NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Leaving the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider John Hall had plenty to smile about. The Hamden, Conn., racer reached the fourth final round of his career and second of the season on a quick and fast Denso-backed Matt Smith Racing Buell. He was also No. 3 in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings with just one race remaining before the Countdown to the Championship.

Hall is not a newcomer to the class – the Sonoma event was, in fact, the 90th Pro Stock Motorcycle race of a career that started in 2012 with George and Jackie Bryce and their Star Racing program.

"I love riding Pro Stock Motorcycles, and if George Bryce didn't take a chance on me in 2012 – a true rookie with less than 10 passes on a bar bike going into Gainesville that year – I wouldn't be 90 races in," said Hall. "George saw something in me that maybe I didn't even see, and he had enough faith in me to put me out there. I call Star Racing 'Pro Stock Motorcycle bootcamp,' because if you can go through that, you can go through anything – he prepared you for the good and the bad."

The good has been really good for Hall, even if he didn't realize it in the moment. In just his second season, Hall qualified in the top half at all but three events – including a career-best start from the No. 3 position at the NHRA Finals – and won his first race at the NHRA New England Nationals.

One of the highlights of his career so far was winning the 2013 NHRA U.S. Nationals over Matt Smith, who was also his crew chief and teammate at the time. It was the first time in U.S. Nationals history that two motorcycles qualified in the bottom half of the field and then met in the final. Smith was the No. 9 qualifier, while Hall started from the No. 15 position.

"I was super excited to win both of those races in 2013. I couldn't believe that I made it to this level and actually won one race – let alone two," shared Hall. "But when I first won the U.S. Nationals, I didn't really realize how important it was and how that was going to be a race that sticks with you for life."

He finished No. 8 in the world, but his name was in the championship mix much of the season.

While Hall was putting together a career-best season, business back home was also shifting, and it began to demand much more of his time and attention. He raced here and there, but over the years, his participation in the class was necessarily sporadic as he poured time and effort into Dichello Distributors, his beer wholesale business.

"I couldn't even think about racing," he said. "I had so much going on, but 12 years later, I was able to find my way back. It was necessary to do what I had to do in the last decade, but it feels really good to be back."

Hall notably flies the branding of B.R.A.K.E.S., Doug Herbert's national defensive driving program for teens, on the side of his Denso-backed Buell, and he elects to display B.R.A.K.E.S. signage to bring attention to the program that he and Smith put their children through in 2013. Hall will unload the Denso/B.R.A.K.E.S. MSR Buell at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in just a few weeks, and he hopes to continue the momentum that has been building and showed much promise in California Wine Country a little more than a week ago.

In Sonoma, starting from the No. 9 position, he and Denso/MSR teammate Angie Smith squared off in round one. Hall was first off the starting line and first to the finish to advance to a round-two meeting with world champion and current points leader Gaige Herrera and the RevZilla Mission Foods Suzuki. Herrera's astounding streak of 11 consecutive wins had ended the race before (in Seattle at the hands of NHRA Northwest Nationals winner Chase Van Sant), and he was surely looking to return to his winning ways. He threw down a .001-second reaction time but did not find what he needed on the track, and Hall, who was .039 at the hit, rode around for a 6.741, 201.95 win over a 6.847, 200.41.

Hector Arana Jr. made his best run of the day aboard the GETTRX Buell in the semifinals next to Hall, but a 6.772, 201.64 closed the door on a 6.782, 200.92. That set up a final-round meeting with Hall and teammate Smith, the No. 1 qualifier. There in the final, Hall left first, .034 to .044, but Smith's 6.700, 203.77 got the nod over his 6.746, 200.26.

"I was ready, willing, and I think able to win that round against Matt," said Hall. "I didn't do anything wrong, he just got there first. I absolutely think we're on target for a win."

In addition to two final-round appearances, Hall has won at least one round of racing at each of the eight races so far contested in the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Twice, he's logged a semifinal finish. Four times, he's earned a coveted spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge that pits the previous race's semifinalists against one another during qualifying. With points and dollars on the line, it's the hot ticket ahead of the main event, and Hall nearly won it in Norwalk, where Richard Gadson claimed victory.

All of the successes, though, haven't yet moved this season ahead in the running for "best ever" for Hall, but the regular season is going to come to a close after the U.S. Nationals, and then the six-race championship playoffs will begin. With the championship points being reset to start the Countdown to the Championship, Hall is set to be in a strong position, which could, ultimately, tip the scales.

"I don't know that I would call this the best season I've had – 2013 was pretty good," said Hall. "It's a great year, but it doesn't compare – not yet, at least. But I'm comfortable and relaxed, probably more than in 2013. I didn't come into this year with a lot of expectations, and I'm not chasing anything, not overthinking anything.

"I had lost confidence in myself a little bit over the years, but what this year has done for me is build my confidence back up to where it was in the past. This is a team I've watched perform, and I see how hard they work. When you come to a team, you don't know how things are going to go, but I had confidence in Matt and Angie, and I found a comfort zone on this motorcycle. It's smooth, it's fast, and if I do my job, I know it's going to perform."