Photos by Alex Owens, Auto Imagery, Mike and Jeff Burghardt
Competition Plus’ random water-cooler topics from the NHRA Denso Sonoma Nationals at Northern California’s Sonoma Raceway
1 – IT’S A FULL SELLOUT – NHRA officials announced a Sunday sellout at Sonoma Raceway, completing a clean sweep of capacity crowds during the three-day Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge.
The 38th annual event, the 11th of 20 races in NHRA’s 75th anniversary season, drew sellout crowds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as fans packed the facility throughout the weekend.
Fans were treated to a full slate of marquee attractions, including the Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier, the GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, four qualifying sessions and Sunday’s eliminations in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.
Overflow crowds filled the facility each day under ideal weather conditions, making Sonoma one of the most attended events of the 2026 season.
The three-day sweep increases NHRA’s total to eight sellout event days during its 75th anniversary campaign. Previous capacity crowds this season were recorded in Gainesville, Valdosta, Maryland, and Epping, underscoring the continued momentum for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series as the season heads into its second half.
2 – JUST ONE MORE – Jordan Vandergriff spent part of Sunday hoping Daniel Wilkerson would soon earn his first NHRA Funny Car victory. Then the two met in the final round, and those good wishes quickly disappeared.
Vandergriff completed one of the strongest weekends of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, driving his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to a 3.900-second pass at 330.72 mph to defeat Wilkerson and claim his second career Funny Car victory and first at Sonoma Raceway.
The Brea, Calif., driver qualified No. 1 and backed it up with four consistent elimination-round runs after his team made major changes following the race at Norwalk, Ohio, on June 28. Vandergriff defeated Jason Rupert and Matt Hagan before advancing to the final, where he closed out a weekend that moved him to second in the Funny Car points standings.
The turnaround began with a new front half on the race car, a move Vandergriff admitted carried some uncertainty until qualifying began.
“Pretty unbelievable, honestly,” Vandergriff said. “The front half in the car, just because it was timing out. We figured, ‘Might as well just do it.’ We came here and we pushed immediately.”
“That’s a credit to John Force Racing and the fab shop and all those guys back at the shop. We can’t do it without you guys, either, and to get a great race car that we’ve come out here and literally hit the ground running.”
Vandergriff said he entered eliminations knowing his team had the quickest car, but understood everyone else would be chasing them.
“I came in this morning after qualifying and thinking, ‘Okay, it’s our race to lose,'” Vandergriff said. “It was a weird feeling. … Luckily for me, we had some tough battles. Everybody ran good against us.”
The victory answered a question Vandergriff had been asking himself since winning his first Funny Car title earlier this season in Georgia.
“After my first win, I remember sitting home on the couch looking at Wally and I’m thinking, ‘How do I get a second one?’” Vandergriff said. “So I’ve answered that, and now I’m going to go home and look at two Wallys and ask myself how to get the third.”
Facing Wilkerson in the final carried a little irony. Vandergriff admitted he had rooted for Wilkerson during a previous final-round appearance, but not this time.
“When he was in the final in Bristol against Hagan, I was in the stands like, ‘Yeah, it’d be cool if Daniel won one,'” Vandergriff said. “Then found myself lined up against him today. I said, ‘You know what? It’s not going to be that cool if Daniel wins one. No, not today.'”
Vandergriff believes Wilkerson’s first victory is only a matter of time.
“Their time is coming,” he said. “Tim Wilkerson, a legend, a great of this sport, and Daniel is not too far behind him. He’s learned a lot from his dad and they’re coming around.”
3 – KALITTA ADDS TO ALAN JOHNSON MEMORIES – Doug Kalitta has made Sonoma Raceway his personal proving ground, and Sunday the reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion added another chapter to one of the most dominant track records in class history. Before a capacity crowd, Kalitta drove his Aflac dragster to a 3.731-second pass at 339.36 mph, defeating northern California native Jasmine Salinas in the final round to secure his second straight Sonoma victory and a record seventh Top Fuel win at the facility.
The victory wrapped up a weekend in which Kalitta controlled every major storyline. He qualified No. 1, collected the Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus and marched through eliminations with victories over Clay Millican and Antron Brown before closing the deal against Salinas.
Kalitta’s 61st career NHRA national-event victory also tightened the championship picture. The veteran now trails Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon by just 85 points as the Countdown race begins to take shape.
Sonoma has often served as a turning point in Kalitta’s championship pursuits. His victory there a season ago became the catalyst for his 2025 title run, and Sunday’s performance offered another reminder that few drivers know how to capitalize on momentum better than the two-time champion.
Salinas entered the final round looking for the first victory of her Top Fuel career and gave herself every opportunity at the starting line. Her .056-second reaction time beat Kalitta off the line, but the veteran quickly erased the deficit and drove past her 3.815, 319.14.
While the trophy belonged to Kalitta, the day marked another milestone for Salinas. She advanced to her first career final round with victories over Josh Hart, points leader Langdon and Leah Pruett, reinforcing that the Scrappers Racing driver continues to establish herself as a legitimate contender in the category.
Kalitta admitted Sonoma continues to carry special meaning for reasons beyond statistics. The annual stop in Wine Country also brings memories of the late Blaine Johnson, whose legacy remains closely tied to crew chief Alan Johnson.
“This is a very special place for me. We had a little dry spell through the years, but I’m glad that we managed to get the last two wins here,” Kalitta said.
“It’s been 30 years since, unfortunately, we lost Blaine Johnson, and I’m going to have the honor of giving this trophy to Alan this evening once we get done with this. It’s very deserving with everything he’s put into this sport. Blaine was a hell of a driver, so this is going to be an honor. This is the time of the year where it gets really fun because we’re all battling for points. We’re still quite a ways behind Shawn, but we’ve got enough time to do it.”
4 – FLUCTUATING EMOTIONS – Earlier in the day, even after defeating Jason Rupert and No. 2-ranked and four-time champion Matt Hagan, Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff said his emotions have wavered during the past few months.
“I was really confident when the year started and so far the ebbs and flows of my rookie year have kind of caught up with me,” Vandergriff said. “ And before that run, I was talking to Jack [teammate Beckman] about when you have a car that’s running really good, ‘How come I feel a little different?’ I’m supposed to be better when I don’t really need to be. I don’t know. It’s just a weird feeling. You get in your head driving these things, but [that was] a huge round-win and to get it over Matt Hagan … That’s a good team right now, and we’re chasing them in points. So it’s all thank you to Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker, my Cornwell Quality Tools boys and you dealers out there. Can’t do it without you.”
FOX’s Amanda Busick asked him, “How do you feel drivers perceive you in this class?”
The eventual winner’s reply? “Oh, I don’t know. I hope they think about me a little bit.”
One of his fellow drivers certainly did – the one he raced and eliminated in the semifinal round, Austin Prock.
Before this first meeting in Funny Car competition – they had an entertaining Top Fuel rivalry several years ago – Vandergriff said coyly, “Get your popcorn ready.” And he and Prock made it a popcorn-worthy, side-by-side show fans have anticipated since last December’s announcement that Vandergriff would take over the car and sponsor with which Prock has won the past two championships. At that time, Vandergriff said his intention was to beat Prock with the original “Prock Rocket” he immediately renamed “The Bunker Buster” after his own co-crew chief.
The cars were seven-thousandths apart at the starting line and separated by a mere three-thousandths at the finish line.
