Photos by William Swanson
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – BECKMAN SHINES, KALITTA PROVIDES THE USUAL
1 – LIKE A DUCK ON THE POND – What a difference 363 days can make.
Last year at Route 66 Raceway, Jack Beckman walked into the media center Sunday afternoon carrying a trophy and talking about survival. On Friday night, he walked back into the same room after securing the provisional No. 1 spot and admitted the only thing really under control during his quicker Funny Car run was the fact he somehow kept car off the wall.
The timing system showed Beckman’s 3.913-second run at 329.99 mph was the class leader at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Beckman described the experience more like wrestling a chainsaw on roller skates.
“Scary,” Beckman said. “There’s a bump out there [at], like, 500 feet, and we were pushing a little bit early. So the tires would kind of spin, hook, spin, hook, spin, hook. We always have [what] sounds oxymoronic, but controlled tire spin, right? The tires have to slip some to let the clutch do its job.
“And it was just a handful because a lot of times when it starts pushing hard, the front end gets light, and you’re giving it some steering input and it’s not responding – and then by the time it sets the front end down, it goes in a different direction.”
It looked so calm from the outside, but inside the cockpit, Beckman said the car was moving around enough that there was never a moment to relax.
“So it was entertaining,” Beckman said. “I hope everybody in the stands was half as entertained as I was. I do my best at about 750 foot – get my hand over by the chute lever at 800 foot, push it. Takes a while for it to come out. There was no way I was letting go of the steering wheel with either hand on that run.”
Chicago already occupies a strange place in Beckman’s recent history. One year ago, he qualified No. 1 and won the race, but the veteran driver made it clear Friday that the storybook ending almost never happened.
“That sounds like, ‘Oh, my God, they came in, they dominated, made it look easy,’” Beckman said. “It was everything but easy.
“We went up for Q4, the car wouldn’t even start. We took it back to the pits, we figured it out. We put it back together Sunday morning, the car wouldn’t start. Second time Sunday, car wouldn’t start – three different reasons.”
Beckman then unpacked the kind of Sunday morning most race teams pray never hits all at once — a broken airline, a failed priming bottle, and an ignition-grid problem. Somehow the PEAK team still pieced together enough runs to win the race.
That grind has carried into 2026. Beckman said Friday the team still hasn’t put together what he considers a complete race weekend despite flashes of speed earlier this season.
Friday night looked closer to what the team expects from itself. Beckman credited crew chiefs Dan Hood and Tim Fabrizi, along with the John Force Racing crew, for producing two clean runs and putting the car in position to attack again Saturday instead of chasing the field.
“That was not luck today,” Beckman said. “That was great calls by Dan Hood and Tim Fabrizi. That was eight mechanics doing every single thing correctly on that car and me going out there not screwing up their job.”
Ron Capps was very close behind with a 3.916 at 330.31, while Cruz Pedregon qualified third at 3.920. Points leader J.R. Todd ended Friday in fourth.
2 – IT’S KALITTA, USUALLY – Another race, another provisional No. 1 qualifier for Doug Kalitta.
The defending NHRA Top Fuel champ ended Friday’s first of two days of qualifying for the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill, on top.
Kalitta led the 15-car field with a Q2 effort of 3.720 seconds at a very stout 338.17 mph, the fastest run of the day at the suburban Chicago track.
“I was super happy,” Kalitta said with a smile on his face, giving credit to tuner Alan Johnson, who displayed his own look of satisfaction at the starting line after the run. “The car stayed nice and true, and then towards the end it kind of moved around a little bit, but I was really hoping that we could pull off a good run and glad we did.”
In a sense, Kalitta traded qualifying positions with rookie sensation Maddi Gordon, who was tops after the first qualifying session. But when Q2 was over, they switched spots and Kalitta was king of the Top Fuel hill.
The weather forecast for Saturday predicts temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s, a bit warmer than Friday, and that will likely cause crew chiefs to rethink their strategy for the final two qualifying runs of the weekend.
“I have to admit all these crew chiefs, they’re all dialed in with whatever the conditions end up being, and this track, it seems like it’s held up well,” Kalitta said. “The first session, it’s always a little bit tricky because you know you’re not sure how much grip is on the track.
