Photos by: Ron Lewis, Todd Dziadosz
Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals outside of Ohio.
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – STUFF’S ‘BOUT TO GET REAL AS THE 2026 SEASON HEATS UP
1 – GET READY IT’S COMING – Word of advice to the Funny Car field: Don’t let Austin Prock get comfortable. Once the two-time NHRA champion finds his rhythm, consistency usually follows, and championships the past two seasons have been the end result.
After sweeping Saturday in Norwalk, Ohio, with his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory, Prock believes he’s closing in on the form that carried him to back-to-back titles during his stint at John Force Racing.
Prock defeated Ron Capps in the Mission Challenge final with a 3.875-second run at 333.49 mph, then backed it up with a track-record 3.863 at 337.41 mph in his Ford Racing Mustang to earn the top qualifying spot. He made the quickest run in three of the four qualifying sessions while collecting nearly every available bonus point.
“It’s been a great weekend for us so far,” Prock said. “We’ve pretty much gobbled up every point that was available except one yesterday in Q2. We came in here with a plan that we were going to press harder and try to become the dominant race team that we know we’re capable of being.”
The results are the latest step in what Prock calls a steady climb since joining Tasca Racing. Early season struggles masked the progress, but he believes the breakthrough came after the team solved a persistent engine issue.
“You’ve got to crawl, then you’ve got to walk, then you’ve got to run,” Prock said. “We started from ground zero and we’ve really made incredible progress each weekend in these 10 races.
“We had this cylinder-dropping issue early on in the season, and when you drop a cylinder at the hit, you might as well not drag the car up there,” Prock added. “Once we [resolved that issue], we really started making some leaps and bounds on this Ford Mustang.”
Just as important as the performance is how Prock feels behind the wheel.
“I’m getting there,” Prock said. “Each weekend I feel like I’m the most comfortable I’ve been, and today especially I felt more comfortable, more confident. And when I get comfortable and confident, that’s when I turn into a machine.”
Prock said he’s focused on consistency before outright quickness.
“I’ve always believed that first you get consistent, then you get quick,” Prock said. “I have to keep reminding myself of that sometimes.”
The Mission Challenge win also added valuable Countdown bonus points, giving Prock another reason to treat every Saturday round like race day.
“These Mission #2Fast2Tasty points are a huge deal when the points reset,” Prock said. “That’s why I treat these like race day.”
2 – CONTROLLED DOMINATION, LANGDON STYLE – There are very few questions left to ask Shawn Langdon about his 2026 season that he hasn’t already answered. Yet he keeps answering them anyway, one run at a time, while the rest of the Top Fuel field searches for a way to slow down the Kalitta Motorsports juggernaut.
Saturday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals became another chapter in a season built on consistency. Langdon swept the day by winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and securing his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season, strengthening his grip on the points lead.
Langdon did it all with one run. His 3.695-second pass at 333 mph defeated teammate Doug Kalitta in the #2Fast2Tasty final while also locking up the top qualifying position for Sunday’s eliminations. The victory marked his third Mission Challenge win this season.
If anyone believed Langdon’s record-setting performances earlier this year were the product of ideal weather, Saturday offered another answer. Crew chief Brian Husen’s tune-up once again delivered under pressure, proving the combination can perform almost anywhere.
The results speak for themselves.
Between Kalitta and Langdon, Kalitta Motorsports has won seven of the eight Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges contested this season, a level of dominance unmatched in the class.
“It’s just the consistency that these cars have shown over the last couple seasons, being able to make the semifinals of the races, and being able to get into the show of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty, and then making good quality runs during the challenge,” Langdon said. “Both cars have been really good the last few seasons, so that’s just the end result of that.”
Langdon enjoys the specialty race, but admits there’s always a balancing act between chasing bonus money and protecting parts before eliminations.
“It’s a little tricky because in qualifying you don’t want to jeopardize parts if you smoke the tires — typically save that for race day ’cause it can get quite expensive if you have some issues,” Langdon said. “It’s kind of how aggressive do you want to get, and what do you want to jeopardize, because at the end of the day it is a little bit of money and there are some points that come with it.”
Success, Langdon knows, rarely lasts forever in Top Fuel. That’s why he credits the people around him more than the results on the scoreboard.