“To finish the job I think and win this race, that means more,” Vandergriff responded when asked if that race was one he simply couldn’t lose. “Wins mean more. For myself, Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker, my guys, we want to win and we feel like we’re one of the best teams out here. We’re trying to prove that. So the win means more, but that semi was cool, too.”
When pressed if the perceived rivalry with Prock is one he wants to avoid answering questions about, he was to the point.
“No, I don’t want to avoid it,” Vandergriff answered. “I don’t really want to avoid it. I think it’s just something that, obviously it doesn’t even need to be stated. Everybody knows what we’re talking about, right? We’re talking about me and Austin Prock and the decision he made to leave this car over the last offseason.
“But, listen, I mean he’s a two-time champion and they earned every bit of it. I just wanted to come in to this car and hold my own and try to be better. Be the best, you got to beat the best. And we beat the best today. So getting this win is great, but look, that’s just the first of many battles and I wanted to win it. I know he wanted to too. If this is the first of many, then I’m glad to get my win.”
5 – I’LL TAKE IT – Greg Stanfield walked away from the starting line after the opening round knowing he had been given a chance he probably shouldn’t have had. By the end of Sunday, the veteran Pro Stock racer had turned that break into his second straight victory at Sonoma Raceway and the seventh professional win of his career.
Stanfield closed the day with a holeshot victory over Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders, posting a 6.551-second pass at 211.00 mph with a .015-second reaction-time advantage to collect one of NHRA’s Diamond Wally trophies commemorating the sanctioning body’s 75th anniversary.
The victory was built on surviving one of the toughest elimination ladders of the weekend. Stanfield defeated his son, Aaron Stanfield, then knocked out Mason McGaha and Jeg Coughlin Jr. before meeting Enders in the final.
His opening-round matchup against Aaron nearly ended before it started.
Stanfield admitted an unusual staging sequence worked in his favor, allowing him to steal a race that easily could have gone the other direction.
“First round was absolutely nuts,” Stanfield said. “When I ran Aaron, I didn’t know what happened. I had staged and I seen his light flicker, and I was like … I paused for a second, and I went ahead and matted it. And I think he was easing out on the clutch and the light came back on. So, I won first round on pure luck against Aaron because I should have been beaten right there. So, that was my mulligan of the day.”
Stanfield made sure he didn’t waste that opportunity. He followed with the quickest run of his weekend against McGaha before advancing past Coughlin when the former NHRA champion encountered tire shake in the semifinals.
Facing six-time champion Enders in the final didn’t change his approach.
“Actually, when I race, I really don’t look who’s in the other lane. I really don’t,” Stanfield said. “I just try to focus on my side and what I can do, and try to do the best I can. And the outcome’s going to be what it is.”
The Sonoma victory continued a mid-season surge for Elite Motorsports, which placed all four of its entries in the semifinals.
“I think this team is gaining ground on the KB guys,” Stanfield said. “I think they’ve backed up and we gained a little bit, and I think it’s going to be good for the fans, good for the sport to have an all-out freaking brawl at the end.”
For Stanfield, the victory also carried personal meaning.
“I mean, that’s 75 years of NHRA drag racing, so it’s huge,” Stanfield said of winning the Diamond Wally. “To have one is absolutely just phenomenal. I didn’t think I’d get one this year, but it feels good to have one, for sure.”
At an age when many of his contemporaries have long since retired, Stanfield continues to prove experience still has a place in one of drag racing’s toughest categories.
“So if we can peak at the right time, there’s a lot of good drivers in the Elite camp,” Stanfield said. “I feel like I’m probably the weakest link over there, being the old guy. You just don’t know what you’re going to get with me. So, I think if they can keep these cars moving in the right direction, it’s going to be fun to watch.”
5B – FOUR HUNDRED RACES – Pro Stock runner-up Erica Enders hit the 400-start plateau this weekend.
Heading into this coming weekend’s Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, the six-time champion and 50-time Pro Stock winner has a career eliminations-round record of 532-299. On Sunday, she was part of a team achievement. For the first time, her Richard Freeman-owned Elite Motorsports organization boasted all four Pro Stock semifinalists, ensuring an all-Elite final round. And Greg Stanfield, who outran Enders in that final, brought the trophy to the Oklahoma-headquartered team.
6 – PLENTY OF PRO STOCK DRAMA TO GO AROUND – Perhaps the most exciting Round 1 of eliminations in recent memory unfolded Sunday morning. It was at the least the most dramatic from start to finish.
The first two pairings were decided on holeshots, with Greg Stanfield beating his son, Aaron, and Eric Latino ousting the reigning series champion and points leader, Dallas Glenn. Next in line was Latino’s son, Matt, against Greg Anderson, the most successful active driver in all pro categories. Matt Latino defeated Anderson, handing him his second straight first-round exit. Immediately afterward, No. 13 starter Jeg Coughlin Jr., an unlikely bottom-half qualifier, upset No. 4-qualified Matt Hartford. The top three drivers in the standings were out of the equation in a matter of minutes.
The surprises continued with Mason McGaha in the next pairing. McGaha, the No. 16 qualifier who had taken off five races to regroup because his team owner/teammate dad said he “was just tired of seeing us getting our teeth kicked in,” beat No. 1 qualifier Chris Vang. Hoping for a better result from his first No. 1 start, Vang lost when his car wouldn’t go into high gear.
McGaha made a bit of history: This was the first time in this class since the early 1990s that the 16th-qualified car defeated No. 1. McGaha said, “Oh, it was a huge relief. I mean, we were down a run after I feel like I screwed up on Monday doing something [in testing] with the idle and turning it down and then the engine dying and we lost that run. So I should have figured out a way to compensate for it better in the car.” He was driving his father’s “Silver Bullet” Camaro, and he said, “I drove this car, but it was a long, long time ago and [I am] just trying to catch back up and get a feel for it and how everything felt in that car. Just, I’m kind of dumbfounded about that. I was dumbfounded that we even qualified, much less won first round, but it’s crazy out there. There was a lot of upsets, and I’m glad I guess I was part of it, as well.”
Eventual runner-up Erica Enders came along and became the round’s first higher-qualified driver to win (against Kenny Delco). But the upsets continued, closing out the session with No. 5 Shane Tucker falling to No. 12 Stephen Bell.
The total first-round fallout: Drivers qualified 1, 2, 4, and 5 were out of the mix, along with four of the top five in the standings.
7 – TOP FUEL ACE OUT IN ROUND 2 – Scrappers Racing assistant crew chief Adem Cave described driver Jasmine Salinas and the operation as “part-time team, full-time energy.” They used that energy well Sunday, defeating Josh Hart in the opening round, then knocking out Shawn Langdon, the points leader, Saturday’s #2Fast2Tasty winner, and four-time winner in seven 2026 final rounds.
After that coup, an emotional Salinas said, “I have been studying everything that the Kalitta team is doing. I’m not going to lie. I definitely got out of that car at the top end with my eyes teary, because that is so hard to do. You know what? This is all because of my guys. Todd Okahara, Adem Cave, Cole Fergen, Chad Fergen. We got C.J. Daniels back with us this weekend. Kyle Mullins, we got the Hicks Boys.
“We’re a small little group of guys running around like crazy, trying to get this car turned around. Let’s just keep having fun, but this is such an awesome experience, and this is why we work so hard. All the days where we feel like we can’t make it and want to give up, this is why.” She said her message to herself is “Just keep on going. Keep believing in yourself.”
