As NHRA approaches its halfway mark in a 20-race Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series 2024 season, community members and fans are facing the prospect of not seeing John Force in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car or on his scooter, dashing through the pits and staging lanes like the whirling dervish he’s been since joining the professional ranks.
It’s a situation the community has expected at one time or another, but not necessarily under the circumstances we’re facing this week: Force, the most successful drag racer of all time – with 16 Funny Car championships and 157 win lights to his merit (two this season alone) – is in a hospital bed in the Richmond, VA area and very little information on his condition is being dispensed. A massive engine explosion at the end of his first round win at Virginia Motorsports Park saw the legend wheeled from his car on a gurney and then helicoptered to a nearby trauma center.
UPDATED JUNE 27: John Force Racing stated today that Force has been moved from trauma intensive care to neurological intensive care, in order to have his medical team focus on the head injury, their primary concern at this time. As a result of this accident and her concern for her father’s care, Brittany Force will not be competing in her Top Fuel dragster this weekend; she remains at her father’s side. Austin Prock, points leader in Funny Car will be competing and hoping to add to his formidable lead in the class.
Still, the wheels go round and round and life must go on. Will we see Force behind the wheel of a Funny Car again? Most likely, if he’s able. This is not how a legend bows out.
All four Mission Foods categories are in play again this weekend, with the 17th Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk Ohio’s Summit Motorsports Park. The track is a favorite of nearly every competitor in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. It’s a quick track, the Bader family are among the more hospitable track owners and, yeah, ice cream.
With an all-Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel final round in Richmond, reigning dragster champ Doug Kalitta holds a 67-point lead over teammate Shawn Langdon, with Justin Ashley third, the newest and 23rd member of the 500-round win club Steve Torrence fourth, followed by Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher, Billy Torrence, Clay Millican, rookie Tony Stewart and Brittany Force, who has been with her father since bowing out in the second round of the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals; she is not racing at Norwalk, OH this weekend. There’s a 325-point gap between first and tenth places.
Twenty Top Fuel cars and drivers are on this week’s entry list and include Josh Hart, who made a quarterfinal appearance in Virginia, Tripp Tatum III, a winner at the Gatornationals in 2022, Dan Mercier, Chicago’s T.J. Zizzo, Kyle Wurtzel, Spencer Massey, ever-improving class rookieJasmine Salinas, Shawn Reed, Doug Foley and Travis Shumake. That’s a stout grouping but all of them, including eight of the top 10 are wondering what they can do to stop Kalitta’s dragster duo from accumulating even more Wally winner’s trophies?
With nine races run, Kalitta and Langdon have secured five wins between them and 2018 Funny Car champ J.R. Todd joined Langdon in the Winner’s Circle the first race of the year, securing the team’s initial double-up in its long history. The Norwalk facility is closest to the team’s Ypsilanti, MI base and it’s their “home” event. Kalitta Motorsports’ record for wins in a season is eight and, even before half the season is complete, they have six wins coming into Norwalk.
Following his third victory of the year and second consecutive win, first-year Funny Car driver Austin Prock continues to lead the Flopper standings over his John Force Racing boss by 131 points. Of course that will change this week with reigning Tony Stewart Racing Nitro Funny Car champ Matt Hagan, a four-time titleholder in third, just 35 behind Force in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Kalitta Motorsports’ J.R. Todd is fourth with his Toyota GR Supra with Virginia runner-up Bob Tasca III in fifth, driving his Ford Mustang.
Daniel Wilkerson, in his first year driving full-time after taking over the Ford Mustang formerly driven by his dad (and crowd favorite) Tim Wilkerson holds sixth, followed by three-time champ Ron Cappps’ Toyota GR Supra, the similar car of Alexis DeJoria, Chad Green’s and Blake Alexander’s Ford Mustangs. Alexander is 453 points behind Prock, but as we all know, making the top 10 and prepping for the six-race Countdown to the Championship is what matters in this game.
There are 18 Floppers on the entry list this weekend, with new faces in different places and returning competitors looking to signal their intents to hound those in the nosebleed section of the points tallies. At this time, no replacement for John Force has been named for this race, so the actual tally may be 17 cos. Of course we can expect to see both Cruz Pedregon and Paul Lee’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats, along with Dave Richards’ Toyota Camry. Joe Morrison recently announced he’d be racing a Dodge at this race, along with Dale Creasy Jr and Chris King, the Chicago-area fireman. Bobby Bode III returns in his Mustang, as well.