“I’m not surprised because I know the talent that we have around us, [team owner] Connie [Kalitta] gives us all the resources we need to have successful race teams, and we have some very smart individuals across the board on all three teams at Kalitta,” Langdon said. “But you can have all of that and it’s not necessarily going to translate to on the racetrack success.”
Rather than changing his approach, Langdon believes the formula is simple.
“We’re just in the high stride and the cars have been running great, all three cars have been running fantastic,” Langdon said. “Just keep our heads down, keep working harder, and hopefully the results follow and the success stays around for a while ’cause it’s definitely a lot of fun.”
The two-time champion said his biggest adjustment this season has been mental, resisting the urge to overdrive a race car that has already proven it can win.
“I’m just trying not to mess up a good thing,” Langdon admitted. “You got a good race car and don’t mess it up, just keep riding the wave, and just stay on as long as you can.”
3 – WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY – Most teams don’t begin thinking seriously about the Countdown to the Championship until the regular season starts winding down. Shawn Langdon says his crew chief, Brian Husen, has a much different philosophy.
Langdon said preparations for the NHRA playoffs begin before the season even opens, with every qualifying and elimination run treated as another opportunity to build a notebook that could pay dividends when the championship is on the line.
“The really neat thing about Brian is we start preparing for the Countdown in January,” Langdon said. “Well, I take that back. Last year, November. He doesn’t lay up. He utilizes his runs for every amount of information, and to him every run counts.”
That approach has helped produce the most consistent Top Fuel combination on the tour in 2026, with Langdon entering Sunday’s eliminations in Norwalk after earning his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season.
Langdon said Friday’s strategy reflected Husen’s big-picture plan. Rather than gambling on all-or-nothing runs, the team has balanced its performance with gathering information that could prove valuable later in the season.
“On Friday, he had a target in mind of what he thought the car could run and we were just putting the situation, being in the back of the pack that it was like, ‘Okay, let’s just get the car down the track and make a good run and try to get low for the session,'” Langdon explained. “We felt pretty confident with what we were trying to run and then some of the last minute changes to accommodate to make sure it goes down the track.”
It’s the big picture they are chasing
“Really for our team, it’s an all-year thing.”
4 – DALLAS WINS THE CALLOUT – Dallas Glenn has spent the past four seasons establishing himself as one of Pro Stock’s elite drivers. On Saturday in Norwalk, he checked another item off the list.
Glenn became the fourth different winner in the four-year history of the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout, collecting the $40,000 winner’s prize after Matt Hartford fouled in the final round. Even without the red-light start, Glenn was ready, laying down the quickest Pro Stock run of the day with a 6.556-second pass at 207.98 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro.
The victory was Glenn’s first All-Star Callout title, but it wasn’t handed to him. Before meeting Hartford in the final, Glenn eliminated Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Aaron Stanfield, two former class champions who know what it takes to win on the sport’s biggest stages.
The successful Saturday also carried over into qualifying, where Glenn secured the No. 2 starting position heading into eliminations. That leaves the KB Titan Racing standout in position to chase a weekend sweep with both the Callout title and a national-event victory.
“We made a fantastic run there in the final,” Glenn said. “I’m really excited about tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to get one of these ice cream scoop trophies for a long time. I’m really excited about that, and that nice big bonus check should be pretty nice, too.”
While the victory looked convincing from the outside, Glenn admitted he entered the specialty race with modest expectations. Previous Callout appearances hadn’t produced the results he wanted, forcing him to take a different approach this weekend.
“I don’t feel like I do well in these races,” Glenn admitted. “But I just came in trying to do my own thing, and I don’t know if being in a new car kind of kept me from overthinking anything, just because there was so much new stuff, or what it was, but I just tried to stay as relaxed as I could.”
5 – BACK TO WHERE IT BEGAN – Justin Ashley returned to Norwalk this weekend with memories of the run that changed his career nearly a decade ago.
Nine years ago, Ashley climbed into Antron Brown’s Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel dragster to complete his licensing runs. The opportunity came from Schumacher’s crew chief Brian Corradi, who had known Ashley since working with his father, Mike Ashley.
Corradi never viewed putting a young driver into a championship-caliber race car as much of a gamble.
“I think Don was good with whatever we did,” Corradi said. “I think our relationship at the time was his faith and trust to me was good.”