After advancing to the final round with her semifinal victory over Leah Pruett, Salinas said, “The only reason I believe in myself is because I got guys that believe in me. That makes a huge difference. This has been such a journey to get here. I’m not really going to say much, except I forgot to include Austin on that last interview. Let’s just do this one more time.”
8 – ANYTHING YOU CAN DO … In Top Fuel, Round 1 saw the low E.T. and top speed of the meet set. Doug Kalitta qualified No. 1 with a 3.714-second elapsed time and 337.07 mph to set the bar. Tony Stewart lowered the best E.T. to 3.712 seconds, which Billy Torrence erased in the next pairing with a 3.707 – and the fastest speed of the weekend, as well, with a 338-mph-flat. Shawn Langdon reset that weekend speed mark with 338.77, in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations.
9 – SCAG ROLLER COASTER – Funny Car runner-up Daniel Wilkerson carried the SCAG team Sunday as it experienced first disappointment, then elation, then a let-down to end its day. In the opening round, Justin Ashley lost his Top Fuel match-up with Tony Stewart, and Will Smith was a no-show, stuck in his pit trying to solve a problem with the dragster. In Funny Car, Dave Richards encountered a mechanical issue after the burnout and was pushed from the starting line, handing a solo pass to Spencer Hyde. But Wilkerson moved past Hunter Green, Hyde, and Jack Beckman to earn a chance at his first Funny Car victory.
After winning the semifinal race against Beckman, all of a sudden the improbable victory came second to another crowning achievement for the Wilkersons. Daniel pedaled the car to the finish line without exploding the engine.
It’s hard to gauge who was more surprised, the elder Wilkerson or his kid.
“How about dumb luck?” Tim said about the win, and his son’s performance. “We were racing a great car there. We were trying to run a good run and it just didn’t work out. But how about my kid? We’ve been practicing that, believe it or not. And he just got on the radio and he said, ‘I finally did it, Dad. I drove like you.’”
Daniel added, “Funny Cars are freaking cool, dude. I finally figured out how to do that. I sucked at it my whole freaking life. I was good at it with an alcohol car, but as soon as I got in this thing, I could not pedal it to save my life. I finally figured it out, I guess. Holy crap. Dude, I’m on, like a cloud. I’m freaking shaking. I know it’s hard to believe, but this team has persevered through some crap. We sucked for a long time. Now we’re badass again. They should be scared.”
10 – LAMB HEADLINES SPORTSMAN WINNERS – Justin Lamb added another chapter to his decorated career Sunday, leading the list of NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series winners during the DENSO Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge at Sonoma Raceway. Lamb captured the Stock Eliminator title for his 37th career Wally and third victory of the season, highlighting a weekend that also produced first-time national event winners Doug Sedmak and Keith Winters.
Lamb successfully defended his Sonoma title by defeating Darin Grossi in the final. Grossi gained the starting-line advantage, but used too much race track, allowing Lamb to drive to a dead-on 9.312-second pass with a .002 package for his second straight Sonoma triumph.
The victory capped a six-round march that included wins over Pete Oliviero, Brian Beals, Mark Born, John Jerome, and Peter Gray before the final. Lamb qualified sixth and delivered consistent performances throughout eliminations.
Jody Lang claimed the Super Stock crown with a reaction-time advantage over Brad Burton, posting a 10.883-second run on his 10.90 dial to secure his 35th career Wally. The victory was Lang’s second national event win of the 2026 season after advancing through Greg Tackett, Tony Armanino, Ken Motter, and Jim Winslow.
Competition Eliminator featured a battle between two accomplished racers, with Clint Neff edging Steve Graham for his sixth career Wally. Graham left first, but Neff’s 7.639-second run under the J/DA index was enough to overtake Graham at the finish line after wins over Andy Freese, Kevin Carter and a semifinal bye.
Doug Sedmak earned the first national-event victory of his career in dramatic fashion by defeating Brad Pierce in the Super Gas final. Sedmak left with a .004 reaction time and held a margin of victory of just .0105 seconds, roughly 2 feet, to claim a Wally in his first appearance in a national event final.
Trey Vetter also relied on a starting-line edge to capture the Super Comp title over Grant Williamson. Vetter’s .018 reaction time produced a margin of victory of .0106 seconds, approximately 3 feet, giving him the third Wally of his career after eliminating Jake Denton, Nick Cobb, Brian Naber, Jeff Kenny, and Gabriel Torres.
The closest race of the day came in Right Trailers Top Dragster, where Keith Winters defeated Thomas Bayer by just .0013 seconds, approximately 5 inches. Winters earned his first career Wally in his first national event final after defeating Bob Hough, David Bustamante, Troy Wiens, and Chris Thode to reach the championship round.
Ken Ratzloff completed the list of winners by defeating Bryan Warr in the Right Trailers Top Sportsman final. Ratzloff used a starting-line advantage to collect his second career Wally after advancing past Paul Gladden, Brian King, Mike Silvia, and Rick Strohm.
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – OF PEDALING AND CHA-CHING; AN EXCITING DAY AT PACKED SONOMA RACEWAY
1 – REDEMPTION … AND CASH – The last time he was on a Pro Stock Motorcycle and in a final round – at Norwalk, Ohio, 21 days ago – Gaige Herrera red-lit.
The casual fan would soon forget about that. But Herrera couldn’t. It gnawed at him just on general principle, but it really bugged him that he did that against his Vance & Hines teammate, Richard Gadson. The two are fast friends, but keen competitors.
So Herrera eliminated Steve Johnson and Angie Smith in the early rounds of Saturday’s GETTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout at Sonoma Raceway and capitalized on the chance to line up against Gadson once again.
Herrera won easily against Gadson in their fourth final-round meeting of the season to earn the $25,000 prize. The two had split a pair of finals at the back-to-back Bristol and Norwalk races, and Herrera had won over Gadson in the Charlotte four-wide showdown.
The class’ elite eight came to northern California from Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, and North Carolina simply to compete in this bonus race. The Pro Stock Motorcycle category was not on the Denso Sonoma Nationals schedule, nor was it planning to participate in next weekend’s Seattle lineup.
For the Vance & Hines finalists, the trip was worth it. Gadson, who also won the season-opening Gatornationals, defeated Chase Van Sant and Jianna Evaristo to reach the finals and punctuate the statement that their organization is dominating. But the team also got a chance to test before the class’ upcoming return to the program at the U.S. Nationals – and send a final warning to their rivals before the marquee match-up Labor Day weekend.
They also rolled the dice on some pairing strategy that paid off. Herrera had the first choice of an opponent, and he picked Steve Johnson, who had wisecracked last year that the choice is easy: “Pick someone who sucks.” Gadson went with Van Sant. It was pretty clear Herrera and Gadson didn’t make their picks because those racers suck – they did so because that left the four Matt Smith Racing quartet – including Jianna Evaristo, John Hall, and Angie Smith – to beat each other in the first round.
Andrew Hines, Herrera’s tuner, said after the victory, “We had to rebuild the engine since the last race. Had a little problem there in the Norwalk final, but Gaige got a little redemption there.
“He’s racing hard against Richard here lately. Those guys are bringing out the best in each other,” Hines said. “It’s fantastic for our sponsors, RevZilla, everybody, to come out here and get this GETTRX money. We really want to thank them for putting up all this money to come out to the West Coast and let the motorcycles get a chance to run for it. Really happy to go back to grinding for the U.S. Nationals. That’s the next one coming up, and we’ll see what we can do from there on.”
