There’s no questioning the bubbly personality and charisma of NHRA rookie Top Fuel driver Maddi Gordon.
However, she can also drive – and she proved that Sunday.
Gordon, driving the Carlyle Tools-sponsored Top Fuel dragster for Ron Capps Motorsports, captured the title at the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. It was just her 10th race behind the wheel of a Top Fuel entry.
Gordon clocked a 3.786-second elapsed time at 333.16 mph to defeat four-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown, who covered the distance at 3.840, 328.14.
“Oh, man, it’s hard to explain. I have laid in bed dreaming of this moment, since 2024,” Gordon said. And before that I called this outer space. Like, this was nowhere I could be. I never thought this was possible.”
It was part of an amazing Sunday for Gordon. Her father, Doug Gordon, won the Top Alcohol Funny Car title, and her boss and her teammate Ron Capps captured the nitro Funny Car crown.
“It literally doesn’t get any better than this. Like, we brought three race cars here. We came home with three trophies and three ice cream scoopers,” said Gordon, 22. “And y’all know me — you know I love ice cream — so that is like the cherry on top. But I mean, man, I remember backing out from the burnout, and I want that win so bad. So bad. For my dad to win and then Ron to win, it’s like a pressure sign, right? You’re the last car down the racetrack.
“I’m just so grateful for this opportunity. And, you know, Carlyle Tools and NAPA Auto Parts, they believed in me before I hit the gas pedal. We went around for a whole year saying that I’m going to drive Top Fuel, and it’s going to be great, and I do cool interviews or whatever, and they have never seen any of it. And they stuck by my side with Ron Caps Motorsports and our team. That’s the type of loyalty that I will cherish the rest of my life.”
Gordon was in the driver’s seat when her new team made test runs scheduled for Feb. 17-20 at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. That was in preparation for the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at the same site, held March 5-8.
Now, on June 28, Gordon was hoisting her inaugural Top Fuel Wally in the air at Summit Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, in what was her first appearance in a Top Fuel final round.
More remarkable considering Capps is on record saying he was willing to give up his driving duties to put her in the Top Fueler this year.
“He said that casually in an interview, and I looked at him like, like, I don’t know. Like, what? What? And that’s huge. I mean, he is a legend in our sport, truly,” Maddi said. “Every time I say that he’s like, ‘Stop saying that. You make me sound old.’ But he is a legend. To drive for him is such a blessing. He is the best mentor. He’s the best teammate. He’s the best boss. It’s crazy to think that he believed in me enough to give up his seat that he’s been in for 30 years. He had never seen me drive a dragster with a blower on it. Not a Top Dragster, not an Alcohol Dragster, not a Top Fuel dragster. And, he believed in me enough to give up his seat, potentially. That’s the confidence that gave me the confidence to get in that race car.”
Gordon qualified No. 5 at 3.734 seconds at 332.75 mph, and then ousted Spencer Massey, Tony Stewart, points leader Shawn Langdon, and then Brown. Brown was the winner of the prior event on the NHRA circuit, claiming the crown at the Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., on June 14.
Actually, Gordon’s memorable run through competition almost didn’t happen if it weren’t for Massey showing class on the starting line.
When the call came to fire for her first-round match against Massey, Gordon’s dragster wouldn’t start.
Crew chief Rob Flynn said that when the team went to turn on the air bottle, it blew an air line apart. The team didn’t have a spare on hand, so a crew member had to race back to the pits to retrieve one. Meanwhile, a reluctant Spencer Massey fired his dragster and did a longer-than-usual burnout, presumably to give Gordon more time.
Gordon took the win light as Massey smoked the tires. She won with a 3.854, 325.14. She immediately exited the dragster and headed to Massey’s to show her appreciation for his sportsmanship.
“Thank you, Spencer,” Gordon said in her post-run interview. “Thank you so much. I can’t say enough. That is a true racer, right there. True racer. NHRA, thank you for waiting.”
Before this weekend, Gordon had put together a solid rookie campaign. She posted a 9-9 record in eliminations and advanced to the semifinals twice in the first nine races of 2026.
Gordon previously competed in Norwalk in Top Alcohol Funny Car and finished as the event runner-up in 2024.
Gordon is no stranger to the sport. She is a third-generation drag racer who has been making a name for herself thanks to her outstanding performance serving in dual roles as driver and crew member on her family’s Top Alcohol Funny Car.
