Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Great Lakes Nationals outside of Martin.
1 – HOW TO KILL A COLLECTOR’S ITEM, LANGDON STYLE – The only thing Shawn Langdon didn’t do Monday afternoon at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park was pass the cow jumping over the moon from “Hey Diddle Diddle.”
But he came awfully close.
Langdon drove a rocketship through the Michigan countryside, punctuating a dominant day with a 346.95-mph blast that established the fastest speed in NHRA Top Fuel history. In the process, he may have created a fire sale on those “Mr. 345 MPH” T-shirts.
Langdon was just five-hundredths of a mile per hour from making those replacement shirts obsolete by two numbers.
And this wasn’t some one-shot hero run. Langdon’s Kalitta Air dragster was hauling freight all day, beginning with a 3.652-second pass at 344.04 mph against rookie Maddi Gordon before eventually producing the record run in the semifinals against teammate Doug Kalitta.
The numbers on that semifinal pass bordered on ridiculous. Langdon covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.663 seconds at 346.95 mph – and was traveling 301.41 mph at the eighth-mile mark.
Then came the final against Spencer Massey, a reunion of sorts between the former Don Schumacher Racing driver and the man who eventually replaced him there.
Massey left first, but Langdon erased the advantage early and never looked back, winning with a 3.664 at 346.15 mph to Massey’s 3.764, 327.75. The victory was Langdon’s sixth of the season, second consecutive and 28th of his career, while also moving him back into the Top Fuel points lead.
So, naturally, after running 346.95, someone asked whether 350 mph was possible.
“That’s going to be tough,” Langdon said. “I mean, I wouldn’t have thought 345 was and I wouldn’t have thought 347 was, but, I mean, maybe. Yeah. I think it would be really, really tough, but potentially.”
Langdon credited U.S. 131’s racing surface, favorable conditions and crew chief Brian Husen’s willingness to race smart rather than chase numbers … even though the numbers wound up being mind-boggling.
The combination produced four elimination runs of 342 mph or faster and gave Langdon ownership of the five fastest speeds in Top Fuel history.
When reminded that 346.95 was essentially 347 mph, Langdon offered one final solution.
“You can round up if you’d like,” Langdon said.
2 – TEMPTING FATE CORNWELL TOOLS STYLE – If fate has picked a side in the Funny Car championship fight, it sure looked Monday like it was wearing a Cornwell Quality Tools shirt.
The Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car has carried the last two NHRA Funny Car champions, with Austin Prock winning back-to-back titles. Now Jordan Vandergriff is trying to keep that championship streak alive, and what happened at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park almost looked like somebody upstairs was helping.
Vandergriff arrived at eliminations having failed to make a representative run in four qualifying attempts. He qualified 16th, drew No. 1 qualifier Prock and smoked the tires almost immediately in the opening round.
And won.
Prock red-lighted, handing Vandergriff the kind of lifeline racers rarely receive. Vandergriff and the John Force Racing team didn’t waste it, either, because after spending the entire weekend looking for the problem, they finally found it.
From there, the Funny Car that couldn’t get down the racetrack suddenly seemed incapable of making a bad run.
Vandergriff reeled off three consecutive 3.80-second passes, saving his best for last with a 3.858 at 329.43 mph to beat points leader Matt Hagan in the final round of the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals.
“It doesn’t even feel real,” Vandergriff said. “To me, that felt like Q3, Q4, because I didn’t have any runs on this racetrack until today. But, yeah, we struggled so much.”
The turnaround started only after the first-round gift. Vandergriff admitted he wasn’t celebrating Prock’s red-light because his own car had repeated the same problem that plagued it throughout qualifying.
“I got out and we got the round win and I just was like, ‘Man, we got the round win, but we didn’t fix any problems,’” Vandergriff said. “We had the same problem we had all through qualifying.”
Crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Jason Bunker, along with Vandergriff’s crew, kept digging. They isolated what Vandergriff described as a singular problem, made the change and watched the car respond.
Suddenly, the No. 16 qualifier looked nothing like one.
Vandergriff became the first Funny Car driver since Del Worsham in 2003 to win an NHRA national event from the No. 16 qualifying position. The victory was his third of the season and moved him to second in the standings, just 23 points behind Hagan.
More importantly, the car that has occupied the championship throne for two consecutive seasons remains squarely in position to make it three straight.
“It’s a gauntlet,” Vandergriff said. “I looked in the semis and it was me, Hagan, J.R. [Todd] and Jack [Beckman], and it’s anybody’s game. It’s anybody’s game. It’s just got to be your day and today was our day.”