Gadson had the jump on Herrera at the starting line Saturday with an impressive .028-second reaction time to Herrera’s .055. But Herrera, with a newly rebuilt engine in his Suzuki, outran him with a 6.689-second, 202.15-mph performance to Gadson’s 6.795, 198.73.
Herrera said he couldn’t answer why his motorcycle was consistently so quick and fast all day, deferring to his crew chief: “That’s something for Andrew Hines to answer, but he’s been on it all weekend. First round, I came out here, smoked the clutch, and from there the bike came to life – back to like how it used to be in [2023] and ’24. So I felt good all weekend, and my bike obviously ran flawless all weekend.
“So this is all for the RevZilla /Vance & Hines team. And there’s nothing better than having an all-RevZilla Vance & Hines final. Me and Richard, I owed him that after the last two finals against him going red, but all in all, we’re taking home the cheese in this awesome belt.”
2 – #2FAST2GNARLY – Shawn Langdon, Ron Capps and Dallas Glenn hope to carry momentum into Sunday’s eliminations by winning Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge.
The trio collected bonus money and championship points before a capacity crowd at Sonoma Raceway, with each surviving challenging final-round matchups.
Langdon continued Kalitta Motorsports’ dominance in the Top Fuel specialty race, defeating Clay Millican with a 4.491-second pass at 227.50 mph. The points leader pedaled his Kalitta Air dragster late in the run to reach the finish line first, earning his fourth Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory of the season.
“They told me not to pedal. I did, and the first thought that came to my mind was that I was going to be in so much trouble,” Langdon said. “But at the end of the day, it’s good to get another Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty win.
“It’s the consistency of what the Kalitta group has done the last couple years of going rounds on Sundays and taking advantage of opportunities.”
Funny Car points leader Ron Capps also had to pedal his way to victory, slipping past Jack Beckman after both drivers encountered trouble late in the run. Capps posted a 4.429 at 225.03 mph in his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to claim his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the season.
“Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] is not going to be happy,” Capps said. “While it’s great money that Mission Foods puts up for this and the points are incredible, it could have been expensive.
“I was just thinking about getting to the finish line first, and I didn’t know that [Beckman] was doing the same thing over there. I can’t wait to watch it. It’s got to be pretty epic to watch.”
In Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn defeated Aaron Stanfield with a 6.526-second pass at 210.14 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to earn his third Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory.
“Honestly, I felt like when I left and the whole run, it felt better than a 6.52,” Glenn said. “I feel like we’re not where we should be, especially compared to last year.
“Still, it’s good to win one of these [Mission Challenge events] and I hope we can do the same tomorrow. I really like the diamond [75th anniversary] Wally.”
3 – LEADERBOARD UNCHANGED – Doug Kalitta, Jordan Vandergriff and Chris Vang held onto the No. 1 qualifying positions Saturday, leading their respective categories into Sunday’s eliminations at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge.
None of Friday’s top performances were surpassed, giving Kalitta his third Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier of the season, Vandergriff the second of his Funny Car career and Vang the first No. 1 qualifier of his Pro Stock career.
Kalitta’s Friday run of 3.714 seconds at 337.07 mph in his Aflac dragster remained the quickest of the weekend. The reigning world champion and defending Sonoma winner will face Clay Millican in the opening round as he pursues a seventh Top Fuel victory at Sonoma Raceway.
“That was a great run for us. The thing just stayed straight and didn’t smoke the tires,” Kalitta said. “We’ll just keep our heads down and try to get to the final. This is a real special place for me, and I really hope we can get something going tomorrow.”
Vandergriff secured his second career No. 1 qualifier with Friday’s 3.849 at 332.43 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS. The John Force Racing rookie backed up the performance with a 3.931 on Saturday and will meet Jason Rupert in the first round.
“We made some wholesale changes after Norwalk and they seem to be working out,” Vandergriff said. “I think we’ve got a hot rod this weekend, and it’s been a great weekend for us thus far.”
Vang completed a milestone weekend by earning the first No. 1 qualifier of his career with Friday’s 6.498-second run in his Prestige Trailers Chevrolet Camaro. He also claimed the $2,000 GESi Pro Stock No. 1 Qualifier Award after winning Friday’s Deecell After Dark Low Qualifier bonus.
“We’ve got good power down low and a good setup,” Vang said. “It takes a whole team to get this done.”
Eliminations begin Sunday at 11 a.m. PDT at Sonoma Raceway.
4 – THE FOOT-TO-PEDAL INSTINCT – There’s an unwritten rule in nitro drag racing that every driver understands. If the tires shake on Saturday, lift and save the race car for Sunday.
The Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge has complicated that philosophy by turning Saturday qualifying into a race for bonus money and Countdown points. At Sonoma Raceway, Shawn Langdon and Ron Capps both ignored team protocol when instinct took over.
Langdon admitted his Kalitta Motorsports team had one instruction if the car got into trouble.
“They told me to not” pedal, Langdon said. “I did it. And the first time it went to my mind would be in so much trouble. At that point, I’m already going to be in trouble, so I might as well hit it again, right?”
Crew chiefs discourage pedaling because recovering a run can lead to catastrophic engine damage and make for a long Saturday evening.
“It’s a thing because it’s money, it’s parts, and it’s a lot of money,” Langdon said. “We really try not to do that on Saturdays.”
Then he heard Clay Millican pedal first.
“My foot starts going down, and my brain’s telling it not to,” Langdon said. “At that point it’s like, ‘Well, you’re just committed, so you might as well just finish the job.'”
Ron Capps found himself in the same situation against Jack Beckman.
“I said that down earlier, [crew chief] Guido [Antonelli] is not going to be down with that,” Capps said. “I’m not looking forward to walking to the trailer.” Like Langdon, Capps reacted to what he heard in the other lane.
“When I was off, for a second, I heard him hit his,” Capps said. “I go, ‘Oh, now, it’s on. If he’s doing it, I got to beat him at Sonoma.'”
Capps understands why crew chiefs preach restraint.
“It’s instantly $150,000, not counting superchargers and things that come with all of that damage that you’re looking at,” he said. “It’s dumb as an owner.”
Still, some instincts can’t be coached away.
“My foot just did it,” Capps said. “I was driving like a sprint car. It was just, ‘Get there. Just get there.'”
5 – SCELZI SEZ – Gary Scelzi built a Hall of Fame career by winning races, speaking his mind and never pretending to be someone he wasn’t. During Saturday’s NHRA 75th Anniversary celebration at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, the four-time champion said that same authenticity is what today’s stars need to embrace.
Scelzi, honored at his home track, reflected on a career that produced 37 national-event victories and four world championships. His advice to the next generation came from a lesson shared years ago by former Winston representative Rob Goodman.
“I told Maddi Gordon, ‘The main thing is be yourself,'” Scelzi said. “I was always told by Rob Goodman, who was my handler with Winston, ‘Be yourself.'”
“Winston didn’t care. They said just, ‘Win.’ That’s all they cared about.”
Scelzi admitted he wasn’t always the easiest person to be around on race day.
“I’ve always kind of been an asshole on race day,” Scelzi said with a smile. “My wife used to tell me, ‘Get out. I’ll see you when you’re done at the end of the day.'”
Winning consumed his attention for most of his career, leaving little time to appreciate the journey.
“I just wanted to win, win, win, and forgot about everything around that,” Scelzi said. “My kids finally told me, ‘Dad, enjoy the moment.’ They were never more true words.”
Those lessons have changed how Scelzi experiences drag racing today. Instead of worrying about reaction times and championships, he enjoys watching the sport continue to evolve.
