Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Virginia Nationals outside of Richmond, Va.
1 – WILL YOU MAKE UP YOUR FREAKING MIND ALREADY? – Move over, LeMans; it’s the 24 Hours of Top Fuel Final.
Shawn Langdon needed 3.940 seconds to beat Justin Ashley in the NHRA Virginia Nationals Top Fuel final round. The NHRA, however, needed a lot longer to certify it.
Just after 4 PM on Monday, NHRA disqualified Langdon’s run after a post-race inspection revealed missing bolts from the Kalitta Motorsports dragster’s bellhousing cover.
NHRA confirmed, as per the NHRA Rulebook and related SFI Spec 6.2, that no fewer than 12 bolts must secure the cover. During a post-run inspection, the cover on Langdon’s dragster did not meet the requirement of 12 secured bolts.
The NHRA announced the Top Fuel final round was under review after winner circle photos were taken as well as the post-race press conference had been completed. In fact, NHRA had already distributed their post-race press release as well.
Kalitta Motorsports offered the following statement shortly after NHRA handed down its decision.
“Some of the bolts rattled loose during the run and fell into the belly pan,” Team Kalitta General Manager Chad Head said. “The bolts were in place before the run, but some were not in place after because they came loose and fell into the belly pan. That’s on us.
“We respect NHRA as the sanctioning body and understand that safety is always the most-important thing. We certainly apologize to our corporate partners, the race fans and our fellow competitors. We did not win yesterday’s race, but we’re moving on and are now focused on the next race.
“On behalf of our entire organization, this statement will be the only Kalitta Motorsports comment on this issue.” – Bobby Bennett
2 – MAKING MORE PLEASANT HISTORY – Virginia, rich in colonial and Civil War history, is famous for its battles and legends of courage. And in a drag-racing context, it’s the same with John Force Racing (JFR) . . . plenty of triumphs, one inglorious moment, and bravery when spirits were shattered.
One of the team’s missions at the NHRA’s American Rebel Light Virginia Nationals was to sweep away the negative energy associated with the Virginia Motorsports Park battlefield. It was to chase away the ghosts of ghastly injury from a year ago when team owner and 16-time champion and 157-time Funny Car winner suffered the last of his head-jarring concussions and spent extensive rehab time at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center at nearby Richmond.
Mission accomplished.
Jack Beckman and Austin Prock, JFR’s Funny Car tandem, always say they want to race each other – in the final round. And they earned that right Sunday. For the fourth time since Beckman inherited the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro seat from John Force last August and the second time this season, he faced off against Prock – Beckman as the No. 1 qualifier, Prock as the points leader and No. 2 starter.
The victory – for the second year in a row – went to Prock, in the Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro. It was his third of the season and 15th overall.
Holding the trophy he said he planned to give to Force once again, Prock said, “We went through hell last year. There was a lot of uncertainty, and we had no idea of which way all of these events were going to go. And we’re so blessed to have him [Force] back out at the racetrack healthy and to win back to back for him. This trophy is definitely going to him, as well.
“We battled through adversity, adversity last year here, racing for him. And this year, obviously, we wanted to win for him, but we battled a lot of tough track conditions. A lot of people were struggling here, and my team just kept their heads to the grindstone and got the job done. I had a feeling we were going to come in here and prove why we’re the points leaders, and we did exactly that. We raced smart, we raced competitively, and I finally got my stuff together behind the wheel. So really proud of this win,” he said.
Force was on the starting line, watching each run of his team, and after Prock’s victory, he said, “It’s a big day at John Force Racing. I owe a lot of dedication to the hospital for keeping me going – and the helicopter that got me there.” He thanked a host of family, sponsors, and hospital personnel and urged people to support the new initiative of the Graham and Courtney Rahal Foundation (GCRF) and Graham Rahal Performance (GRP). The season-long initiative seeks to raise funds for the Optimal Brain Health for Warfighters program at the University of Texas-Dallas which addresses specific and unique brain-health issues of military members.
“After what I’ve been through, we need to help everybody – even the ones in the stands. So be careful going home,” Force said.
Beckman said of John Force following his No. 1 qualifying performance, “I feel like the man went out at the top of his game. Whether he gets in a car or not later, I don’t know. But at 75 years old, the guy was still kicking butt. He was second in the points. He won two races, came here, had a 300-mile-an-hour accident, and Superman got hurt. It’s just something that you just never thought would happen. I never wanted that to happen.
“But somebody was going to get the call to drive John Force’s car. And I’m just unbelievably . . . I didn’t even know I could put it into words. Humbled to have gotten that opportunity and to get to come back out here. It’s a second chance at the dream for me. I was three years, nine months out of the seat, fixing elevators and knew I was never going to go back driving. I just didn’t have the money or the wherewithal to market this to find that money. And here I am, out here with a [top qualifier’s] hat on, driving the PEAK Chevy. Life’s pretty good.”
Brittany Force, the Top Fuel winner at the Dinwiddie, Va., dragstrip in 2022, was No. 1 qualifier Saturday in the Top Fuel class, giving JFR a qualifying sweep of the nitro ranks. Before she fell in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations to No. 14 and final qualifier Tony Stewart, she said, “It’s definitely tough, coming back to this racetrack. The only thing I really remember is Sunday last year, that wreck and everything that came up. So it’s tough to come out here. Everywhere I look, I see something that reminds of that day, so it’s hard to let it go.”
But she had to keep reminding herself that her father is progressing, managing the three-car team once again, and though not competing like he has done for as long as she can remember, “he’s great. He’s out here with all our teams.” What’s more, she said, “Actually, one of our nurses that spent a lot of time with us at VCU is here spending the day with her husband. So we had her up on the starting line. It’s just great to see her outside of the hospital.”
