The nitro divisions in Norwalk, Ohio, became an object lesson in sweep-ology.
By the time Saturday’s qualifying sessions ended, Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Austin Prock (Funny Car) had each doubled up by winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and claiming No. 1 qualifying positions. Dallas Glenn pocketed $40,000 in the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout, while Richard Gadson continued his growing rivalry with teammate Gaige Herrera by collecting another Mission Challenge victory.
If there was one theme to the day, it was taking advantage of every point and every dollar available before eliminations even begin.
Nobody did that better than Langdon.
The Top Fuel points leader defeated Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta with a 3.695-second run at 333.08 mph to earn his third Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory of the season. The same run also secured his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the year, another reminder that the Kalitta camp continues to set the standard in Top Fuel.
The numbers tell an even bigger story.
Between Langdon and Kalitta, Kalitta Motorsports has won seven of the eight Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges contested this season. Saturday’s victory only widened Langdon’s advantage as he chases another world championship.
“The magic is really just the consistency that these cars have shown over the last couple seasons, being able to make the semifinals of the races, being able to get into the show of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty and then making good quality runs during the Challenge,” Langdon said. “Both cars have been really good the last few seasons, so that’s just the end result of that.”
Funny Car may have produced the loudest statement of the day.
Austin Prock entered the weekend believing his Tasca Racing team had finally begun finding the answers after an up-and-down start to the season. By Saturday evening, the two-time Funny Car champion had the results to prove it.
Prock defeated Ron Capps in the Mission Challenge final with a 3.875-second pass at 333.49 mph before locking down his first No. 1 qualifier since joining Tasca Racing with a track-record blast of 3.863 seconds at 337.41 mph. He also recorded the quickest run in three of the four qualifying sessions.
“It’s been a great weekend for us so far,” Prock said. “We’ve pretty much gobbled up every point that was available except one yesterday in Q2. I’m really proud of what we have accomplished this weekend. We came in here with a plan that we were going to press harder and try to become the dominant race team that we know we’re capable of being.”
Prock said the steady improvement has been months in the making after the team worked through early mechanical issues that masked its true potential.
Now he believes the car is beginning to resemble the one capable of contending for another championship.
While the nitro categories grabbed much of the attention, Glenn left with the biggest check of the day.
The KB Titan Racing driver became the fourth different winner in the four-year history of the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout, earning $40,000 after Matt Hartford fouled in the final round. Glenn was ready regardless, posting the quickest Pro Stock run of Saturday with a 6.556 at 207.98 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro.
The Callout victory came after Glenn defeated Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Aaron Stanfield earlier in the day. He also qualified second, giving him a chance to leave Norwalk with both the bonus race title and an event victory.
“We made a fantastic run there in the final,” Glenn said. “I’m really excited about tomorrow. I’ve been wanting to get one of these ice cream scoop trophies for a long time. I’m really excited about that, and that nice big bonus check should be pretty nice, too.”
Glenn admitted specialty races haven’t always gone his way.
“I don’t feel like I do well in these races, but I just came in trying to do my own thing,”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Richard Gadson got the best of his Vance & Hines teammate Gaige Herrera in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge when Herrera went red by .007.
That hands Gadson, who is the current points leader and reigning world champion, his second straight Challenge victory on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki as the teammates continue to try to get the best of each other.
“He double-bulbed me up there, and I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Gadson said. “That just shows the competitiveness between him and me. Every time we race each other, our little tournament saying is, ‘Are you willing to red light?’ because that’s pretty much where we’re at right now. So, thankfully, he did that time, and it got me the gift for today.”