He admitted he once worried about drag racing’s future following John Force’s crash and the retirement of several longtime stars. Those concerns disappeared after watching drivers such as Jordan Vandergriff and Maddi Gordon emerge.
“This sport is really in good hands,” Scelzi said. “Jordan Vandergriff, I’m a big fan of his. They’re naturals, and it’s hard to believe these kids jump in these cars and they’re so damn good.”
Vandergriff said Scelzi’s comments carried special meaning because he grew up watching the outspoken champion race.
“Gary Scelzi is one of the greats of this sport,” Vandergriff said. “I want to be somewhat like Gary Scelzi, just endearing to the fans and genuinely himself.”
Scelzi believes that’s exactly what drag racing needs.
“If you’re pissed, be pissed on TV,” Scelzi said. “Nobody likes to get beat. There’s no huggy, kissy, lovey-dovey. You want to win.”
6 – MILLICAN APOLOGIZES FOR FRIDAY MESS – Clay Millican apologized to the fans for being the driver of the car – a Denso-sponsored dragster, no less – that caused the most highly anticipated qualifying session of the NHRA Denso Sonoma Nationals weekend – and possibly the season – to be canceled after a single pairing Friday night.
The rear end of his car broke, continuing the dreaded pattern of extensive clean-up and down-time that can kill the momentum of a race. Ultimately, that’s what happened as the lengthy effort from the Safety Safari bumped up against the track’s noise curfew.
Millican said Saturday, “First and foremost, first thing I want to say is I want to apologize to all the fans last night. I mean, we certainly have been on top of everything we possibly can. The Rick Ware [Racing] team has been chasing whatever’s happening with the differentials in these things, and we made a mess last night. Unfortunately, we come up on curfew, and the rest of the competitors didn’t get to run. I hate that. It is not for lack of maintenance or people trying and working their tails off, but it was some big numbers out there that people didn’t get to see last night. And, unfortunately, our car was the one that done it.”
Millican said Saturday, “You hate when something like that happens. Obviously, when you’re coming up on curfew and you make a mess, it’s going to take an hour to clean up. You hate it for all the competitors, but especially the fans. The place was packed and full-house and you go out there and make a mess. It just kills you. It makes you like, ‘Oh, man.’ You wish you hadn’t done that.
“But unfortunately,” he said, “it’s a Top Fuel car, it’s burning nitro, and it breaks things. And right now, obviously, this team’s had a few of these issues, but we just have done everything we can do. The rear end in our car actually was taken apart after Q1 just to check it, because we’ve been on top of it. After the first one we broke on [Tony Schumacher’s] car, it put us on high alert – and obviously it’s happened a couple of times since then.”
“We went so far that Tony’s chassis is actually fresh. We’re like, ‘Maybe something’s out of line.’ Well, now it’s happened in our car, as well. And typically you get 30 to 50 runs out of a ring-and-pinion gear. That was run No. 8 on the ring-and-pinion gear in my car last night,” he said.
“So, in my opinion – which don’t mean anything … I’m not a metallurgist; I’m not anything – but I think we have just a bad batch of components,” Millican said. “Steve Chrisman builds one of the greatest rear ends out here. In the previous couple of years, the other manufacturer was having the same issue, and the Chrisman rear end was not. And now we’re seeing it so, it is what it is, unfortunately. These things make a lot of power, and gear oil’s hard to clean up. That’s the bottom line.”
Making the problem worse, Millican said, is “the problem is literally getting them, because it’s not like they sell thousands of them. There’s what, how many Top Fuel cars in the world? Not very many. So, you have these gears specially made, and I’m probably speaking out of turn, but I think these gears are made [outside the U.S.]. They’re a specially made gear, and it takes a little while to get them. And so they get bought in batches, and I think we may have gotten a bad batch.”
Millican has seen it happen to outstanding drivers besides Schumacher, as well.
“I won the U.S. Nationals with Steve Torrence breaking a differential in the final. I don’t even know if a lot of people know that, but that’s what happened to Stevie’s car in the final. And that was the other manufacturer’s rear end. But I do got to give a big shout-out. We have three rear ends on order from Chrisman, trying to work through all these issues. But we are working on it. Chrisman’s working on it. We believe in him. We believe in his product, but right now I think we’ve got a material issue. And we’re going to figure it out, I promise you that. But folks, thank y’all for putting up with that last night. I love you guys. I love drag race fans, and I love my job.”
He also loves Antron Brown. The four-time series champion, his opponent in the first round of Saturday’s #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, gave Millican and his team a rear-end Saturday. Super-grateful but silly at the same time, Millican joked, “So I’m racing Antron first round of the Mission Food Challenge, and I’ll be racing him with his rear differential. So I’m going to try to smack Antron’s rear with his rear.” After they ran and Millican advanced to the finals (where he lost traction early, handing the victory to Shawn Langdon), Millican said, “Well, Antron’s rear end just got beat by Antron’s rear end. Let’s just put it that way.”
7 – THE NEW SCHEDULE – THINGS BACK IN THE RIGHT ORBIT – Schedulers for the NHRA’s 76th season, who have crafted a year-long salute to Funny Car legend John Force, received a thumbs-up from all four John Force Racing drivers for returning to the traditional season start at the boss’ home track at Pomona, Calif. The three Funny Car drivers are from southern California, but even Florida resident Josh Hart was A-OK with it. Hart, the team’s lone Top Fuel driver, lives within an hour of Gainesville Raceway, which hosted the season opener in five of the past six years.
Jordan Vandergriff, who grew up in Brea, Calif., and now lives in the Atlanta area, was enthusiastic about the shift.
“I love it!” he said. “I grew up going to Pomona. The Winternationals was always the start of the NHRA season for me, so it’s back on the schedule where it’s meant to be. Gainesville was great for the years that we started the season there, but Gainesville has a long-standing tradition as the third race on the schedule. If I’m fortunate enough, I’ll be driving this Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet when we start the 2027 season in Pomona.”
Alexis DeJoria agreed with Vandegriff, and threw in another item she’d like to see addressed: “I think going back to Pomona for the start of the season feels right. That’s how it’s been, and that’s how we should keep it. Now, if we could go back to quarter-mile racing, I’d be even happier.”
Jack Beckman waxed philosophic about it. He said, “I don’t like change for the sake of change, and I don’t like tradition for the sake of tradition. If there’s a better way to do something, by all means change it, but don’t change something just to say you’ve done something different. That being said, something didn’t seem right with the world, especially as a southern California native, in not having a season book-ended by the Pomona events. When things got crazy in 2021, they had to run the Winternationals in July or August [July 30–August 1] because there was still COVID shutdowns. But I wasn’t racing then. The last time I had run the Winternationals was 2020, when it was the first race of the year. I won it, but then I wasn’t driving at the end of the year. So, when I came back to driving, it just seemed so foreign to me to start the season in Florida and run Pomona as the third race of the year.”
The bottom line for Beckman? He said, “So the traditionalist in me likes it, and the southern California fan in me loves it.”
For Hart, the situation is a bit reversed. “The season has always started with the Gatornationals at Gainesville during my Top Fuel career,” he said, “but I think it’s cool that NHRA is following their own traditions in starting with the Winternationals again. We’ll still continue with the Burnyzz Fan Fest to kick off the Gatornationals, which is always huge.”
8 – THE JOEY GROSE FILES – What’s a driver to do when, on back-to-back runs, he records his career-best elapsed times and gets bumped out of the show? You simply get ready for the next race, next weekend.
