Honestly, it was one of the easiest decisions I ever had to make, because the only reason why I’m out here is to compete and win a championship, period,” he said. “I’m not out here for any other reason. And I want to deliver that for Ford. I want to deliver it for all these Ford fans out here. And I knew my best shot to do that was to partner up and bring the Prock family on board and for me to step out of the car and put Austin in.
“I can tell you this: I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else. I wouldn’t have done it. It had to be the package. It had to be the Prock family and Austin all in. And that’s what we decided to do. So you can see the fruits of our labor starting to pay off.”
He’ll make it a two-car team eventually, he said: “At some point, I think we’ll have a second car. I don’t want four, don’t want three, I want two. I think two is the best number to go out here and learn from one another and not become a distraction. You get those three-, four-car teams. Sometimes they can be more harm than good, quite frankly. Jimmy’s seen that. We’ve all seen that in our careers. So we’ll see how it all pans out, but I’m looking forward. We already have it all planned out, by the way. It’s going to be me and Jimmy against Austin and Thomas and the two-car team and the old guys against the young guys – we’re going to just duke it out.”
Tasca said, “That’s the plan, anyways. We’ll see when it comes to fruition. But right now, I’m their biggest supporter and fan. And I’ll get to hit the throttle. They say if I ask Austen nicely, he’ll let me drive.”
His own sons are learning the family business – and learning that right now, at least, they’re more part of the “Sell on Monday” end of their great-grandfather’s mantra than the “Win on Sunday” end. “The truth,” Tasca said, “is they all would drive, but we put a lot of money into this race car, and we do that by selling a lot of Fords. So our focus is on the dealerships, and they get to come to the racetrack.” Already, his 23-year-old is “running our New York platform, 13 stores.” Two others are involved in the family business.
6 – NOT IN THE MOOD FOR BLEND CYCLE – Matt Latino spent much of his rookie season learning his place in NHRA Pro Stock. Seven races into his sophomore campaign, he’s making it clear he’s no longer interested in blending into the scenery.
The second-generation racer arrived at the NHRA New England Nationals seventh in points with seven round wins, his first career No. 1 qualifier, and a race car that demands attention the moment it rolls into the staging lanes.
“I didn’t want to be another black race car out there,” Latino said. “I wanted something that stood out. When people saw it, I wanted them to know exactly whose car it was.”
The colorful new look reflects a driver who has become more comfortable in his own skin. Latino admitted there was a time when he was content to quietly learn from veterans around him, but that approach is changing.
“Last year, I was just trying to figure everything out,” Latino said. “Now I feel like I belong here. I know the people, I know the tracks, and I know what it takes to compete at this level.”
The results are beginning to follow. Latino owns a 7-7 round record through the opening seven races and has already matched or exceeded several benchmarks from his rookie season. More importantly, he feels like he’s becoming a factor rather than simply filling a lane.
“You want to be in the conversation,” Latino said. “You don’t want to just show up and be another car. You want people to know you’re there and that you can beat them.”
Part of Latino’s development has come away from the racetrack. His race-week routine includes a 45-degree cold plunge, a discipline he credits with helping him stay mentally sharp and physically prepared during long race weekends.
“A lot of people think it’s crazy,” Latino said with a laugh. “But it works for me. It gets me focused and ready to go. Once you do it a few times, you start looking forward to it.”
The confidence extends beyond physical preparation.
Latino entered the season with 11 career round wins. By the time the series reached Epping, he had already added seven more, meaning nearly 40 percent of his career victories have come during the first half of the 2026 season.
“Every round win means something in this class,” Latino said. “Nobody gives you anything out here. If you’re winning rounds, you’re doing something right.”
The challenge now is turning progress into consistency and consistency into trophies.
“We’re getting closer,” Latino said. “I think everybody on this team knows we’re capable of more. We’ve shown flashes of it. Now it’s about putting complete weekends together.”
For a driver who once seemed content to quietly learn, Latino’s message today is much different.
“I’m not trying to blend in anymore,” Latino said. “I want to make an impact.” – Bobby Bennett
7 – LOVE AND LOBSTAH – Forget waiting for the Top Fuel husband-and-wife duo of Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart to fight over supremacy on the dragstrip. They were competing Friday for a lobster dinner.
Both were angling for Friday night’s “No. 1 Clawifier Award presented by NAPA” – a fun honor that includes getting to sit on a top-end “throne” – an actual chair fashioned from lobster pots. (During the second session, the No. 1 qualifier gets to sit in the chair until a new top qualifier replaces them or claims the No. 1 Clawifier Award presented by NAPA.) But the best part of the distinction is that for the Top Fuel and Funny Car provisional qualifiers, it comes with a lobster dinner for the team.
Neither got the top spot, although Pruett was leading until Shawn Langdon reeled off a 3.709-second pass to contend for a fourth No. 1 spot.
But before that, when Pruett and Stewart were third and fourth in the Q1 order, announcer Courtney Enders asked Stewart, “Tony, what about you? You got a lot on the line for tonight, a nice lobster dinner here. I know you want to treat your wife to that instead of her treating you to it, right?”
With mock indignation, he said, “What?” She apparently thought he didn’t understand what she was referring to and replied, “That would mean you’re No. 1!”
He knew but meant, “What do you mean, treat her to a dinner?”
Stewart kidded, “I’m eating it all myself. She’s skinny as hell, so she’s not going to eat that. But I’ll eat hers.”