“Usually there isn’t a lot, but usually come the second run it’s usually pretty good. This is a cool place to run and it’s close to home and we’re just got a lot of our friends from Michigan here and whatnot, so … we’re just happy that we have a good run in.”
If Kalitta’s Friday run holds up as No. 1 after Saturday’s final two rounds of qualifying, he’ll be rewarded with a bye run in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.
“That was a good start for us on a Friday,” Kalitta said. “We’ll see how we can hold up for tomorrow.”
After dropping from first in Q1 to seventh after most of the other drivers made their Q2 efforts, Gordon bounced back to claim the No. 2 spot with a strong 3.738 run at 334.90 mph.
Billy Torrence (3.746, 336.32 mph) grabbed the provisional No. 3 spot, followed by the husband-wife combo of Tony Stewart (3.754) and Leah Pruett (3.756), respectively.
There were two major surprises in qualifying – one good and one not so good.
The good surprise was Chicago native and part-time Top Fuel racer TJ Zizzo, who qualified in the No. 7 spot at 3.774 at 331.61.
On the other end of the spectrum was Kalitta’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, was 13th in the 15-driver field, unable to do any better than 3.846 seconds at 153.14 mph.
3 – NOT CELEBRATING YET – Erica Enders was parked at the top of the Pro Stock qualifying sheet Friday at Route 66 Raceway, but the six-time NHRA champion wasn’t about to throw a celebration party over one good day.
Enders drove her Elite Motorsports entry to a 6.542-second pass at 209.92 mph to lead qualifying for the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Teammates Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Greg Stanfield followed, while reigning world champion Greg Anderson was perched in fourth.
For most teams, it would have sounded like a breakthrough. Enders said she didn’t sound as optimistic.
“It’s definitely a good feeling,” Enders said. “I’m obviously surprised that we stayed No. 1, but I honestly don’t think that we’re fast. I think [the others are] slow.”
That blunt take came from a driver who has spent the last season and a half battling one of the toughest stretches of her Pro Stock career. Elite Motorsports has struggled to consistently keep pace with KB Titan Racing since the category’s fuel changes sent teams scrambling for answers.
The 2025 season “was extremely rough for our entire organization and ’26 hasn’t started off on the right foot, either,” Enders said. “But we’ve been working really hard and it’s about tenacity and not giving up and just keep plugging away at it.”
Enders said Pro Stock’s cyclical nature has always created swings in performance between teams. She referenced earlier eras featuring Warren and Kurt Johnson, V. Gaines B. Gaines and Mike Edwards as examples of how quickly the balance of power can shift.
“The peaks are followed by really deep valleys,” Enders said. “You have teams that are at the top and then it cycles, and the other teams work really hard and they catch up.”
Part of Elite’s recent frustration, according to Enders, has been chasing performance gains that appeared promising on the dyno but failed to materialize on race day.
“You go down these rabbit holes and you start grasping at straws and you end up changing your entire program,” Enders said. “Sometimes you don’t leave enough breadcrumbs to figure out where you came from.”
Despite the top qualifying spot, Enders insisted the team still has significant work ahead. She described Pro Stock as “competitive problem solving,” where one setup change often creates three more issues.
Still, Friday represented one of Elite Motorsports’ strongest collective performances in months. Even Enders admitted seeing multiple Elite cars near the top of the board mattered emotionally for a team that has spent months searching for momentum.
“I am excited,” Enders said. “We’ll keep battling, I promise.”
Chicago also remains one of the most meaningful tracks of Enders’ career. Route 66 Raceway was the site of her first NHRA national event victory in Pro Stock in 2012, a breakthrough win that came against Greg Anderson.
“Bob Glidden called my phone,” Enders recalled of that victory. “I’ll never forget it. That was so cool because he was my hero and a legend.”
4 – IT IS THE WINDY CITY, AFTER ALL – Angie Smith left Route 66 Raceway on Friday with the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle, but the bigger accomplishment may have been simply keeping her motorcycle pointed straight down the racetrack.
Blustery conditions whipped across the suburban Chicago facility throughout qualifying for the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, creating one of the trickiest racing surfaces many riders have faced this season. Gusts shifted direction quickly, pushing motorcycles from side to side and forcing several riders to abandon runs before they swerved into serious trouble.
