Against a star-studded nitro Funny Car field that included multiple NHRA champions, unheralded Chad Green walked away the victor at the 2026 season-opening AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals on Sunday.
Green, a team owner/driver, captured his third career nitro Funny Car Wally by clocking a 3.959-second elapsed time at 329.91 mph to muscle past Alexis DeJoria’s 5.003, 167.59 in the final round at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.
This was Green’s second consecutive win at the Gators as he defeated Ron Capps in the finals in 2025.
“Last year was so special, of course, to win the Gatornationals for the first time,” said Green, who calls Midland, Texas, home. “The last couple of months during the offseason, we know the Gatornationals are coming up, and I’ve just been thinking about it like, ‘Oh, how awesome would it be if for some reason we could win that race again and, you know, back-to-back,’ which, you know, it’s so hard to win any race, especially for somebody like me. But it all came together and it’s so great.
“I’m obviously like a lot of these guys out here, a smaller team. I’m not one of the big, you know, John Force, Kalitta, one of those powerhouse teams. It’s nice to be able to beat them.”
Green’s spoils of victory included a special diamond Wally trophy as part of a tribute to NHRA’s 75th anniversary.
“I was also thinking, ‘How nice would it be to win one of those diamond Wallys? Just once. Just win one race this year,’” Green said. “[It is] so difficult to do and to get it done on the first race, that’s just really awesome. It’s just so great. I never doubted [this]. I know we have the potential for sure. That’s the thing about out here – money doesn’t really win races.”
In addition to winning the Gators twice, Green also won the 2023 season finale over Tim Wilkerson in Pomona, Calif., in 2023. This was Green’s fifth trip to a final round.
Green qualified No. 4 with a 3.926-second time at 326.08 mph, then ousted Terry Haddock, Matt Hagan, Jordan Vandergriff, and DeJoria on Sunday.
“We came out here for testing a couple weeks ago, and made a bunch of laps on the car. Testing went really well for us,” Green said. “We show up here at the race and the track’s totally different, 20 degrees different in weather. So, we actually struggled … We made a good hit Friday night – thank goodness we did that – and it got us a good qualifying position, which is so important. But after that, we struggled in the heat, both runs” Saturday.
“And I don’t know, my crew guys, they went home, they put their heads together and they figured something out because [Sunday] we had a hot rod,” he added.
Green keeps plenty busy on race weekends as he has a two-car nitro Funny Car team with his son, Hunter.
“It’s been great. The best part about it all is I get to race with my son,” Chad said. “I mean, not too many people get that opportunity, and I don’t take that for granted. It’s such a pleasure, and we’re so lucky.
“The whole idea of running the second car is it is definitely supposed to help you, and I think it does. Last year, we kind of lost our way a little bit and the cars drifted apart, and they weren’t really running the same tune-ups, and they were just kind of on different ends of the spectrum. And that’s why we decided to make some changes this year. This year, we got our cars set up the same – exact same; everything’s the same. We can hopefully feed off that data.
“It is still early in the year, it’s only been one race, but we’re hoping that’s going to be a big benefit for sure.”
The elder Green was quick to praise his crew chiefs – Dean Marinis and Joe Serena – for finding a tuneup to navigate Sunday’s tough track and weather conditions.
“I mean, always the objective is just to get the car from A to B, and if you can try to go faster, we try to go faster,” Chad said. “But the crew chiefs I got, Joe and Dean, they’re the best. Dean’s really a master of track management. That’s his specialty. And on days like today, that’s what you need.
“I mean, literally, when we went first round, I was very nervous, okay, because a lot was going on in the first round with the dragsters in front of us. We qualified well, but you know that first round is always so nerve-wracking to me. But after we got past that … I really felt very confident in the car all day. And as each run went by and the car just was just making it down the track. Hauling ass it definitely helps you as a driver, 1,000 percent. My crew chiefs, they’ve nailed it here [at the Gatornationals] the last couple of years.”
