Shawn Reed has shown he can win rounds as a Top Fuel driver, but his performance Saturday was definitely a career highlight.
The Puyallup, Wash., native claimed the coveted title at the 2025 SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton, Fla., and took home the victory.
“Well, the lights are coming around, and my crew has got a handle on the car, which started last year,” Reed said. “And this is a brand-new chassis, but boy, it’s working well. The guys are working, and I’m really happy about this. I don’t even know what to think right now. I’m pretty ecstatic. I couldn’t even write this up better to tell you the truth.”
Reed’s march to his improbable victory consisted of wins over reigning NHRA world champion Antron Brown, Brittany Force, and Josh Hart.
“Yeah, I think it still takes a little bit of luck to win one of these things or any NHRA race, you know, got to have a little bit of luck,” said Reed, who has made one NHRA final round in his career. “We weren’t really that strong against round one against AB (Antron Brown), but he smoked the tires, and we did a lot of smoke in the tires last year and our focus is to go down the track and try to race the track and do what we can do. And if AB can go faster, or (Doug) Kalitta can go faster, or (Sean) Langdon can go faster, then so be it. We lose that way, but at least we will not give it to them anymore. We’re focused on that this year, and I’m really happy about that.
“I think it’s a good strategy, and we don’t test, and we don’t have all the parts and pieces that they have, but we’re going to make the best of what we got, and hopefully, we get a few more win lights this year.”
In the finals, Reed clocked a 3.699-second time at 330.39 mph to defeat Hart’s 3.724-second elapsed time at 321.27 mph.
“I mean, I’m just trying to be in the .060s and .070s this year instead of the .080s and .090s,” Reed said. “And if I can do that and the car runs like it does and nobody never wants to lose first round, then that’s my goal. But I know it’s going to happen. I mean it; everybody will lose the first round throughout the year, but I’m just trying not to lose the first round and stay in it. Hopefully, I’m someone they’re talking about when it comes to the (NHRA) Countdown (the final six races of the season), and I have a chance to win a championship because that’s what we all do it for.”
Reed acknowledged he just hoped to make the star-studded eight-car field in the PRO Superstar Shootout – and was asked by a media member if he would have been told on Tuesday he would win, what his response would be.
“Yeah, that’s funny s*** right there,” Reed said. “That’s funny, funny, funny. Excuse my language. That’s funny. Yeah, well, I knew there would be 11 cars, and it turned up being 9; there’s one man out. And even coming here Friday night, we had an oil pressure problem. We didn’t get to make that hero run Friday night. And my goal is to make it to the show. And we did that, and what an incredible weekend.”
