
Last year, everyone was a first-timer at the PRO Superstar Shootout. This time, the field of first-timers is more defined.
The second annual PRO Superstar Shootout remains an invite-only field featuring the leading professional drag racers.
There will be 11 competitors in the Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions, while Pro Stock has 14 scheduled participants.
The first-time participants in the nitro ranks are primarily Top Fuel drivers, with Jack Beckman the lone “rookie” in Funny Car and the lone Pro Stock driver being Cory Reed. Two of the four Top Fuel drivers were at the event in other capacities. This time, they are behind the wheel of a race car.
Even though NHRA Rookie of the Year and motorsports icon Tony Stewart raced in 2024, his wife Leah Pruett made the test runs ahead of her husband’s Top Fuel debut at the NHRA Gatornationals.

There were questions ahead of the PRO Superstar Shootout about whether Pruett would race in the Pep Boys All-Star Callout in Gainesville, Fla., ahead of her self-imposed hiatus to start a family with her husband.
Stewart chose instead to make his testing laps in the test ahead of the NHRA season-opener at Gainesville Raceway.
“Leah wanted to run that event,” Stewart said. “She was very adamant that that was going to be her last chance to race for that kind of money; she’s never had that opportunity, so to her, that was a big deal to be a part of that event. And obviously, that is her team, so it was a big deal to us that knowing what was ahead for her, we wanted her to have that opportunity. We were all behind that.”
Stewart went on to fare well in the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series by qualifying for all 20 events and reaching the finals once and the semi-finals five times.
This time, Stewart plans on hitting the 2025 season running at full speed, and he anticipates the Bradenton event, which opens with private testing on Tuesday, to be his launching point.
“I am more than ready to get back to the track and can’t wait just to get in and start making passes again,” Stewart said. “The Shootout is an unbelievable event to do that. You get two and a half days of testing before, then three rounds of qualifying and three rounds on Saturday, hopefully.
“For us and the team, it’s good for the guys to get back in the swing of things. We’ll still go to Gainesville after and test before the race, but it’s nice to go down to Bradenton and get a head start and to do it with the PRO group.” ***
The racers and their teams aren’t the only ones using Bradenton to get up to speed. The NHRA’s tech department will attend, and the Safety Safari will assist in crucial procedures.
“They’re going to start teching cars while they’re down there,” Stewart said. “So even there’s an advantage for them to be there and get ahead of the game before we all get to Gainesville and start the official season.”
For Stewart, who has participated in nearly everything motorsports-oriented, the pro superstar Shootout experience will stick with him for some time.
“It was neat to see and be a part of a group of owners that wanted to do something different and wanted to do something on their own for an event, and here we are on our second year of doing it, and it’s just fun to be a part of it with them,” Stewart said.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE SCAG PRO SUPERSTAR SHOOTOUT BEFORE THEY ARE GONE
Drag Racing fans, get ready because the PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park (Fla.)featuring the superstars of professional drag racing is just around the corner.
The professional teams will have three days to get their cars dialed in for the event, which kicks off on Thursday, February 9, and runs through Saturday. This means that record-setting runs will be there for the taking.

Jasmine Salinas was at the event, and while she had only aspirations of racing Top Fuel one day, she had no idea that after the Gainesville opener, she would be the 2024 replacement for her father, Mike, when he began experiencing medical issues that same weekend but battled through to be a part of the event.
Salinas was trying to find her way in the sport at the time.
Salinas was firmly in the Top Alcohol Dragster, but she traveled along with her father to get her feet wet by learning the intricacies of her eventual destiny.
“I think to keep myself not feeling antsy; I focused on learning as much as I could with the crew as far as doing track walks, learning about what the crew chiefs and track specialists are learning, and how the track correlates with what the race car does,” Salinas said. “Then as far as the driving, how that’s important, what they should and shouldn’t be aware of. And so things like that.
I am also trying to learn as much as I can. I didn’t realize how soon it would be, but who I anticipated would be my competition. I watched everybody’s routines, trying to learn as much as possible and making notes about how everyone was running. I tried to keep myself busy, stay motivated, and get ready for that chance whenever it did come.”
She took notes, not the mental kind, the kind where a pen hits the paper.
Salinas has always been a hands-on person and pointed out that she served as a floater in her dad’s rookie season. She even tried all the various jobs on the car, going as far as attempting to do the bottom end, which was a short-lived role.
“They let me try the bottom end,” Salinas said. “I was not that strong enough. I think that was another thing I learned a lot of the positions on the car I did not have the strength for, but they let me try everything, and I definitely got oil all over me. So that was one of the first jobs I chose not to try again.”
Growing up a Salinas is not for the weak at heart or work ethic, in so many ways Mike was preparing her for the tough road ahead. And she snickers when recalling it was her dad, who dropped on the exam room floor just months after open-heart surgery to prove he could race again.
“I think my mindset starting Top Fuel this year versus last year will be completely different,” Salinas said. “It’s going to be day and night. I feel that last year, I really had this sense of just being there on his behalf, and I really didn’t feel like it was my own.
“I think going into this year now; I feel that I’m excited to keep learning and keep getting better and also really excited that my dad’s finally coming back out and that the PRO race is going to be the first race where we finally get to be at the track competing with each other, hopefully maybe lining up against each other during qualifying and eliminations.”