Smith handled it better than anyone else.
The rider of the Buell 1190RX led the field with a 6.738-second pass at 200.17 mph. Defending class champion Richard Gadson qualified second at 6.778, while Gaige Herrera followed closely at 6.784.
Even with the top spot, Smith admitted the conditions demanded patience and restraint more than aggression.
“I think it’s real important to know where you are on the racetrack,” Smith said. “If the bike ever gets out of control, you need to pull the clutch in. It’s qualifying, and you’re not going to set a world record going what I call ‘around town’ – going back and forth and right to left on the track.”
Friday’s first qualifying session proved manageable compared to the second round, where the wind intensified and turned several motorcycles into handfuls. Riders drifted across lanes, flirted with the guardwalls and crossed center lines trying to keep control at nearly 200 mph.
“The fast runs are the straight runs,” Smith said. “So for me, when I mentally prepare, I just remind myself that I’ve done this a ton of times, and I always know that if I ever get in trouble, that I’ll pull the clutch in and I’ll quit. I will quit before I get myself in any trouble.”
Unlike Top Fuel or Funny Car, Pro Stock Motorcycle riders absorb every movement of the motorcycle directly through the handlebars and chassis. When the wind shifts abruptly, riders often have only fractions of a second to react.
Smith said her team made adjustments designed specifically to help the bike fight through the crosswinds.
“Wind is a very critical factor in Pro Stock Motorcycle,” Smith explained. “The only thing that we did do is we put some rear axle, which I think in a car is called rear steer.”
The adjustment helped stabilize the motorcycle when gusts tried to push it left across the lane.
“When we leave the starting line, if you have your axle perfectly straight, it’s just going to go straight,” Smith said. “But if you have wind, it’s going to go left. So you do all the things that you need to do to make it drive right.”
5 – THE COMPELLING QUESTION – So, is someone going to sleep on the sofa tonight?
Tony Stewart twice got the better of wife Leah Pruett during Friday’s two rounds of Top Fuel qualifying in the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Joliet, Ill. Stewart ended up with the No. 4 provisional qualifying spot, while Pruett was right behind in fifth.
Still, hubby and wifey faced off on both qualifying runs. In Q1, Stewart bested his spouse with a time of 3.811 seconds at a stout 334.40 mph, while Pruett smoked the tires and struggled to an effort of 4.691 seconds at 159.61 mph.
In Q2, Pruett roared back, but Stewart still came out on top: Stewart covered the 1,000-foot drag strip real estate with a run of 3.754 seconds at 327.82 mph, while Pruett recorded a slightly slower run of 3.756 seconds at 335.15.
5B – LESSON LEARNED – Jordan Vandergriff learned an important lesson moments after winning his first NHRA Funny Car title: Celebration runs look a lot shorter from inside the race car.
After defeating the field at the NHRA Southern Nationals, Vandergriff climbed from his John Force Racing Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car and started jogging from the top end back toward the starting line, channeling memories of his uncle, former Top Fuel racer Bob Vandergriff Jr., who became famous for his own victory sprints years ago.
About halfway through, reality set in.
“Honestly, the first of, I would say about 100 feet I was going pretty good,” Vandergriff said Friday at Route 66 Raceway. “I felt like I had a good stride to my step, and then all of a sudden when I started realizing I had my boots on still and my breath started getting heavier, I was like, ‘Uh-oh, this is a little longer than I thought.’”
The problem was simple. Vandergriff had driven too far down the shutdown area before stopping, creating a much longer run back than he anticipated.
“And I wasn’t even close to the finish line yet,” Vandergriff said. “So I was like, ‘Uh-oh, this is going to be long, but I’m committed now so I’ve got to make it all the way.’”
Fortunately, his uncle intercepted him before the rookie Funny Car winner completely emptied the tank.
“When my uncle met me on the track, I was like, ‘Okay, now I can stop running right here,’” Vandergriff said. “I remember he goes, ‘You going to run the rest of the way?’ And I was like, ‘Nope, we’ll do the interview right here.’”
The week after his breakthrough victory has been a balancing act between appreciating the accomplishment and preparing for the next race. Vandergriff said the first NHRA Wally trophy quickly became the centerpiece of his apartment.