8 – KABOOM – Scott Farley didn’t make a run in the first qualifying session Friday. But he served notice he was on the property in Q2. Right on the launch, the engine in his ScottRod Racing dragster exploded like early July 4th fireworks. He was unhurt.
9 – STAND UP STRAIGHT, EAT YOUR VEGETABLES . . . – Top Fuel racer Josh Hart has a long ‘Honey-do List’ – and it’s one he wrote for himself. Well, his trainer does nag him about his posture, but otherwise, the John Force Racing driver has a lot of items he said he wants to improve to prepare himself for an event.
He’s one of the few drag racers to know the thrill of a 340-mph run down the 1,000-foot course, and he said keeping his body in the right position is key for him right now.
“So, you know, we have these little things called chin straps that fasten our chins to our waist. All I can say is that mine is now lower than average, because the G-forces pull my neck back,” he said, sharing that his “amazing” physical trainer is “beating me up on posture. And I said, ‘It’s not my fault. It’s the dragster.’ … Now that I’m in a faster dragster, better excuse, but we’re working on that.”
Hart said, “I’m trying to prepare every single part of my life. And I know that sounds crazy, but, just had a good conversation about how that shows its results in the darkness. So, physical fitness, eating right, sleeping right, focusing on your personal relationships at home, personal relationships with God. And then when you get to the racetrack, hopefully all that stuff shows out. So just really trying to do some self-reflection, keep myself accountable, obviously honor the blessing that it is to be driving one of the fastest cars on the planet. And when we get to the racetrack, it’s about turning on the [win] lights and having the best reaction time I can possibly provide.”
It helps immeasurably that he no longer has the burden of team ownership. He sold his Top Fuel operation last September to Richard Freeman, who put Tony Stewart in the car. And Hart joined John Force Racing, along with Alexis DeJoria and Jordan Vandergriff, as a teammate to Jack Beckman. And Hart described the relief this way: “If you had all of the circus elephants off your chest, that’s me. They just don’t understand what it takes to run a team. I say, ‘they,’ I mean anyone that’s ever talked about it or criticized it. Until you’ve done it, you shouldn’t even enter in the conversation. It’s a true testament of time, just providing this and this whole show. It’s something that I can’t put into words. So for me, it feels like the elephants are off my chest. I show up and be as focused as I can possibly be, and I just try to do my job.”
He echoed something competitor and Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon said.
“I guess, and from the perspective of a fellow competitor, when you look over and see what’s going on there, what’s your thought process? I think Langdon said it best. He’s like, you know, ‘We got to keep this momentum,’ but he knows it’s not going to last forever. Anybody that’s been in the drag racing arena knows that when you’re hot, you’re hot, and it’s really easy to go from hero to zero. just got to focus.”
One thing he’s focused on is at least equalling Langdon’s 345-mph speed mark.
“I’m coming after that 345 number,” he said. “I wish I would have got a shot in the right lane in Atlanta or whatever you want to call it, Georgia. And I never got that shot so. Grubby and Collins [crew chiefs Dave Grubnic and John Collins], they’ll get it figured out. I’m very confident. I’ve not lost any confidence whatsoever.”
10 – GREEN AMAZED AT LEVEL OF RACING – Chad Green is trying not to be overly occupied with looking at what his opponents are doing. But the two-time Funny Car winner and No. 3-ranked racer in the class said, “It’s really super amazing to me to see the position we’re in right now, ’cause it’s so hard. It’s so hard to be in the position we’re in and maintain it. Our cars are running really good right now. My guys [led by Dean Marinis and Joe Serena] seem to have such a great handle on it, but there’s about five other cars out there that’s kind of in the same position. So, there’s a really tough, tight racing going on right now. To maintain a spot at the top, it’s really difficult.”
And he doesn’t expect the competition to get any easier.
“I’m really nervous going forward, because these are tough races that we got. And I know we’re going to have a good car, but I know these other teams, they’ve got good cars, too,” Green said. “So it’s going to be some, I think some really, really first-class, top-notch racing we’re going to see coming up, just like last weekend.”
He credited his team for “doing such an amazing job this year. I’ve said it kind of goes back to the Countdown last year. We turned our car around towards the end of last year, and it really started performing well. And this year’s, I think, it’s just a continuation of that. And we’ve grown over that time period, and just gotten better.”
This weekend’s race at Epping marks his 96th race. So he is expected to reach the 100-race plateau in July at Seattle.
“Wow. I actually did not know that that was coming,” Green said. “Very cool to know. Wow. I mean, I’ve learned so much over the years, and it’s kind of hard to put it into words.”
But then he turned the attention to part-time teammate, son Hunter Green.
“He’s done such a great job driving the car so far these last two years. I really don’t have to tell him a whole lot. You know, I try to,” Green said, but added, “I try and stay out of his head. Of course, if he comes to me with questions or anything like that, I’m there to give him advice and help him out. … We do talk about things, but he’s done such a great job. I’m just so proud of him.
“That’s showing on track,” he said. “I kind of got to pinch myself sometimes, because to see the level that we’re running the car and being able to compete with these teams like the John Force teams and Kalitta cars. And we are actually going toe to toe with them right now. And it’s just so cool for me to see. It’s so tough to stay in this position; I hope we can. That’s obviously our goal. It’s so awesome that we’ve got two wins already in the season. Now, obviously, our goal is to be the first car to get the third Wally in nitro Funny Car.”