3 – NO MORE DROUGHT – With all the rain that fell on U.S. 131 Motorsports Park over the weekend, a drought might have been the last thing anyone in Michigan was thinking about.
Yet Troy Coughlin Jr. had one to end – and did.
Forty-one races had passed since Coughlin last stood in an NHRA Pro Stock winner’s circle, dating to Epping, N.H., in 2024. On Monday, Coughlin ended the wait by defeating Matt Hartford in the final round of the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals.
Coughlin ran 6.515 seconds at 209.69 mph to Hartford’s 6.527, 208.14. His .020-second reaction time beat Hartford’s .031 off the starting line, and Coughlin never trailed on the way to his sixth career Pro Stock victory.
The payoff was one of NHRA’s commemorative Diamond Wally trophies during its 75th anniversary season.
“Extremely exciting. Lots of emotions,” Coughlin said. “I love the history of drag racing. It’s something that’s in my blood and I’ve always kind of been pretty romantic about, and to celebrate the 75th year of the existence of this awesome series, to get a special Diamond Wally is pretty majestic.”
Coughlin earned this one the hard way.
After qualifying eighth, he defeated Matt Latino before using a .009 reaction time to knock off Greg Anderson. He then was .006 in eliminating uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the semifinals.
Hartford, the No. 1 qualifier, was waiting in the final.
Neither driver hurried into the staging beams. Coughlin eventually went in first, Hartford followed, and Coughlin finished the job.
“Technically, I didn’t really have to go in. I was just ready,” Coughlin said. “I figured, ‘Let’s get it on.’ I got the best guys in the tire industry. We have a wonderful car today, we’re here on a Monday – let’s just finish this thing.”
The victory also gave Coughlin four round wins to open the six-race Countdown to the Championship. There won’t be much time to celebrate before Rockingham, which is slated Friday through Sunday.
“We’re going to enjoy this win with our guys and my family,” Coughlin said. “But come tomorrow morning by eight o’clock, you’re in the simulator and you’re getting ready for Rockingham.”
4 – HALL GOES FROM ‘I’M WASHED UP’ TO MICHIGAN WINNER – Twenty-four hours before John Hall won the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals, he was ready to quit.
Hall had reached the point Sunday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park where he wondered whether he could still ride a Pro Stock Motorcycle adroitly enough to continue. He even told reigning NHRA champion Richard Gadson, “Man, I’m done. I’m washed up, man. I can’t do this anymore.”
By Monday afternoon, Hall wasn’t washed up. He was holding a Diamond Wally after winning the opening race of the Countdown to the Championship for the second consecutive season.
“I got to tell you, man, I was ready to quit racing yesterday,” Hall said. “I’ve been so down on myself, and that’s what drag racing does to you, man. It’s like you go from high, to a low, to a low, to a high within seconds, minutes, hours.”
Monday provided plenty of chaos. Marc Ingwersen eliminated two-time champion Gaige Herrera, Gadson, and No. 1 qualifier Ryan Oehler to reach his first NHRA final.
Hall worked through Clayton Howey, Matt Smith, and Ronald Procopio Jr. By the time he reached the final, the confidence missing a day earlier had returned.
“I think when I beat Ronnie, and I was starting to get my consistency back, and I’m like, ‘Alright, I could do this multiple times,’” Hall said. “When I did that, when I had three good runs in a row. My confidence was back.”
Ingwersen red-lighted by a mere 1/1,000th of a second in the final while Hall ran 6.808 seconds at 194.22 mph for his first victory of the season and fifth of his career.
The victory left Hall second in the championship standings, just one point behind Gadson.
5 – SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST SPORTSMAN WINNERS –There were only two Lucas Oil Sportsman Drag Racing Series categories racing Monday at the rain-delayed NHRA Great Lakes Nationals, but Greg Hunter and Curt Fredrich made sure U.S. 131 Motorsports Park didn’t lack for storylines.
Hunter arrived as a substitute driver and left with his first Wally in his first Top Alcohol Dragster final. Fredrich won his second Top Sportsman national event of the season and left Martin as the new points leader.
Hunter was filling in for Alan Bradshaw in Les Davenport’s dragster and qualified third with a 5.231 at 277.61 mph. He eliminated Mitch Kalitta, Julie Noonan, and Jared Dreher before meeting John Paul Gutierrez in the final.
Gutierrez went red by .025 of a second to hand Hunter the victory. Hunter still delivered a 5.221 at 275.40.
“Man, it’s an absolute honor,” Hunter said. “It’s an absolute honor to be at this racetrack and be with this team.