Welcome to the world of Pro Stock racer Joey Grose, who ran a 6.572 and then a 6.568 to land on the bubble. Each time, he got bumped out by Mason McGaha.
“See you at Seattle next weekend,” an upbeat Grose said. “We’re pretty excited because we made some big gains this weekend. And keep plugging away at it and keep getting better every run, we hope.”
Grose pointed out that he’s gained data he intends to use in Seattle
“It’s given us a head start over there, and we’re gaining every run. So, hopefully, we’ll start out good over there and just keep the progression going. So, I appreciate everything.”
9 – SHE AND WALLY HAVE A THING GOING – Maddi Gordon, Top Fuel’s most recent winner, joked Saturday about her new best friend, Wally – the trophy, that is.
She said her “romance” with the specially designed diamond Wally, which commemorates the NHRA’s 75th anniversary season, is “going wonderful” since she brought him home from Norwalk, Ohio. “Me and Wally, we’re tight. Yeah, we’ve got a good relationship going on.”
The statue, her first in drag racing’s professional ranks, occupies a special spot on her bedroom shelf.
“I got it on a shelf right in my room,” Gordon said, “and every day, that’s the first thing I see when I wake up. And, honestly, I really think I can count for probably a thousand views on every single video from that weekend.
“I get speechless. I don’t even know how to explain it. It was just so perfect with my dad winning and Ron [team boss Capps] winning [the Funny Car final round] and then us winning,” she said. “It literally could not have been any better.
“I say it all the time, and I feel like the phrase gets overused, but I’m truly living a dream, and every day I wake up and I’m so thankful for it,” Gordon said.
Now she must figure out how she’s going to explain to Wally when she brings home another one. But she has a plan.
“Well, same thing my parents said when my sister was born: We got to share. We got to share. We got to make room. And I’ve got a feeling Wally wants a friend. No one wants to be lonely, right? So if Wally gets a friend, I think he’ll be alright with it.”
And if Wally gets jealous, she has a plan for that, too.
With a big giggle, she had a ready answer for the question of whether that would happen: “No. I’ll have to slap him in the face if he gets jealous.”
10 – NHRA HEADS SOUTH OF THE BORDER – The NHRA’s international reach expanded Saturday with the return of Autódromo de Monterrey to the NHRA Member Track Network, restoring a relationship that stretches back to the 1980s and opening the door for sanctioned NHRA competition in Mexico once again.
The Apodaca, Nuevo León facility will become part of NHRA’s South Central Division (Division 4), joining the sanctioning body’s growing list of international member tracks in Canada, Puerto Rico and Bahrain. The move allows the facility to host NHRA-sanctioned programs, including the NHRA Racing Series presented by Hoosier, the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League and other grassroots initiatives.
For NHRA President Glen Cromwell, the announcement was fitting during the organization’s 75th anniversary season.
“It’s great,” Cromwell said. “What a perfect timing. We’re sitting here in the middle of our 75th anniversary, and you get to take a second and reflect about NHRA 75 years and how it all started back in 1951 with Wally Parks and what his mission was. That was to bring racers, get them off the street, but bring them in a safe haven and bring them to our member tracks.”
Rather than describing Monterrey as a new addition, Cromwell viewed it as a reunion.
“You really never left,” he said. “You were always part of the family. You’re just coming back.”
Autódromo de Monterrey owner Gilberto Jiménez called the renewed partnership a milestone for both the facility and drag racing in Mexico.
“For us, it’s an honor to be here,” Jiménez said. “It is the right time for both of our countries to show to the world that united, we can make it.”
Jiménez said the track has produced Junior Dragster racers for decades and hopes the NHRA partnership creates opportunities for young competitors to race across the border.
“We have about 25, 30 kids racing in Mexico,” Jiménez said. “We want to bring them over to race here in Texas or somewhere, to come and compete with your drivers. Just imagine that, what an example it will be for the juniors.”
The agreement was facilitated in part by Century Prime Global, whose principal, Rudy Gutierrez, called the project “historic.”
“Mexico has never had a 300-plus-mile-an-hour race,” Gutierrez said. “We’re going to make history.”
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – A PACKED HOUSE FAST FRIDAY HALTED WITH ANOTHER REAR END FAILURE
1 – TOP FUEL HITS LOW SPOT – The Friday night Top Fuel session at Sonoma Raceway – always one of the most highly anticipated qualifying sessions of the entire season, with mineshaft conditions and the tease of dazzling record runs – ended in an unfortunate mess.
The rear end of Clay Millican’s dragster broke, dumping the particularly nasty oil along the right lane and forcing a lengthy clean-up that cut short the activity after a single pairing. The Safety Safari worked hard and used all of its resources to fix the spill, but it was too difficult to clean up before the area’s noise curfew arrived.
The rear-end issue – something the class has been struggling to avoid but can’t seem to solve – handed the provisional No. 1 qualifying berth to Doug Kalitta, who was quickest in the opening session.
Kalitta and teammate Shawn Langdon, who have dominated for much of the season, were 1-2 in the order with identical 3.714-second elapsed times in the first session. Kalitta got the No. 1 nod on speed, as his 337.07-mph clocking trumped Langdon’s 336.49.
“That first run was definitely a close one. At the time, you don’t realize it’s going to hold up, but it was enough to get us the No. 1 spot,” Kalitta said. “It was disappointing not to get the second session in. Alan Johnson definitely didn’t have that car tuned to run a 3.71 — we were planning to throw down something even quicker.
“Tomorrow’s conditions should be just as good, maybe even better. I think we’ll have a chance to improve on those numbers. It’s Sonoma, one of my favorite tracks. Every time we go up there, we’re trying to do the best job we can.”
In that first session, Tony Stewart had been No. 1 with a 3.736 at 333.91 until the Kalitta duo came to the starting line. He remained third by the end of the shortened program.
Nailing down the tentative No. 4 spot was Tony Schumacher, who ran 3.744 alongside teammate Millican in the lone second-session pass. That run pushed Maddi Gordon, the series’ most recent winner, down to No. 5. Jasmine Salinas, Josh Hart, and Leah Pruett rounded out the provisional top half of the field that is two entries short of a full 16-car count.
2 – PAIN IN THE REAR, PT. 4 – Millican’s parts failure marked the fourth time this season that a broken rear end on a Top Fuel car wreaked havoc on the show. Rick Ware Racing cars have been responsible for all four.
3 – VANDERGRIFF TAKES $4K RIDE – One year ago, at Seattle, FOX Sports reporter Jordan Vandergriff was interviewing J.R. Todd as the Kalitta Motorsports racer accepted the $4,000 Deecell After Dark Funny Car Low Qualifier Award.
On Friday night, Vandergriff, the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro driver, was on the receiving end of the honor.
He opened the evening qualifying session with a 3.849-second elapsed time and 332.43-mph speed for John Force Racing and had to wait and watch the rest of the field try to take it away from him. He politely said any number of strong cars could eclipse his time, but pressed whether he truly thought anyone would, Vandergriff comically wagged his head a bit and said no.
And he was right. It turned out to be the quickest run in the Funny Car class this entire season so far.
Vandergriff did pay especially close attention to teammate Jack Beckman and points leader Ron Capps, who lined up for the final Funny Car pairing of the evening. Beckman clocked a 3.873-second run to claim the provisional No. 2 spot, but Vandergriff is poised to earn his second No. 1 starting position of the season and second in four races.
