Some drag racers spend a lifetime chasing a Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge victory and never get one. Steve Comella now has five of them.
Comella continued his stranglehold on the specialty race Friday night at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, defeating former NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line in the final at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Line left .013-second too soon, handing Comella his fifth victory since 2021.
The numbers tell plenty about Comella’s Indy run. He won the HEMI Challenge four consecutive years from 2021 through 2024 and returned to the winner’s circle Friday after last year’s final ended with both competitors disqualified.
“That’s number five,” Comella said. “Pacing myself was everything and I still did not feel great all day long. This was it. It was about the weather and not as much about the car, for sure, for me, at least.”
Comella knew the final was over almost immediately. Line’s red-light lit up before Comella’s 1968 Plymouth Barracuda had a chance to settle into the run.
“I saw his red-light early, so I knew right away that I had won,” Comella said. “Usually don’t run out red lights, but it’s Indy, the finals.”
Had Line stayed green, it was going to be a monster race. Both drivers recorded identical 8.430-second elapsed times, with Line running 159.38 mph to Comella’s 158.87.
Comella entered eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier after running 8.415 seconds at 159.23 mph. It marked his fifth consecutive year qualifying No. 1 in the HEMI Challenge, with 2020 remaining the last time somebody else occupied the top position.
His route through eliminations, however, was anything but routine.
Comella opened with a competition bye and ran it out the back door with a 8.476 at 157.59.
Eric Bell provided Comella’s first head-to-head test in the second round. Comella combined a .071 reaction time with an 8.463 at 157.82 to beat Bell’s .095 light and 8.471 at 157.52.
That victory sent Comella against Anthony Rhodes, the No. 3 qualifier, in the semifinals. Rhodes took himself out of contention with a -.090 red-light, while Comella left clean with a .069 reaction and ran 8.446 at 158.58.
Line has represented the fiercest challenge to Comella’s dominance. The former Pro Stock world champion qualified second with an 8.445 at 159.53 and had been every bit capable of running alongside Comella throughout the weekend.
Line defeated Jim Pancake with an 8.454 in the opening round and Jimmy Daniels with an 8.447 in the second. His semifinal against Mark Daniels became an oddity when Line slowed to an 18.538-second run but still advanced.
That put the two quickest qualifiers alongside one another for the trophy.
Line had also been one of the finalists in 2025, when neither driver left Indianapolis with the victory after both finalists were disqualified. This time there would be no confusion about who was taking the trophy home.
Comella’s victory further established a run at Indianapolis that has become difficult to match in the modern history of the HEMI Challenge. Five victories in six years have turned the event into familiar territory for the Webster, N.Y., racer and his Barracuda.
And the driver who gave him his toughest competition Friday also gave Comella another reason to appreciate that Line makes the HEMI Challenge an annual appearance rather than a full-time pursuit.
“I’m glad he doesn’t run it all year long,” Comella said. “Jason, continue to run it once a year, please.”