“Everybody that I’ve ever raced with, I feel is a part of this through my whole career. Man, I’m just going to soak it in tonight. We’re just loving it. I’m so happy.”
Fredrich’s victory came with championship implications. He defeated Bob Mandell III in the Top Sportsman final, running 6.529 on his 6.52 dial after grabbing a .031-to-.065 starting-line advantage.
It was Fredrich’s fifth career Wally and continued a stretch of three victories in his last four races.
“Oh, this is amazing. We’ve won three of the last four races out,” Fredrich said. “We are just so blessed.”
Fredrich’s Camaro debuted at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park 17 years ago during the IHRA Northern Nationals. It returned Monday to win the facility’s inaugural NHRA national event and carry Fredrich into the points lead.
Top Alcohol Funny Cars will finish at the Texas FallNationals, while the remaining Factory Stock Showdown competitors will complete at the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.
6 – WHAT IN THE ACTUAL WORLD DID I JUST WATCH? – If Monday’s second round at the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals was supposed to bring order to an already strange weekend at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, somebody forgot to tell the racers.
Top Fuel contenders smoked the tires. Pro Stock Motorcycle favorites were getting picked off by holeshots and red-lights. By the time the smoke cleared, the semifinal ladders looked like somebody had shaken them in a bag.
Spencer Massey kept his improbable march going in Top Fuel, beating Josh Hart with a 3.748 at 327.99 mph after Hart lost traction immediately. Massey, qualified No. 10, had already eliminated Tony Schumacher in the opening round and suddenly found himself headed to the semifinals.
Then Tony Stewart threw down the round’s hammer.
Antron Brown drilled Stewart at the starting line with a .016 reaction time, then lost traction and shut it off. Stewart answered with a career-best 3.653 at 343.51 mph, sending the No. 6 qualifier into a semifinal meeting with Massey.
Funny Car had already gone sideways when No. 16 qualifier Jordan Vandergriff eliminated No. 1 Austin Prock in the opening round. Vandergriff proved it wasn’t a gift, running his quickest pass of the weekend, a 3.871 at 333.09, to beat Daniel Wilkerson and reach the semifinals.
Pro Stock Motorcycle apparently decided everybody else wasn’t trying hard enough to create chaos.
Richard Gadson ran a 6.744 — easily quicker than Marc Ingwersen’s 6.818 — but lost when both riders went red and Gadson left first with a -.019 to Ingwersen’s -.018. Ronnie Procopio Jr. then strapped a .018 light on Angie Smith and turned a 6.809 into a holeshot victory over Smith’s 6.743.
John Hall followed with a .014 light and beat Matt Smith on another holeshot, winning with a 6.809 against Smith’s 6.764. Top qualifier Ryan Oehler provided some normalcy, advancing with a 6.755.
Pro Stock supplied its own starting-line drama. Troy Coughlin Jr. used a .009 light and 6.528 to knock out Greg Anderson’s 6.530, while Greg Stanfield advanced when Cody Anderson went red and emerged as the Pro Stock points leader.
7 – REED BLASTS NHRA OVER COUNTDOWN INELIGIBILITY DECISION — Shawn Reed isn’t disputing that he failed to make the required three qualifying attempts at Charlotte in the spring. What has the Top Fuel owner-driver steaming is his contention that NHRA had every opportunity to tell him three were required — and didn’t.
Reed issued a statement criticizing NHRA’s handling of his ineligibility for the 2026 Countdown to the Championship, saying he specifically discussed his Charlotte plans with NHRA’s Josh Peterson four days before the event.
According to Reed, he told Peterson that Ida Zetterström would compete in his team’s second dragster while Reed planned one or two Friday qualifying attempts to preserve his Countdown eligibility.
“Based on that conversation, I left with the understanding that our plan met the necessary requirements,” Reed said. “If three qualifying attempts were required, that was the opportunity to tell me.”
Reed said he wasn’t informed that he had failed to satisfy the requirement until an NHRA teams meeting in August, months after Charlotte.
“Had I been told in April that I needed to make a third qualifying attempt, we would have made one,” Reed said. “It was that simple. We had the car, the team and the intention of doing what was required to remain eligible.”
The situation carries another sore spot for Reed. His organization fielded two dragsters at Charlotte, providing Zetterström an opportunity to race while committing the personnel and equipment necessary for a second entry.
Reed said he personally asked NHRA President Glen Cromwell at Martin, Mich., to reconsider the decision and contacted Peterson the following day. Reed said he had received no response to those requests when his statement was released.
Reed isn’t arguing that rules shouldn’t be enforced. His argument is that NHRA’s communication failed when championship eligibility was hanging in the balance.