“It’s really just a credit to my guys, my Cornwall Quality Tools team: Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker, and all of my guys. They are unbelievably good. That’s all them right there. It has nothing to do with me. It’s all them,” Vandergriff said. “So, thank you to the guys – and I’m going to take this $4,000. Wait … I don’t know if I get it all, but if I do get it all, we’ll figure out something to do with it.”
He later said of his accomplishment, “Definitely an interesting way to do it, I think. I think coming up, we fumbled a little in Q1, and coming into this night session in Q2, you don’t want to be first. We were in our pit and coming up with the sun going down. We were like, ‘We really wish we weren’t first right now.’ But I think it was cool enough.”
But he said his crew chiefs Cunningham and Bunker “knew” they had the right combination.
“And based off my early numbers,” he said, “I know I got out of the groove in Q1, but early numbers are really good. Our [330-foot incremental times] look really, really good. So I knew that we had something figured out, and it didn’t matter what time we were going to go out there. I think we knew we were going to run quick.
“It’s great to be the quickest of the Funny Cars so far this year. It’s a huge accomplishment, based on how good this Funny Car class is. And I’m a rookie. I don’t even know what I’m doing yet. I’m doing this. So it’s awesome,” Vandergriff said.
He said he figured his team was going to be that aggressive in the evening session.
“You go up there safe because you didn’t do what you needed to do in the first round. So you can go up there and try to just get it down [the track]. But I knew. I knew Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker, they wanted to push a little bit. I think that’s what we need to do. That’s what we haven’t really done. We’ve run good. We ran great. We’ve won the race and we’ve qualified No. 1 before [at Epping, N.H.], but we haven’t really pushed. And I think we’re finding that we can push now. So that was a little bit of a push right there. And you see Jack goes No. 2. So, we pushed, for sure, and it held.”
He said he wasn’t concerned about whether he could make up for his Q1 bobble.
“No, not at all, actually. I knew that the track was cool enough,” Vandergriff said. “Anytime you run in this Q2 session, you know it’s going to be really ideal conditions. So no, going up there, I knew that we were going to run good. I didn’t know we were going to run that good. So you just go up there and you do the same things. And it made a move early like I did the first run, and I just steered it and it settled down and it ended up going straight, so I knew it was quick. I didn’t know it was that quick. Just super happy to be able to get that done for the guys and all of my sponsors.”
4 – VANG SETS THE PACE – Chris Vang had no problem making the quickest Pro Stock run of his career Friday at Sonoma Raceway.
The ride to the media center afterward for the second-year Pro Stock competitor from Kansas was another story.
Vang raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with a 6.498-second pass at 209.01 mph, putting himself in position for the first No. 1 qualifier of his NHRA career. Yet when asked what made him more nervous, the answer came quickly.
“Yeah, for sure,” Vang said of the butterflies before his first NHRA press conference. “Never been here before. I mean, even with working with Derek, we were No. 1 a few times, but I never came up to the media center. That was always just his deal. So, yeah, definitely butterflies and it’s fun. It’s a new experience.”
Asked whether sitting in front of reporters or driving a Pro Stock car was more intimidating, Vang smiled.
“Sitting here, for sure.”
The qualifying run exceeded even the team’s expectations.
“It’s exciting,” Vang said. “Yeah, pretty amazing. Don’t even know how to describe it. We came in here hoping to qualify. There’s always that thought with 18 cars and trying to just make good runs. We got a great start with Q1 [6.538], so we knew we had something to work with and just threw a little more at it.”
“We were hoping to go right out of 50, maybe a high 49. So we ran pretty close to what we wanted.”
The performance also earned Vang a $2,500 bonus, something he said carries extra meaning for a team trying to compete in most of the remaining races this season.
“It helps a lot,” Vang said. “We’re trying to run about seven more races. I have great sponsors with Patterson Elite and Prestige, but we don’t have any big sponsor names, so a little bit helps a lot.”
Vang said the team knew it had horsepower after receiving freshened engines from Elite Motorsports, giving him confidence they could qualify in the top half of the field.
Once the car launched, he knew it had a chance to be special.
“I knew the car left and I knew it was going to be on the edge,” Vang said. “It’s like, if it doesn’t shake, it should be pretty good. And it picked the front end up and it was smooth, so I knew we were on it fast.”
Despite the career-best run, Vang believes there’s still more performance to find.
“We didn’t get it all. I know that,” Vang said. “It wasn’t perfect even though it was a really good run.”
5 – THE CALLOUT PAIRINGS – The field is set for Saturday’s GETTRX NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout, and strategy played just as big a role as speed during Friday’s selection process at Sonoma Raceway.
As the No. 1 qualifier, Gaige Herrera earned the first choice of opponents for the $25,000 specialty event. Although the two-time champion admitted he considered selecting six-time NHRA champion Matt Smith, Herrera instead chose veteran Steve Johnson.
Reigning champion Richard Gadson made perhaps the most strategic move of the selection process with the second pick. Gadson selected Chase Van Sant, a rider capable of pulling an upset, but currently lacking the consistent performance of the RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki team.
The decision also guaranteed that members of the Matt Smith Racing organization would have to race one another in the opening round. With Gadson’s choice made, Smith’s team riders — Matt Smith, Angie Smith, John Hall, and Jianna Evaristo — filled the remaining positions in the ladder.
Returning to competition after missing the previous three races while recovering from gall bladder surgery, Matt Smith had the third selection and matched up with teammate Jianna Evaristo. That pairing left Angie Smith and John Hall to square off in the remaining first-round duel.
The GETTRX Allstar Callout uses a unique format that allows the lowest elapsed-time winner after each round to select the next-round opponent, adding another layer of strategy before the championship round.
Matt Smith enters the event as the defending champion after winning last year’s Callout when Gadson left the starting line just .001 of a second too soon in the final round. Smith also owns Sonoma Raceway’s Pro Stock Motorcycle track speed record and the NHRA national speed record at 205.04 mph.
6 – MATT IS BACK – Matt Smith wasn’t worried about climbing back on his Pro Stock Motorcycle after missing several races because of emergency gall bladder surgery. The six-time NHRA champion already knew he could still ride.
His only concern was whether his body had recovered enough to let him.
“No butterflies,” Smith said. “Just ready to get back on the bike and hope I do my job and hope the bike does its job.”
Smith returned to competition after undergoing surgery in early June following a medical emergency that sidelined him. Instead of rushing the process, he resisted testing and focused solely on healing.
“I really haven’t prepared anything,” Smith said. “I’ve just been trying to take care of myself and listen to what the doctors have said. We thought about going to testing last week, but I feel like it was just better to give me another whole week of rest. … Today when we go out there will be the first time I’ve been on a bike since Chicago.”
Smith said staying off the motorcycle wasn’t easy, but it was necessary.
“No, I didn’t do any working out, doing anything like that because I just wanted to give my body enough time to heal before they went in through my stomach and got the gallbladder out,” Smith said. “More or less, you’re trying to let my body heal up like it needs to.”
After receiving clearance from both his doctors and NHRA officials, Smith said the only thing left was finding out how his body would respond once he made his first pass.
“And I got full release last week from the doctor, and then NHRA released me on Friday after seeing all the doctor stuff and all that,” Smith said. “Like I said, just ready to go, ready to go do this. I know I know how to do it; I hope my body is ready for it.”
The surgery solved one problem but not all of them.
Smith still plans to undergo hernia surgery after the season and joked that the latest operation left him with a few reminders.
“I got some scars. I look like I’d been stabbed five times,” Smith said. “But all in all, we got all that done, and over the winter I’ll get the hernias taken care of.”