Even when reminded things could have gone badly, Corradi wasn’t concerned.
“With who? I don’t know. Not Don. Don’s a racer. He understands it all,” he said.
The confidence came from knowing Ashley wanted the opportunity for himself.
“He was 100% wanting to do it,” Corradi said. “There was no dad making him do it. He was doing it because he wanted to.”
Ashley admits the day included one memorable rookie mistake.
“By blowing a lot of stuff up,” Ashley said with a laugh. “Fortunate enough to get the license that day, but you really don’t know what you don’t know.”
Corradi explained Ashley briefly lifted off the throttle before getting back into it, causing minor engine damage.
“His foot came off the gas, so it got a little lean,” Corradi said. “It was okay. It was a little bit of damage. It wasn’t like traumatic.”
Looking back, Ashley appreciates the faith Corradi placed in a driver with only a handful of Top Alcohol Dragster races under his belt.
“At the time I thought I did, but looking back at it now, I realize even how much more so he was sticking his neck out for me,” Ashley said. “Brian is family. He always will be family to me, but he really did something amazing for me and without that experience I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
The lessons from that day still shape the way Ashley approaches Top Fuel.
“I learned a lot that day that I actually continued to keep with me moving forward,” Ashley said. “Things about being smooth, about where to look, about where to keep the car in the groove and how you stage.”
5B – OH, DEER! – Never mind that Tony Schumacher was busy detonating a supercharger in the opposite lane. Justin Ashley had his attention diverted by something even more unexpected as he reached the top end of the track in Norwalk.
Ashley initially thought he had spotted a squirrel darting across the racing surface after crossing the finish line and deploying the parachutes. When the team reviewed the video, the “squirrel” turned out to be a deer crossing the track as he slowed his Top Fuel dragster.
“This was crazy. I’ve never had this ever happen before, even driving on the highway,” Ashley said. “So I’m going down the racetrack, everything feels good … pull the chutes. I have to still be going 150, 200 miles per hour, and there is something that runs across the finish line, to the point where I actually have to go like this, like I’m driving on the highway.”
Ashley wasn’t even sure anyone would believe him.
“So you asked me what it was when I came out,” Ashley said. “I said, ‘I promise you there was something there. I’m not going crazy.'”
The replay confirmed exactly what he thought he had seen.
“I thought it was a squirrel, but it turns out, when you look back at the footage, it was a deer,” Ashley said. “A deer actually came and ran across. I mean, talk about timing, like impeccable timing, but I guess when you’re going that fast, it looked like a squirrel to me, but it turned out to be a deer.”
The close call also gave Ashley another reason to be thankful nothing happened.
“My wife loves animals, so if there was an issue, Gina Marie would’ve had me in big trouble,” Ashley said with a laugh. “When you pull the chutes, it’s like, okay, you can usually take a deep breath. Now I’m going to be on edge every time to make sure there’s no kind of animal.”
6 – SCHEDULE RUMBLINGS – Multiple sources indicate the NHRA will reveal the first part of their 2026 NHRA schedule soon which will return to a familiar routine. From what CompetitionPlus.com was told, the forthcoming schedule will return to a February launch, and will kick off in Pomona, Calif. Could a new television package accompany the new schedule?
7 – I’LL TAKE THE LEFT LANE! – There were three 339-mile-per-hour runs in qualifying, and all came in the left lane.
While the first 339er, Clay Millican, stepped up in the second session with a 3.799 elapsed time in the right lane, he could only manage 333.99 miles per hour.
Then Maddi Gordon ran 339.79 miles per hour from the left lane Saturday, running 3.760 seconds. The next session in the right lane, Gordon ran her best elapsed time at 3.734, paired with 332.75 mph.
Shawn Langdon, the fastest Top Fuel driver on the planet, ran 339.70 with a 3.696 elapsed time. He also picked up his elapsed time in the right lane with a 3.695 elapsed time at only 333.08 miles per hour.
Maybe just a coincidence.
7B – TWO KINDS OF BRAIN FREEZE – Richard Gadson won the #2Fast2Tasty crown in Pro Stock Motorcycle and learned a valuable lesson in the process. Always listen to Eddie.