Beckman said, “We really would like some closure at the end of the week.” And they got it.
3 – HERRERA REASSERTS HIMSELF – Brayden Davis has wowed the Pro Stock Motorcycle class lately, scoring back-to-back No. 1 qualifying positions and going to the semifinals. Both at Bristol and Virginia. Some wondered if Davis would overshadow Herrera, the dominator for the past two seasons. But Herrera wasn’t about to let that happen and reasserted himself Sunday. After defeating Davis in the semifinal and going on to squeak past final-round opponent Angie Smith by .0041 of a second, Herrera praised Davis, his new Vance & Hines rent-a-ride teammate. “He’s a good kid, and he has a very bright future,” Herrera said, confessing that both he and Richard Gadson noticed right away when they met him that he was über-talented – he said they looked at each other and said, “What the heck is going on here?” Since Davis came on board with Vance & Hines, Gadson picked up his first victory and Herrera got back in the ballgame.
4 – SCHUMACHER TESTS ON MONDAY – Eight-time Top Fuel champion and 88-time winner Tony Schumacher will be borrowing new teammate Clay Millican’s Rick Ware Racing crew Monday as he tests at Viriginia Motorsports Park, preparing for his re-entry into competition. No timetable is in place for Schumacher’s first appearance this season.
It will be the first time Schumacher, who has won series crowns with three different crew chiefs (Dan Olson, Alan Johnson, Mike Green), has worked with veteran tuner Rob Flynn.
“I wasn’t looking to change jobs,” Flynn said, “but when the Salinas family quit racing, I wasn’t ready to retire. I gave Jim O (Jim Oberhofer, at Rick Ware Racing) a call . . . and everything just seemed to fit together. It just feels good, and it fits,” Flynn said. “I never worked with Tony. He always was the opposition, so it should be interesting. Certainly his credentials speak for themselves.”
Schumacher’s sponsor will be American Communications Construction, a company headquartered in the Houston suburb of Tomball, Texas, that specializes in fiber-optic placement and coaxial splicing.
5 – WILD PRO MOD FINISH – The Congruity Pro Modified final round was a wild one, with J.R. Gray blasting away to his second consecutive victory in four straight final rounds and third in 2025, while behind him Dmitry Samorukov was crashing and spinning in his attempt to log his career-first triumph. Samorukov, the No. 1 qualifier from Moscow who was unhurt in the accident, lost traction and smashed into the left-lane wall, flat-spinned, then cross the track and hit the opposite wall.
6 – PRAYER REQUEST – After Bob Tasca won his opening-round match against Spencer Hyde, he remarked that “we’re racing with a heavy heart” and mentioned his close friend Kenny Koretsky, former Pro Stock racer and close friend. Tasca urged everyone to pray for Koretsky, the owner of Maple grove Raceway at Reading, Pa., saying, “He’s in a different kind of fight right now.” Koretsky’s situation is unclear.
7 – STEWART RECOVERS FROM MEDICAL ISSUE TO REACH SEMIS – Top Fuel points leader and surprising No. 14 starter Tony Stewart had a bit of shaky start to Sunday’s eliminations. In spite of that and not feeling well, he upset No. 1 starter Brittany Force in the opening round to earn a bye into the semifinal round. But he wasn’t on top of his game, and the energy-sapping temperatures in the 90s didn’t help.
After making his solo pass in the quarterfinals, Stewart shared that he was feeling “way better than after the first run.”
He said, “I’ve had an injury I’ve been struggling with for over two weeks now” and said medical personnel “got me on medication. The hard part is it dehydrated me overnight. Just got hot and a little lightheaded. We’ve got a great medical staff here at the track and a medical director [Dr. Philip Surface] that follows NHRA and does an amazing job. Went and got an IV bag and ready to rip now.”
8 – ANGIE SMITH AVOIDS INJURY – Angie Smith has broken her pinky finger after she had to ditch her Pro Stock motorcycle at Norwalk, Ohio, to avoid plowing into a cornfield. She became separated from her bike at St. Louis, suffered broken feet, and endured skin-graft-surgery for extensive road rash. During Sunday’s second round of eliminations at Virginia Motorsports Park, the wheelie-bar panel broke off her motorcycle and some debris stuck in the wheel of her bike, but Smith showed her riding skill in avoiding injury and getting the motorcycle slowed to a stop. Afterward, she blamed herself for the mishap: “I got on the brakes a little too hard, but the wheelie-bar panel could’ve played a part in it. But everything’s good.” Incidentally, that round-win was the seventh of her career over husband Matt Smith.
9 – GREEN DOES JUSTICE TO TASK – Hunter Green locked into a Funny Car ride unexpectedly this weekend. He shares his family’s second Bond Coat entry with Blake Alexander, and he stepped in Saturday even though it was Alexander’s turn to drive. Green said he and his dad, Chad Green, were going to be testing Monday, so he had his driving suit and helmet with him. And he punished No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan in the opening round of eliminations Sunday. Green lost to J.R. Todd in the second round.
10 – LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER – Melanie Johnson, daughter of elite Top Fuel tuner Alan Johnson of Kalitta Motorsports, earned her first victory at Norwalk, Ohio, in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, at the Cavalcade of Stars. In just her sixth career start, she aced the North Central Regional visit to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park by the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. She competes in the McPhillips Racing A/Fuel Dragster, and she qualified third. She defeated red-lighting Jamie Noonan in the final.
