The 1,000th Top Fuel winner will be coming to this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway and the NHRA is throwing out all the stops to make sure it’s the party to end all parties, nitro style.
There will be an abundant gathering of Top Fuel legends including those who won the 1st, 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, 500th, 600th, 700th, 800th and 900th Top Fuel races.There will be a special autograph session at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with an event-exclusive hero card to commemorate the drag racing milestone.
One of Garlits’ Top Fuel cars will cackle before the first nitro qualifying session on both Friday at 3:30 pm. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m., and Garlits and the car will lead the SealMaster Track Walk on Sunday morning at 10:50 a.m.
“Winning the 1,000th Top Fuel race would be pretty exciting – especially with my family history,” said past NHRA Top Fuel Champion Doug Kalitta. “With Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) being out here as long as he’s been doing this and all he’s done in this sport, that would be really cool. We’re all trying hard to win these things. We try not to have too many distractions on different things so we can stay focused and work as a team to get it done. We definitely have a good shot at it, too, so our Mac Tools team is definitely looking forward to the opportunity.”
Kalitta is one of four milestone racers competing this weekend. The 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion is the milestone racer who goes back as the 500th. Spencer Massey, who won the 700th, is competing this weekend behind the wheel of Krista Baldwin’s McLeod-sponsored dragster while defending NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown is Mr. 800.
“The Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals is always a big race and adding to that this weekend, it’s the 1,000th running of a Top Fuel race,” Brown said. “I remember winning the 800th, which was a really big deal, and winning the 1,000th would mean a lot.
“We’ve been to a lot of quad finals in the history of the four-wides and that’s what we’re looking for this weekend, staying right and true. We’ll go out there with our heads down and make it happen. I’ve had some great races and quite a bit of wins in Charlotte and we’re looking to just keep moving up in the points and doing what we do. We’re going to have a stacked field this weekend. Looking forward to all the competition and can’t wait to get down there. It’s been a great week. We celebrated my grandpa’s 100th birthday, and now we’re off to celebrate the 1,000th Top Fuel race.”
Brittany Force is the most recent milestone Top Fuel winner with her victory at the 2019 NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.
“Our team made history when we won the 900th NHRA Top Fuel race,” the two-time World Champion Force said. “So winning this weekend and taking home the trophy from the 1000th race, especially at the Bellagio of dragstrips, ZMAX Dragway, would be a great milestone and a great highlight for the season.”
Tony Stewart, who has confessed a comfort in four-wide racing, became the 112th and most recent winner on the tour, would love nothing more than to earn a place in drag racing history to go along with his accomplishments in other disciplines of motorsports.
“To go be able to go back to Charlotte, where I’ve got a deep-rooted racing history, and as the previous race winner (in Las Vegas) is going to be a great feeling,” Stewart said. “It’s going to make going to Charlotte that much better, especially being the 1,000th Top Fuel race. Me being a part of the sport, going into their 1,000th race and knowing that NHRA’s 75th anniversary is next year and being a part of that in some capacity is really cool to be a part of and it’s awesome. I got to be a part of NASCAR’s 50th (anniversary), and I just know how important historic moments like these are.”
The 1,000th Top Fuel race takes place in the unique four-wide style, some 62 years after the first Top Fuel race took place at the 1963 NHRA Winternationals. Prior to that, the class was known as Top Eliminator, only when nitromethane was reinstated after a ban, was the class labeled as Top Fuel.
A testimony to the growth of drag racing, the first to 100th race took 16 years to complete. It only took 20 years to get from 100 to 900.
The Road to 1,000 Top Fuel races:
1: 1963 NHRA Winternationals – Don Garlits, winner
100: 1979 NHRA Mile-High Nationals – Kelly Brown, winner
200: 1987 Dallas NHRA Nationals – Darrell Gwynn, winner
300: 1993 Columbus NHRA Springnationals – Doug Herbert, winner
400: 1998 NHRA Mile-High Nationals – Cory McClenathan, winner
500: 2002 Dallas NHRA FallNationals – Doug Kalitta, winner
600: 2007 Atlanta NHRA Southern Nationals – Brandon Bernstein, winner
700: 2011 NHRA Mile-High Nationals – Spencer Massey, winner
800: 2015 NHRA Carolina Nationals – Antron Brown, winner
900: 2019 Las Vegas NHRA Nationals – Brittany Force, winner