Eddie Krawiec, his crew chief, had suggested a change to his bike’s axle – a move Gadson rejected. At the finish line after beating Gaige Herrera for the crown, his bike drifted dangerously to the left before he was able to make a save.
“There was an adjustment that we make to the motorcycle, and he told me to do it,” Gadson admitted. “And yesterday, I did it and I went to the center line early in the run, and I wanted to make a perfect run against Gaige. And I was like, ‘I ain’t doing it.”
“I told him. I didn’t just not do it. I told him. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t think I’m going to do it. I think I’m going to leave my axle where it was on the other lane.” And he was right. So that’s why you listen to four-time national champions when they tell you what to do. That’s why they got so many championships.
The second lesson was never to sign up for an ice cream-eating contest, which he did and learned the painful lesson of brain freeze.
“I love Norwalk, I love the ice cream,” Gadson said. “I’m toting an extra couple of pounds from that ice cream challenge. I thought that that was going to be a bunch… I hope one of you don’t have this as a question. I’m just going to address it now. I thought that that was just going to be a bunch of fun, who can eat the ice cream the fastest.
“The brain freeze is crazy. At one point, I didn’t know if I had ice cream in my mouth or not. And my whole face was numb and my teeth were hurting half the night. So I don’t know how quick I’ll say yes next time.”
8 – PAIN IN THE REAR – For the third time this season, a broken rear end stopped action on the track. The dragster driven by Tony Schumacher broke a rear end during the Q3 session, putting qualifying on hold for over an hour.
9 – SIMPLY THE BRAVE – SCAG Racing unveiled its new “Simply The Brave” military-themed paint schemes across all four nitro entries as part of a charitable initiative honoring America’s upcoming 250th birthday.
The patriotic wraps debuted in Norwalk and will continue through the West Coast swing in Sonoma and Seattle. The campaign also promotes SCAG Power Equipment’s limited-edition Patriot 250 mower, with $250 from every military edition sold benefiting the Gary Sinise Foundation’s First Responders Outreach program and A Soldier’s Child Foundation.
Funny Car driver Dave Richards said the special livery gives the team an opportunity to recognize military members while raising awareness for the charitable effort.
“We’re proud to be part of the ‘Simply The Brave’ program and represent it on our Funny Car,” Richards said. “It’s a great way to recognize the military community while also bringing attention to a program that gives back.”
10 – DIETCH MAKES HIS MARK IN FACTORY STOCK – Jason Dietsch didn’t just earn the No. 1 qualifying spot Saturday in Factory Stock Showdown. He made it clear the rest of the field still has work to do.
The Edgerton, Ohio, racer powered his Mustang Cobra Jet to a 7.586-second pass at 175.75 mph, holding onto the top spot at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk. The run missed Mark Pawuk’s class record from 2023 by just .003 of a second and stood as the second-quickest pass in Factory Stock Showdown history.
For Dietsch, the performance carried extra meaning on one of the closest stops to his hometown.
“This is basically our home track, and we’re two hours from the house to the track. We always like coming here. We have a lot of people that follow our racing,” Dietsch said.
He also made it clear he has no interest in saving performance for another day.
“I know lots of the guys are mad we went out there and ran that number,” Dietsch said. “I look at it this way, I pay the same bills. I’ve never been the guy that is going to save it for the next guy. I’m gonna use it up on every run.”
While Dietsch enters eliminations from the top spot, points leader Jonathan Allegrucci remains the driver everyone must beat on race day. The Mustang Cobra Jet driver will be chasing his fourth consecutive Factory Stock Showdown victory and carries a $3,000 Flexjet Bounty into eliminations for anyone who can defeat him.
Ohio will also have two more hometown contenders looking for a deep Sunday run. Defending champion Mark Pawuk qualified eighth and opens eliminations against Rouven Dawson, while Raymond Nash, fresh off a runner-up finish at Bristol, starts 15th and faces James Betz as he searches for his first national event victory.
QUALIFYING NOTEBOOK – MOTHER NATURE HOLDS OFF; NHRA AND SREMP DELIVER GOOD SHOW
1 – LIKE THE BACK OF THEIR HAND – Sometimes the best data comes from years of experience instead of a computer screen.