Then, before the 2026 season began, she was being touted as the next great NHRA Top Fuel driver.
I’m just a girl from Paso Robles [Calif.] who loves drag racing,” Gordon said. “I get to be myself out here, and I get to scream at the top of my lungs and promote Carlyle Tools and drive fast race cars and be myself and share that excitement with the fans because not everybody gets to drive a Top Fuel dragster. I like to share my experiences with the fans and guess they like it.
“That’s just that’s so amazing. And [the fans] are the reason why we get to do this. If there were no fans, there’d be no Carlyle Tools and drag racing. There’d be no NAPA Auto Parts. They are the reason why we are able to be out here living this dream. I’m thankful for every single one of them. I wish I had enough time in the day to sign for everyone and take pictures of everyone.”
In her first year of driving the Alcohol Funny Car in 2024, Gordon became the 100th woman in NHRA history to win a national event, capturing the title at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle.
Then, on April 27, 2025, shortly after being introduced as a future Top Fuel driver for Ron Capps Motorsports, Gordon won her second Top Alcohol Funny Car national event. She beat Brian Hough, Ray Martin, and Annie Whiteley at the Four-Wide Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
More than a driver, Gordon was responsible for the clutch and jumped in to assist with engine work when needed for her family’s Funny Car perfectly embodying the demographic Carlyle Tools is hoping to attract.
Then, she was trying to digest being a Top Fuel winner.
“I was sitting in the waterbox, and it was almost like it would be too perfect. Like, it’s just too perfect. There’s no way that everything can fall into line. Like, my dad wins. Ron wins right in front of me. And, man, this is just too good to be true. And I got off, you know, the racetrack, and I’m like … I feel like I don’t remember anything. I’m just screaming at the top of my lungs, and that win light came on, and my voice is dead.
“You know, we brought my dad’s car, mine, and Ron’s, and we have three trophies and three ice cream scoops. Like, there really is no better way to end a weekend.”
And climbing the ladder to become a 2026 Top Fuel rookie has been a lengthy process.
“Ron believed in me before I ever won an Alcohol Funny car trophy or anything like that. He signed my Alcohol Funny Car license in 2023. Never did I imagine that I would be sitting next to him in a media center — which I didn’t even know existed at the time — and holding the trophy,” Gordon said. “It’s weird to talk about it when he’s right here, but for Ron to believe in me to drive this race car was just the biggest blessing of my life.
“When my dad told me that he wanted me to drive for him in 2026, I almost fell off the motorcycle that I was riding because I thought he was joking. We talked to Ron, and my dad said before we talked to Ron about it, he said, ‘Just be grateful for the opportunity because it takes millions to run one of these cars. And unless you got that hidden away somewhere, we ain’t got it. So just be grateful that he thought of you.’ And for Ron, it was never about the money. He could have thrown a driver in that’s got millions of dollars, and there’s plenty of them out here. Plenty of really good ones and proven ones. And it would have been a lot easier for him. But he chose the harder route, and I was the harder route. I am forever, forever grateful for this opportunity. He changed my life in every way except for where I live.”
Gordon is able to lean on her team – led by veteran crew chief Flynn and co-crew chief Troy Fasching — as she navigates the Top Fuel waters.
And of course, Capps.
“It’s five years. This is our fifth year,” said Capps about Ron Capps Motorsports. “John Medlen sat at dinner with us the other night and he says, ‘You’re like a duck, you know? You look all calm on top, but I know underneath your legs are going nuts.’ And he’s right.
“Don Prudhomme called [June 27] and I said, ‘Hey, man, when you got into those IndyCar buddies, you’re the one to invest in a drag race team and help a brother out.’ But he says, ‘Man, you just … everything looks so good over there. You guys are doing everything right.’ And I go, ‘I know, but we’re just treading water, but we’re doing all the right stuff.’ I learned from Don Schumacher and Don Prudhomme especially on what made them successful. I think having everything clean and the way that things look are very important, the way we present ourselves. I didn’t have to train her at all. She understands it. A lot of things that I think are important. And we’re going to make it. We’re going to. This helps. This will definitely help. Two wins. But this means a ton because I don’t have anything other than this. This is it.”
Gordon is just enjoying the ride that Capps has put her on.
“I’m just so blessed. I’m so fortunate to be here,” she said.