While Stewart and Salinas had their reasons for not participating in the PRO Superstar Shootout, Shawn Reed had a completely believable reason: he simply wasn’t ready. He wasn’t invited, either.
“It was something I wanted to do last year when I was going full-time and buying all the stuff,” Reed said. “But when I’m like [to crew chief Rob Wendland], ‘Hey, man, do you think we can make that Shootout thing?”
“He’s like, ‘Well, I don’t think we’re invited to that thing, but we’ll be lucky if we make it to Gainesville.”
Reed knew running in Bradenton would acclimate him quicker to the rigors of running for a championship instead of a limited, part-time budget.
“Last year, just coming back racing, it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know,” Reed said. “You think after the Gainesville race in 2024, I thought I was ready for the season, and then six races in, you realize that the first race, you didn’t know nothing again. I didn’t feel comfortable until probably 10, 12 races into the year. And even then, I don’t even know. I think it was a sense of blur.”
Reed admits he’s in a much better place this season, and participating in Bradenton will put him in a great position.
“We’re just so much better prepared this year, and we know what to expect,” Reed said. “We know what the car is going to do. We haven’t really changed anything. I am bringing out my second car, a new car, but it should go just like the first one. I’m really excited about it, that’s for sure. People think it’s easy, and it’s not. I’ll tell you that.”

Doug Foley considers his participation in the event to be a compliment. He’s the only part-time Top Fuel competitor invited to compete, and in seven events, he finished No. 16 in the NHRA points.
“I think it’s a hell of a compliment to the team/to the guys how hard they’ve worked even to be invited,” Foley said. “To be the only part-time [Top Fuel] car invited to this is… It’s definitely exciting. We’re not taking it lightly by any means. We understand the task at hand, for sure, but even to be invited is pretty cool.”
Foley said the bigger compliment is that even though his team is a part-timer, they are still very much a team that impacts the races they run. The Foley and Lewis United Garage Door/Alloy Employee Service Dragster raced to a runner-up finish at the NHRA Carolina Nationals.
“I think it shows those promoting this event we will go out there and be competitive,” Foley explained. “It shows we will represent the brand and their sponsors and the shootout at the highest level. We plan to prove we can show up. I told the guys that the other day. I will tell them the same thing when we all get together there at the track: this is a monumental task to try and qualify for this race, but, at the same time, appreciate the fact that you were invited.”
Foley said he would admire the event from the upfront and center, unlike last season, when he viewed the action as a drag racing fan.
“I’m a fan first and a driver second,” Foley declared.
This time, they can watch Foley on the live stream.

In Pro Stock, there is only one first-timer: Cory Reed, the former Pro Stock Motorcycle racer turned Pro Stock racer. Reed made his NHRA debut behind the wheel of a KB Titan Chevrolet Camaro at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Wash. one race reached the final round in Sonoma, CA. He finished 17th after running only ten races.
“We just want to get back in the swing of things,” said former Pro Stock Bike teammate and crewman Joey Gladstone. “We want to pick back up where we left off. I think Cory proved himself last year that he can handle a race car, handle the power, and make good laps time after time, which is important. That allows the tuners and crew chiefs to be more confident in what they send him up there to do.
“It’s going to be cool this year because we are not going to be first out on the race track all the time. It was tough doing that because we didn’t have any points, and at the beginning of every race weekend, we would be the first out, and we would have to be conservative. It might not be quite fast enough, and it is kind of an uphill battle to try and work your way from the back of the pack. That will be different this year now that we have some points behind us.”
Gladstone has complete confidence in Reed’s ability in 2025.
“Cory will be running the same car he had last year at Bradenton this week,” Gladstone said. “I’m very comfortable saying that he will be in the Top 10 (in the NHRA Pro Stock points standings) this year. I think a dream season for his first full-time season (in Pro Stock this year would be a Top 5 finish. With his ability, I believe he will definitely be in the Top 10 in the points.
“It kind of cuts the winter short (to be at Bradenton) and we could probably use the time for more R&D and more time at home with our families, but racing is fun. We are excited to see what we can do in Bradenton.”
Private testing in Bradenton begins Tuesday morning, but the PRO Superstar Shootout begins Thursday.