Ron Capps and crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli proved that Friday at Norwalk, Ohio, overcoming an early data-recorder failure by leaning on years of notes and experience at one of the NHRA’s most familiar venues. The adjustment paid off with a provisional No. 1 qualifying run in Funny Car of 3.894 seconds at 328.38 mph, moving Capps from fifth after the first-round action to the No. 1 spot at the end of the opening day of pro action at the NHRA Summit Racing Nationals.
The run puts Capps in line for his third No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 40th of his Funny Car career. It also reinforced the confidence Antonelli had after watching conditions improve late in the second round of competition..
“Well, conditions obviously got cooler,” Capps said. “Three or four cars before us, I could see the cloud cover coming, and Guido got back in the box about four or five times more than usual.”
Antonelli’s prediction sounded ambitious when the pair left the pit.
“I thought he was joking,” Capps said. “He said we went up to run .87 when we left the pit area.”
The prediction nearly became reality.
“He said he was going to run an .87, which it was pretty close, but he got down there and put a cylinder out right near the end,” Capps said. “Then let’s just wait. We figured at least two or three of those cars behind us were going to run in the .80s.”
Instead, Capps remained atop a tightly contested Funny Car field that saw Austin Prock qualify second at 3.905, followed by Alexis DeJoria at 3.918, Cruz Pedregon at 3.931, and Del Worsham at 3.934.
The performance didn’t surprise Capps as much as the execution. Norwalk has become one of the tracks where the NAPA team relies heavily on years of accumulated information, making Friday’s data issue less significant than it might have been elsewhere.
“Great job by Guido and the guys,” Capps said. “This is one of my favorite places we come.”
Friday’s success could, in part, be credited to the team’s annual appearance at Night Under Fire, which it views as a paid test session. Capps said the event allows Antonelli to evaluate tune-up changes in the same heat and humidity the team often encounters during the national event. This year’s 49th running of the show is scheduled for Aug. 1.
“But when you get up for that last run … Guido’s in the box for the last run and he’s trying to run 84,” Capps said. “So, yeah, it’s a great track to test that. This place is notorious for changing. One session to the next, let alone day to day.”
Even after decades in the sport, Capps still appreciates what makes Norwalk unique.
“The fans here are great,” Capps said. “They were packed. They pay attention. They knew we were going to run earlier. They follow social media and it’s just a great place to race. So you always want to do well here for the Bader family no matter what.”
2 – LANGDON BEING LANGDON – Shawn Langdon’s winning streak ended in Bristol, but the consistency that has carried him to the Top Fuel points lead hasn’t dissipated.
Langdon paced both qualifying sessions Friday at Norwalk, posting a 3.742-second run at 335.23 mph in the Kalitta Air dragster to claim the provisional No. 1 position. If the run holds through Saturday, it will mark his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 27th of his career.
The performance continued the dominance that has propelled Langdon to six consecutive final-round appearances.
“We’re very pleased with how the car ran, and I think with what we’re trying to accomplish, Brian’s [Husen, crew chief] been making great calls, and he’s been doing a great job getting the car put together perfectly, so it allows for some great runs like that,” Langdon said.
Langdon credited both the tune-up and the execution for Friday’s performance.
“Fortunately, the car’s responding well and it’s pretty glued in,” Langdon said. “We’re very happy with the setup right now.”
While Friday’s conditions produced some quick runs in all classes, Langdon believes there is still more performance available if the weather cooperates.
“I think what you saw today is just a little indication of the great racing surface, with big speeds,” Langdon said. “There’s a little more out there.”
He believes cooler temperatures and additional data gathered by crew chiefs could make Saturday’s qualifying even quicker.
“So as long as we can keep that cloud cover, and the crew chiefs start getting more information and getting a little more aggressive with it, you’ll see quicker E.T.s and bigger speeds,” Langdon said.
The battle behind Langdon remained close throughout Friday’s two qualifying sessions. Tony Stewart moved into the second position with a 3.767-second pass at 335.07 mph, while rookie Maddi Gordon continued her impressive debut season by qualifying third with a 3.793 at 335.40 mph.
3 – PUTTING THE FIELD ON NOTICE – Greg Anderson couldn’t have scripted a much better Friday.
The six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion swept both qualifying sessions, posting a class-leading 6.550-second pass at 209.36 mph to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot. More importantly, he secured the first selection in Saturday’s GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout, placing the biggest target squarely on his back.