The ordeal also changed the way Smith thinks about racers trying to push through medical issues.
“NHRA has a protocol that you can have a substitute driver,” Smith said. “And us as racers, we always … we’re big macho. We want to show how tough we are and we just want to race.”
Smith said his experience should remind every racer that getting medical attention isn’t a sign of weakness.
“So, any racers out there, they need to take their health seriously, because you can’t race if you’re not alive,” Smith said. “You can come back and race down the road. So take care of yourself, do the protocols that NHRA has, and that’s where I’m at right now.”
7 – “JUST DOING MY JOB” – Chuck Grospitch, car chief for Norwalk Top Fuel winner Maddi Gordon, insisted he simply was doing his job that Sunday morning when he performed a quick repair on her Carlyle Tools dragster at the starting line. Were it not for Grospitch, Gordon would have exited in the first round without attempting a pass.
For certain, it was, in his words, a “pretty high-pressure situation,” but he said jumping into action – with Spencer Massey and his crew chief, Scott Graham, patiently standing by in the opposite lane – was instinctive.
“It was definitely a natural-instinct moment, more than something you think about or plan for. So it’s more or less just using your decision-making skills and experience to just get the job done in the moment. And obviously missing a run at any point out here is big, let alone first round,” he said.
“For me, that’s my job. I did my job,” he said. “As a car chief, I plumb these cars, so when there’s an issue, that falls on me and I’m just fixing problems and doing what I get paid to do.”
The issue was a blown air line on the dragster.
“Essentially, I turned the CO2 bottle on, and as soon as I turned that bottle on, it blew an air line,” Grospitch said. “Maybe we were the sixth pair, sitting up there in the heat, and the bottle built a little extra pressure when we opened it. It just kind of shocked the system.”
Grospitch called it “pure bad luck and bad timing,” but said the team has already made changes to prevent it from happening again.
“We’ve taken the steps to figure out why,” he said. “Things happen, but why did they happen? How do we prevent them from happening again in the future? We’ve tweaked a couple things, and hopefully that never happens again to us.”
Grospitch admitted it has taken some getting used to being in the spotlight.
“For me, the media has been a little nerve-wracking because I’m kind of new to that side of it,” he said. “I’m glad everything worked out the way it did. It’s been nice, but I’m still Chuck. We still have another 10 races to go. This was a highlight of our season so far, but there’s a lot more ahead of us.”
He also made it clear the attention belongs to the entire Ron Capps Motorsports team.
“A lot of people don’t see the work that’s gone into putting this team together,” Grospitch said. “It’s a team effort from everybody. We’re just trying to keep up, do well and keep her safe.”
He insisted any other car chief would have done exactly the same thing.
“We’re all those kind of people that are get-it-done kind of guys,” Grospitch said. “I’m not going to toot my own horn for the credit.”
8 – MOVING SONOMA MEMORY – Jack Beckman was top qualifier when he won at Sonoma Raceway in 2015 and when he was runner-up in 2010. But he said his strongest memory came long before that, when he was battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“My best win at Sonoma was a divisional race in 2004. I was the defending NHRA Super Comp champion, so the No. 1 was on the side of my car and I was still going through chemotherapy. I was completely bald. I was pale, and I was 30 pounds lighter because of the chemo. But I was able to win. I was able to win a trophy after I wasn’t sure I was going to be breathing anymore. So, that one would be tough to beat,” he said.
“But, in terms of my pro career, 2015 was amazing. We just came off a win at Denver. We put the laid-back headers on the car for good in the second round at Denver, and that changed the face of Funny Car racing. Starting with Sonoma, we came out and lowered the boom on the national record. I think we ran four-hundredths-of-a-second quicker than the national record on the hero run Friday night, and then we came out Saturday needing a one-percent backup. It was a hot day and a very warm track, and we still ran quicker than the national record in the heat on Saturday,” he said. “It was amazing to get to do that, and then we did it four times on race day and left there with the trophy.”
9 – HART TAKES THE NEXT STEP – A year ago, the John Force Racing Top Fuel dragster was the talk of Friday night at the Sonoma Nationals after delivering one of the quickest performances of the season. Josh Hart knows that combination isn’t catching anyone by surprise anymore.
That’s why Hart and the John Force Racing team rolled out a new chassis at Sonoma, hoping the next evolution of the program will keep pace in one of the most competitive Top Fuel fields in NHRA history.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the pipe,” Hart said. “There was a magical vibe with that car, but now people have caught it and we need to do whatever we can do to evolve and this was our step in that direction.”
Hart said the confidence comes from the people surrounding him as much as the equipment. Crew chiefs David Grubnic and John Collins continue to set the standard inside the race shop, never satisfied regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard.
“So under the helm of David Grubnic and John Collins and these guys, they’re awesome,” Hart said. “They are just awesome. They expect more of themselves. We could go out there and run a 3.64 right now and Grubby would say, ‘I thought it was going to go 3.62.’
“I’m so blessed to be in a seat where I don’t have to hold them accountable. They hold themselves accountable. Everybody does their job, and they do a great job.”
The early results have reinforced that belief.
On the new car’s first pass, Hart reached 336 mph, a faster speed than he recorded during his days as an owner/driver.
“I feel like even though it is new pipe, we just went out there first hit ever and went 336 miles an hour,” Hart said. “That’s faster than anything I’d ever done in my past life. My whole career up until this point, five years owning my own team, never went 336.
“I have zero complaints, but they’re constantly striving to up their game in every aspect.”
The new chassis also fits Hart differently than the previous car, which had originally been built for Brittany Force. The changes aren’t dramatic to the casual observer, but Hart believes they’re meaningful.
“This one was made for me,” Hart said. “The last one was made for Brittany. I’m about 165 without all my get-up on.
“I’ve tried to lose 10 pounds. The car just lost 15 pounds. We’re trying to really focus on just getting this thing as optimal as possible. I think we’re definitely making huge strides in the right direction.”
As the season moves deeper into the countdown for championship positioning, Hart believes the team is right where it expected to be.
“I would say right where I expected to be,” Hart said. “I broke all my own personal records. I want more performance, obviously the same as they do, and I think that we’re going to get it.”
Hart said his confidence grew the moment he climbed into a car that had never been shaken down and drove it straight down the groove.
“I just sat my butt in that car for the first time ever and went right down Broadway knowing that it had never even been shaken down before,” Hart said. “I got a lot of confidence in these guys and John Force Racing. I think we’re going to be just fine.”
10 – THEY SAID IT – Overheard at Sonoma Raceway:
“If you ever wonder why I chose drag racing, it’s because I have a small bladder. And I only got 3.75 seconds to hang onto it. Love this sport! Love going fast!”
– Top Fuel racer Maddi Gordon, after a 3.751-second, 336.49-mph pass
“[That was the] first win light of the weekend. [The goal is] to win this race. I felt it in my bones when I was packing my suitcase before I came out here. We’re winning this race. That’s it. That’s it.”
– Alexis DeJoria, at the time the tentative No. 1 qualifier in the Funny Car class in the early session
“Everybody works as hard, whether you stink or you run low E.T. It’s a great reward for the crew to put up a number like that.”
– Funny Car racer Jack Beckman, after he recorded a 3.942-second elapsed time at 327.51 mph, to be the provisional No. 2 driver after the opening session
“All the Funny Car guys have no brains. So let’s clarify that right now. I speak from experience.”
– Retired Top Fuel and Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi, providing commentary on the P.A.