Just before the race weekend, ESPN announced that Matt Hagan is one of the drivers nominated for the 2024 ESPY’s Best Driver Award for his 2023 season achievements. In earning his first nomination, Hagan joins legends John Force, Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhome as the only Funny Car drivers in NHRA history with four or more world titles as he gave fledgling Tony Stewart Racing its first world title in only its second season of competition. “I’m blown away to be nominated for the ESPYs,” Hagan admitted. “It’s a humbling sport and it’s humbling car to drive. This is a group that just works hard. We’re thankful for all the fans who support us and, hopefully, they’ll go out and vote for us. At the end of the day,” he said, “I’m just very honored to be nominated.”
Despite losing to Aaron Stanfield in Richmond, Dallas Glenn of KB Titan Racing retains first place in Pro Stock over Greg Anderson with a 40-point gap between the teammates. Reigning titleholder Erica Enders of Elite Motorsports is third, followed by her teammates Jeg Coughlin jr., Aaron Stanfield, Troy Coughlin Jr., Jerry Tucker and Cristian Cuadra in eighth place. KB’s Deric Kramer is ninth while David Cuadra holds tenth place points. None of the three Cuadra brothers raced in Virginia but all three are back this week after fulfilling business obligations.
There are 18 Pro Stock cars on the entry list and include KB Titan’s Brandon Foster and Matt Hartford, local racer and Pro Stock veteran larry Morgan, Eric Latino on the KB Titan squad, Mason and Chris McGaha, Cory Reed moving from two wheels to four with KB affiliation, and Fernando Cuadra Jr. Not only has Troy Coughlin Jr. won a race this year, but he’s just been inducted into the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame, an honor given to well-known people who demonstrate their passion for the brand. Not only does Coughlin enjoy White Castle’s sliders, he’s excited by this honor because the company “is based in my hometown of Columbus, and it’s a multi-generational, family business that I can relate to,” he said.
Fresh off his latest milestone in Pro Stock Motorcycle, achieving 10 consecutive class wins to set a new record for all of NHRA racing and surpassing the great Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, Vance and Hines Motorsports’ reigning champion Gaige Herrera is preparing to, well, set new records on his Suzuki Hayabusa3 this week. Obviously leading the points standings, he’s got teammate Richard Gadson in second place, albeit 253 points back! Six-time champ Matt Smith is third, followed by his teammate John Hall, both of them on Buell motorcycles. 2023 Rookie of the Year Chase Van Sant on his WAR Suzuki holds fifth place points, 71 behind Gadson and his Vance and Hines Suzuki Hayabusa3. Van Sant’s fouls in the last two races have cost him points and, likely, a bit of confidence.
Angie Smith’s red-light foul on her Buell in the quarterfinals last weekend has her in sixth place, followed by Hector Arana Jr.’s Buell, the similar machine of Jianna Evaristo, LE Tonglet’s Vance and Hines’ Suzuki and the Suzuki of class veteran Steve Johnson. Only 14 motorcycles are on the entry list, allowing byes for the top two qualifiers this weekend. Expect to see Marc Ingwersen’s Buell try to mix it up, along with Chris Bostick’s WAR Suzuki, Wesley Wells on an older Suzuki GSXR, Eiji Kawakami’s Suzuki and Ron Tornow on his Buell. One missing warrior? Ryan Oehler and his Buell.
Lucas Oil Sportsman classes on the grounds include Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman Top Dragster, along with Factory Stock Showdown and Factory X. Look for Kyle Koretsky, racing part-time this year, in Factory X this weekend, adding another class in which he’s competed that includes both Pro Stock, Comp Eliminator.
While Sportsman classes begin their competition on Thursday, the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series competitors won’t see action until late Friday afternoon, with two sessions at 5PM and 7:30PM. Saturday’s qualifying and Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge sessions start at 1:30PM and 4PM, while Sunday eliminations are scheduled to begin at 11AM. One thing everyone is hoping for is cooler temps, after the Richmond track temperatures soared to nearly 150 degrees, unheard-of for NHRA competition and likely the hottest race in the history of the sport. While temps are expected to be in the mid- to high-80s on the first two days of competition – and with shower activity forecast for Saturday, Sunday’s weather calls for a high of 79 and sunny skies.
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