For Anderson, Friday was about setting the table for the race that matters most this weekend.
“Yeah, it was huge,” Anderson said. “Tomorrow’s a big day. We love specialty races like this.”
The veteran said his team accomplished everything it set out to do.
“So hopefully tomorrow’s another big day, but, yeah, you have to set it up today, and I think we got all the points we could get today and made two very high quality runs – got a great tune up for tomorrow,” Anderson said.
With similar weather expected Saturday, Anderson believes Friday’s tune-up should carry over.
“I don’t expect the weather and the racetrack to be a whole lot different tomorrow,” Anderson said. “So I think a great start, a great tune-up. Definitely feel good going back to the hotel tonight that we’ve got a good horse to ride tomorrow.”
Dallas Glenn qualified second with a 6.561 at 209.07 mph, while Bristol winner Matt Hartford rounded out the top three with a 6.564 at 208.71.
4 – GET THE BIGGEST OUT OF THE WAY – Greg Anderson isn’t interested in taking the easy road to the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout title.
With the first pick in Saturday’s eight-car bonus race, Anderson said his strategy isn’t to find the weakest opponent. Instead, he plans to eliminate the toughest one before that driver has a chance to build momentum.
“I guess I’ll go back and I’ll look at the ladder and I’ll try and see who looks like the toughest, and I’ll try and get them right away,” Anderson said.
His reasoning has little to do with pride and everything to do with survival.
“The more rounds I give the toughest car – the toughest opponents to get their game right – the tougher it’ll be come final round if I can find a way to make it there,” Anderson said. “So you might as well take a shot at it first round.”
One thing Anderson made clear is he won’t call out one of his KB Titan teammates. His choice will come from the rival Elite Motorsports camp.
“I’m going to pick one of [Elite’s] four cars,” Anderson said. “I’m going to pick one of the Oklahoma cars, but I’m going to try and pick that toughest one, and we’re going to go have fun.”
The philosophy mirrors the oldest rule in a bar fight.
“That’s exactly right,” Anderson said when the strategy was compared to taking on the biggest guy in the room first. “Exactly right. Chop the biggest tree.”
5 – HERRERA FINDING HIS GROOVE AGAIN – Gaige Herrera is beginning to resemble the rider who spent the 2023-24 rewriting the Pro Stock Motorcycle record book.
After a frustrating start to the season, Herrera backed up his Bristol victory by leading both qualifying sessions Friday at Norwalk, posting a class-best 6.779-second pass at 199.64 mph aboard his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. If the run holds, it will give Herrera his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier after opening the season without one.
Herrera believes the recent turnaround is the product of changes made to the motorcycle rather than a return to business as usual.
“It feels good,” he said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit.
“We made some changes to the bike itself and it’s looking like it’s paying off on the racetrack. Hopefully I have the same bike going into Sunday.”
Herrera said the team’s struggles weren’t necessarily related to performance. Instead, mechanical failures repeatedly interrupted what he believed could have been stronger weekends.
“I just had a bunch of bad luck as far as parts breaking,” Herrera said. “In Maryland, I came out of the burnout box and the camshaft actually seized up. It’s just been one thing after another for me.”
He credited crew chief Andrew Hines and engine builder Byron Hines for working through the team’s recent challenges, particularly after the switch to C-25 fuel.
“Andrew’s just been looking at notes more than anything,” Herrera said. “After changing to the C-25, I feel like our bikes haven’t been as consistent as they were with the Sunoco fuel. But Andrew and his dad, Byron, they’ve been really going over all that, and I think they figured something out with the fuel.”
Herrera also acknowledged the absence of Matt Smith has changed the competitive landscape. Joey Gladstone has performed well filling in for Smith, who is recovering from gall bladder surgery, but Herrera believes the class has yet to see the full strength of Matt Smith Racing.
“I feel like the class is really tight between Vance & Hines and Matt Smith right now as far as parity,” Herrera said. “It’s just … I feel like all the cards aren’t being shown at the moment with Matt not riding.”
Herrera even laughed about Smith’s familiar gamesmanship: “I know after Bristol, he already hit up the tech department saying we need 15 pounds [added], which is a little outrageous, but that’s the Matt Smith way.”