“I took it in,” Vandergriff said. “I hung out with Wally a lot. I gave him his own little place in my apartment, and he’s got his hat and his medal and he’s chilling.”
Still, Vandergriff understands one win is only the beginning.
“I know that my first win was a big accomplishment of mine,” Vandergriff said. “But in the grand scheme of things, this John Force Racing Cornwell Quality Tools team, that’s one win of hopefully many this year.”
6 – GADSON GIVES BACK – Richard Gadson has become one of the fastest-rising stars in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle, but the reigning class champion insists his biggest victories happen away from the starting line.
The rider of the RevZilla/Mission/Vance & Hines Suzuki arrived at Route 66 Raceway riding the momentum of a Gainesville victory and runner-up finishes at Charlotte and Valdosta. Yet Friday in suburban Chicago, Gadson spent as much time talking about mentorship and responsibility as he did reaction times and championship pressure.
“My father passed when I was six years old, so my mom signed me up for it,” Gadson said of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. “She was a single mom and sometimes a woman can’t raise a man, so the [Big Brother] kind of helped fill in for that role.”
Gadson credits the organization and his longtime mentor, Jason Peck, for helping shape his life long before he became a national champion. The two remain close friends, something Gadson believes proves the lasting impact the program can create.
“Me and my big brother are still friends to this day,” Gadson said. “It’s a mentorship program. Anybody can sign up for it. I encourage anybody to sign up.”
The Philadelphia native said Peck exposed him to experiences he otherwise may never have encountered growing up.
“Jason was somebody who was like, ‘Hey, I know you could go around the corner of the park and shoot basketball, but why don’t we go to a national park? Why don’t we go to an air show? Why don’t we go to a Sixers game, Eagles game?’” Gadson said. “He expanded my horizons, if you will.”
Now 40 years old and living in Brownsburg, Ind., Gadson is trying to provide those same opportunities to others. He estimates he has already mentored more than 40 children through local outreach and NHRA race weekend experiences.
One recent interaction at the Charlotte race still makes him laugh.
“I met a kid in Charlotte this year, she was just a little girl,” Gadson said. “She might have been eight years old and she said to me, ‘Hey, you’re going to win, and when you win, can you split the money with me? I’m broke.’ I thought she was the cutest thing.”
7 – THIS ONE’S FOR GRANDPA – Krista Baldwin has been looking forward to this weekend for nearly eight months.
The only female team owner in Top Fuel, the Lizton, Ind., resident is excited to be making her 2026 season debut at her home away from home, Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.
Baldwin has been coming to the horseshoe-shaped drag racing facility since it opened in 1998, when she was just four years old, cheering on her grandfather, Top Fuel icon Chris Karamesines.
Baldwin is still cheering for the 94-year-old Karamesines – and that’s what makes this weekend extra special for Krista. Her grandfather is being honored by NHRA as the “Legend of the Race,” part of this year’s 75th anniversary of the sanctioning body, where numerous former greats of drag racing are honored at each of the season’s 20 races.
“It’s a dream come true to be here,” Baldwin told CompetitionPlus.com on Friday morning. “I mean to be able to honor my grandpa at such a cool racetrack, in his hometown and all his friends and buddies and family are all out here. I’m just excited that we get to celebrate ‘The Greek’ and honor the legend of the weekend.”
Baldwin’s last race was back in September at an IHRA event near Columbus, Ohio. She’s spent a lot of time during the offseason prepping her dragster for a strong debut this weekend – and that her grandfather is being honored is the cherry on top.
From Route 66, she plans on returning to Columbus for the IHRA event next month, and attend the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend. There’s a chance she will tackle another couple of events this year.
Although her shop is based three hours away in Brownsburg, Ind., Baldwin always looks forward to returning to Route 66.
“I mean, sweet home Chicago,” she said with a big smile. “This is like my second hometown and I love it. I’ve been coming here since the facility opened back in ’98, and so just to be able to continue the legacy here in the Chicagoland, I’m very proud to be here.”
Baldwin has Redline Oil supporting her effort this weekend.
“They partnered with me to get this Greek throwback [paint] scheme on the car,” she said. “I would not be here without them, so I’m super thankful for them. I’m also thankful for Ron Douglas coming onboard with Doug Wilson to tune the car this weekend and I think it’s gonna be fun. It’s a new era of KBR, and I’m ready to hit the gas this afternoon.”