“We aren’t asking for special treatment,” Reed said. “We’re asking for accountability, consistency and clear communication.”
Reed said his team will continue competing and supporting drag racing, but made clear this one isn’t going away quietly.
“Rules matter. We understand that,” Reed said. “But so does communication.”
8 – ASHLEY WON’T COMPROMISE HIS FAITH FOR A DRAG RACE — Justin Ashley could have searched for another way around NHRA’s substitute-driver rule after rain pushed the Great Lakes Nationals into Monday. Pretending to be sick or getting a doctor’s note, however, wasn’t a line he was willing to cross.
Ashley sat out eliminations at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park to observe Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day of the year in Judaism.
“And any other way of trying to get around that rule, I’m sure there are other ways, whether that’s pretending to be sick or getting a doctor’s note, to me, that’s cheating and that’s unacceptable,” Ashley said. “I also think it defeats the spirit of why I’m doing this in the first place.”
Ashley qualified eighth and was scheduled to race Billy Torrence in the opening round. Torrence instead received a bye run.
Ashley approached NHRA about putting a substitute driver in the car, something he also requested when Yom Kippur conflicted with competition in Dallas in 2024. NHRA denied the request.
“I approached them again this morning asking for a replacement driver and I was denied, which is okay,” Ashley said. “That’s totally fine.”
For Ashley, finding another avenue after that denial would contradict the reason he is missing the race in the first place. This isn’t about making a statement; it’s about refusing to bend a principle when the consequences suddenly became much larger.
The decision comes as Ashley’s Top Fuel program has begun showing improvement after struggling through approximately the first 12 races. A move from the canopy car to an open-cockpit dragster, along with changes from crew chiefs Tommy DeLago and Jason McCulloch, has helped Ashley qualify in the top half of the field in recent events.
Monday could have been another opportunity to capitalize on that progress. Ashley decided there are bigger considerations than a round win.
“It’s not to make a statement or to show us, it’s just simply it’s principle based,” Ashley said. “This is important to me, and my relationship with God is important to me and it’s something that needs to be done.”
9 – PROCK REDLIGHTS FIRST ROUND – The first round produced such a stunner that even Jordan Vandergriff, the beneficiary of Austin Prock’s -.005 red-light, had to be told after he exited the car that he was the winner.
It was just one of many first-round upsets that included Spencer Massey taking out a resurgent Tony Schumacher. And though on the qualifying sheet it isn’t an upset as Will Smith recorded two career-bests (3.699 seconds at 336.83 mph) in beating Leah Pruett (3.766 at 3.18.47).
The hits to the favored continued when Terry Haddock recorded the second-quickest run of his career (3.959 seconds at 317.35), spoiling Cruz Pedregon’s (5.096 at 145.68) hope for a birthday weekend win.
Matt Latino red-lit (-.002), handing the win to Troy Coughlin Jr. (6.511/210.58).
Then, Deric Kramer (6.573, 209.21 mph) upset Dallas Glenn, who lost traction at the starting line (15.929 at just 67.05), giving Kramer an edge heading into the second race of the Countdown, this weekend at Rockingham, N.C.
Then came the biggest upset of the round when Marc Ingwerson (6.997/192.55) defeated two-time PSM champ Gaige Herrera (7.152/147.16) after it appeared Herrera lost power at the 660-foot mark.
10 – HEAVY ON THE RED – There were only five foul starts in the four professional categories at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, and not one single one in the fuel classes. There were six total in the first round of the NHRA Great Lakes Nationals. There were six more leading into the final round, bringing the total of red-lights to 12 Monday.
The difference is at Indianapolis, NHRA was running the standard Compulink system while the Accutime System is in place at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
10B – Y’ALL BEEN PRACTICING SINCE INDY? — Somebody apparently went home from Indianapolis and started wearing out the practice tree.
According to Rick Green’s DragRaceCentral.com, whose data is delivered by NHRA’s timing system, the first round of professional eliminations at the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals produced 12 positive reaction times between .000 and .009 across Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Throw out the red-lights and the number becomes even more impressive when stacked against the U.S. Nationals.
Indy produced only five positive .00 lights during the entire event — all four rounds combined. Martin more than doubled that total before the second round ever fired.
At Indy, Matt Latino (.005), Erica Enders (.008) and Clayton Howey (.008) accounted for three in the opening round. Angie Smith (.009) and Howey (.001) added the only two in round two, with none coming during the semifinals or finals.
Martin’s starting-line aggression wasn’t confined to the opening round, either.
Troy Coughlin Jr. slapped a .009 light on Greg Anderson in round two and turned a 6.528 into a victory against Anderson’s 6.530.