The statistics surrounding Herrera’s career continue to be remarkable. With more than half of his Pro Stock Motorcycle starts ending in victory, Herrera admitted even he has trouble believing the numbers.
“It’s insane, if you ask me,” Herrera said. “It’s hard to believe. But it has a lot to do with Andrew and the team. I just get, I guess, the fame and the glory riding the bike, but it all comes down to the team.”
Gladstone qualified second with a 6.795, 198.70 while Angie Smith rounded out the top three with a 6.805, 200.11.
6 – NO PLACE LIKE HOME – Clay Millican has raced at tracks across North America, but few have meant as much to him as Norwalk. Long before Millican became one of Top Fuel’s most recognizable personalities, the Ohio facility helped shape both his career and his confidence as a professional racer.
Millican’s first appearance at Norwalk in 1999 offered little indication of what was to come. Driving Nick Boninfante Sr.’s Top Fuel dragster in his IHRA debut, he failed to qualify and left behind a memory he still laughs about.
“But I did set a record, I was told,” Millican said. “And that was an oildown from start to finish in both lanes. My IHRA debut was not a memorable one by the track cleanup crew.”
The rough beginning eventually gave way to one of the strongest relationships between a driver and a racetrack. Millican went on to win four IHRA Top Fuel events at Norwalk, reaching six final rounds along the way.
“It has been really good to me over the years, no doubt about it,” Millican said. “Man, some of the wins here were so big.”
One victory still stands above the others.
“One of the ones that pops in my mind right away was when Cory [McClenathan] showed up with the car, and they were going to come over and clean house,” Millican said. “And they did, they qualified No. 1. They did all these things. But we left with the Iron Man [trophy] that day.”
That win also introduced fans to what became one of Millican’s signature celebrations.
“That was the original wing walk,” Millican said. “Climbed up, stood on the wing. Won’t never forget that.”
Millican credits much of Norwalk’s reputation to the Bader family and the atmosphere it created over decades of promoting the sport.
“It’s a mecca of drag racing – there ain’t no other way to put it,” Millican said. “Senior, junior, Bobby … the entire group that run this place, they’re second to none. They live it, breathe it every single day, and you can see it when you pull in the place. I love it.”
His favorite Norwalk memory isn’t even in the winner’s circle. It’s a small patch of concrete beside the grandstands where Peter Lehman’s team parked every year after convincing Bill Bader Sr. to allow concrete instead of asphalt. Millican drove Lehmann’s dragster to multiple IHRA championships.
“You can go over there right now on the end of the grandstands, the first spot of concrete you see,” Millican said. “That’s ours. I’m going to claim it. It’s actually Peter Lehman’s, but I’m going to claim it.”
Another thing Millican claimed on Friday in qualifying was top speed of the event at 339.11 in the first session, which came at the end of a 3.809-second. He stepped up in the second session with a 3.799.
7 – NOT A RETIREMENT PREVIEW – Matt Smith insists his current role behind the starting line isn’t a preview of retirement. It’s simply the next step in recovering from the medical emergency that forced him out of competition just before the NHRA event at Budds Creek, Maryland.
Smith has spent the past three races watching from the sidelines after multiple gall bladder surgeries, relying on former national event winners Chip Ellis and Joey Gladstone to keep his Pro Stock Motorcycle championship hopes alive. The six-time champion expects to return by Sonoma, but until then, his focus remains on healing while staying involved with every aspect of his race team.
“I mean, I don’t know about that,” Smith said when asked if watching from the pits offered a glimpse of retirement. “It’s been kind of fun to kind of help people and watch. It’s not fun having all the surgeries that I’ve had to have and being sick like that, but I’m on the mend and trying to heal up, and just trying to get back out here.”
Before his health scare, Smith had positioned himself as one of the hottest riders in the category. He won consecutive races at Valdosta and Chicago, earned two No. 1 qualifying positions and climbed to third in the points before his absence dropped him to fourth.
Standing behind his motorcycle as a spectator/tuner has also given Smith a different perspective on the operation he has built. While he admits he eventually wants to transition into more of a mentoring role, that day isn’t here yet.
“I like helping people,” Smith said. “Eventually, I want to be off the bike because I’ve done pretty much everything … there is to do. I want to just help people and do stuff.”
There is one important reason why Smith said he plans to keep racing.