While Karamesines is not working on the car, he did make a special request of his granddaughter: “He did say he wanted to warm it up. I told him, ‘You can come down anytime you want.’”
8 – THE PRO MOD LOGJAM – Parity has become the defining theme of the 2026 JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports.
As the category competes this weekend at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, there have been four winners in four races, creating one of the tightest championship battles in NHRA competition.
The Chicago race marks the fifth of 11 events this season and the final stop before the series transitions toward the five-race “Road to the Championship” playoffs. With no driver establishing clear control, every qualifying round and elimination pass has carried added weight.
Derek Menholt opened the year by earning the second victory of his career, while Justin Bond added another win to move into the points lead. Mike Stavrinos followed with a victory, continuing the season-long trend of rotating winners and constant movement in the standings.
The latest breakthrough came from Jason Collins, who captured his first career NHRA Pro Mod victory at South Georgia Motorsports Park in only his second start in the category. Collins immediately became another serious factor in a class already filled with proven winners and championship-caliber teams.
That depth is evident throughout this weekend’s field. Defending Chicago winner Mason Wright returns after sweeping last year’s event after qualifying No. 1. Reigning champion J.R. Gray continues to search for his first win of 2026 following last season’s dominant title run.
Veterans including Stevie Jackson, Lyle Barnett, and Stan Shelton remain firmly in contention as the class continues proving there is no easy path to victory in Pro Mod this season.
9 – KEEPING THE FAITH – Most sponsorship announcements in motorsports sound the same after a while. New logo, new partner, a few quotes about exposure and impressions, then everybody heads to the racetrack.
Rick Ware Racing took a different approach this week.
The organization announced a partnership with Museum of the Bible that will place branding on Clay Millican’s Top Fuel dragster during the Route 66 NHRA Nationals. The deal also stretches into another motorsports series, but the drag racing side could prove to be more effective because NHRA fans tend to support companies and causes they see investing in the sport.
That matters in nitro racing. Fans walk the pits, meet the drivers and remember who is helping keep the trailers coming to the races.
Rick Ware said the agreement came from something more personal than a standard business arrangement.
“Our motorsports platform gives us an opportunity to reach a lot of people, and partnering with Museum of the Bible allows us to share something that’s important to our family – our faith,” Ware said. “Museum of the Bible does an incredible job of making history engaging and accessible, and if we can help introduce it to a younger audience and encourage people to experience it for themselves, that’s meaningful to us.”
The museum opened in Washington, D.C., in 2017 and has spent years trying to market itself less like a traditional museum and more like an interactive experience built around history and culture. That approach lines up naturally with motorsports, where fan engagement tends to work better when people can touch, hear, and experience something instead of simply reading about it.
Clay Millican gives the partnership a recognizable face inside NHRA circles. Few drivers spend more time around fans than the Tennessee native, and his blue-collar background has made him one of Top Fuel’s most approachable personalities.
The program also extends beyond decals on a race car.
“We wanted this partnership to go beyond what people see on the racetrack,” Ware said. “Our family is committed to producing diecast replicas of the Museum of the Bible car and apparel tied to this program, with proceeds helping Museum of the Bible distribute Books of John to people around the world, free of charge. It’s a way for us to use racing to support something that can have a lasting impact.”
10 – WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING INDEXES – Cali Neff didn’t just lead Competition Eliminator qualifying Friday at Route 66 Raceway, she did it with a combination that makes old-school Ford racers smile and engine builders take notice.
Neff drove her A/ED dragster to a 6.456-second run, landing her .804 under the index to pace the category. What made the run stand apart wasn’t simply the number on the scoreboard, but what produced it.
Her dragster relies on factory Ford cylinder heads and a factory Ford block, backed by a single 1500-cfm four-barrel carburetor, a two-speed PowerGlide transmission and gasoline in the tank. In an era where Competition Eliminator combinations can become highly specialized and expensive science projects, Neff’s package leaned heavily on traditional hot rod fundamentals.
That combination proved more than enough Friday.
David Dupps qualified second in C/EA at .726 under the index, while Travis Gusso landed third in D/A at .651 under. Troy Galbraith and Patrick Nahan rounded out the top five.