“Right now, we’re not going to do that [stop racing] because DENSO and Lisa’s behind us 100%, and they want me racing,” Smith said of Lisa Michler, the company’s Marketing Communications Project Manager. “So I’m trying to get healthy and I want to be back out here on the bike.”
Smith said he has taken pride in how his organization responded while he was hospitalized. His wife, Angie, stepped into a leadership role, and the team continued operating without missing a beat. She won at Budds Creek while he was undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital.
“They did a really good job,” Smith said. “Angie ran the team with me in the hospital, and that was a good deal.”
For Smith, the experience confirmed the strength of the program his team has built over the years.
“Very proud of what we’ve put together here, and everything worked like it’s supposed to when the main person was out,” Smith said. “You know you can always work around when an indian is out, but when the chief is out, that’s a different story, but they did a great job.”
8 – ANTRON’S BIG BRACKET ADVENTURE – Fresh off his victory at Bristol, Antron Brown could have spent the off weekend relaxing from Top Fuel competition. Instead, the four-time champion traded 330-mph, heads-up racing for the precision of big-money bracket racing at the Triple 20 Granders in Martin, Mich.
The results weren’t what Brown is accustomed to, but the experience left him with a newfound appreciation for a discipline where thousandths of a second often decides who goes home.
“Man, it was a blast,” Brown said.
The event marked just Brown’s second serious venture into bracket racing after competing at a TMB Promotions event near St. Louis earlier this season. He hopes to compete again, weather permitting.
“I got another one coming up this next weekend,” Brown said. “We’re going to head down to TMB 100K, the other beach event, as long as the weather’s right. It’s supposed to be over 100 degrees. Over 100 degrees, AB ain’t going.”
Brown laughed before adding, “That’s called pass-out stroke weather.”
His bracket-racing weekend didn’t produce many victories.
“I lost everywhere you could think about, brother,” Brown admitted.
Still, he found his rhythm late in the event, advancing to the fifth round before a breakout run ended his day.
“The good part, on the last day, I made it down to the money round,” Brown said. “I made it to the fifth round and I lost – broke out two more thou than he did.”
The near miss left Brown thinking about what might have been.
“We both had really good lights, and if I … just let him take the stripe, I could have came home three grand richer.”
The experience reinforced just how unforgiving bracket racing can be, even for one of drag racing’s most-accomplished drivers.
“Oh, it’s way easier doing heads-up racing,” Brown said. “Them bracket racing racers are no joke, man.”
Brown said the competition was so tight that strong reaction times and near-perfect packages still weren’t enough.
“I lost with a .014 package,” Brown said. “I lost with a .012 package in one round, too.”
Despite the losses, Brown left Michigan convinced bracket racing sharpens skills that translate to every form of drag racing.
“So when you go out there, it’s cutthroat,” Brown said. “I’ll tell you what, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun trying to get the car to run on the money, and then when you get the car to run on the money, you got to be on the money, and everything’s got to line up for it to be right. Some rounds, you’re really good, and some rounds, you need a little luck.”
9 – PRO MOD ON THE CLOCK – The regular season earned Derek Menholt the top seed. Now comes the part that matters most.
The NHRA Pro Mod Road to the Championship opens this weekend in Norwalk, resetting the points and turning the final five races into a sprint for the championship. Menholt, who won twice during the regular season, enters the playoffs with a slim 20-point advantage over Mike Stavrinos and he knows the reset leaves little room for error.
Menholt opened the season with a victory in Gainesville and added another in Chicago, establishing himself as one of the class favorites. Still, the veteran understands the regular season doesn’t guarantee anything once the playoffs begin.
“It’s exciting to head into the Road to the Championship as the points leader,” Menholt said. “We’ve worked hard all season to put ourselves in this position, but now the real battle begins.”
Friday’s qualifying suggested the championship race could be as close as expected.
Mike Stavrinos paced the opening day with a 5.678-second run at 253.85 mph, while Jason Collins qualified second after a 5.693, 251.58. Lyle Barnett and Menholt both clocked 5.695-second passes, with Barnett earning the higher position on speed, and Billy Banaka rounded out the top five with a 5.696, 253.37.
10 – TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE – Qualifying continues at noon EDT on Saturday at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The first round of the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout begins at 11:30 a.m.
