NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a two-week respite, NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competitors are reset and ready to crank it up to 11 at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Known for more than the raucous campground party that rages all weekend long, Brainerd International Raceway has been host to record-shattering runs, first wins, and goosebump-eliciting action as the clock on the regular season tick-tick-ticks toward closing.

This season's event in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" promises more of the same, with a pleasing projected forecast (as always, subject to change) and tensions mounting high ahead of this, the penultimate race of the regular season.

Top Fuel

Reigning world champion Doug Kalitta enters the event as the points leader in Top Fuel with three wins on the season in five final rounds. He also happens to be the defending event champion in Brainerd driving his Mac Tools dragster, and his appearance in Brainerd will mark his 600th career event – the most for any driver in the class.

Despite an early exit in Sonoma, Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier – his fifth pole of the season – and leads Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon by 125 marks. Langdon also lost first round in Sonoma, but with two wins in five finals so far this year, he remains a top contender and is currently No. 2 in the standings. Steve Torrence, Justin Ashley, and Antron Brown round out the top five in the points and join the Kalitta Top Fuelers in clinching respective positions to race in the Countdown to the Championship.

Tony Schumacher, Clay Millican, Billy Torrence, Sonoma runner-up Tony Stewart, and Brittany Force each enter the event in the top 10. Brown is the most recent winner on the tour with his triumph at Sonoma Raceway last month.

In addition to defending titlist Kalitta, currently competing Top Fuel Brainerd winners include Schumacher (3), Brown (2), Torrence (2), and Brittany Force (1).

The much-anticipated debut of Scandinavian driver Ida Zetterström will also highlight the event as the reigning European FIA Top Fuel champion wheels her JCM/VP Racing Fuels/Edelbrock/Comp Cams Dodge dragster for the first time in U.S. competition. Zetterström, who is aiming at the NHRA Rookie of the Year award, will make her debut in a red, white, and blue-themed rail alongside JCM teammate Schumacher.

Funny Car

If social media is any indication of the temperature in Funny Car, fans were elated to learn that 2012 world champion Jack Beckman would be filling in for 16-time Funny Car champion John Force for the final eight races of the 2024 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Beckman, a 33-time winner in the professional ranks, will be behind the wheel of the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS. Any points garnered over these next eight events will count in Force's column as he continues to recover from a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park this past June.

While all eyes will be on Beckman's first time in competition in four years, JFR teammate Austin Prock will be working to protect his nice padding in the Funny Car points driving the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS. Prock, who has led the points for the majority of the season, has four wins in seven final rounds entering the event. Last month in Sonoma, Bob Tasca III and his Motorcraft/Quick Lane nitro Mustang Dark Horse cut his day short in the semifinals.

Tasca trails Prock by 211 points, but he's got more on his mind than a position in the standings. The Ford devotee has stated repeatedly that he wants his to be the first Funny Car to officially reach 340 mph, and the conditions in Brainerd – where the current Funny Car national e.t. record was set at 3.793 in 2017 – could be favorable for such a task, particularly If the wind happens to blow in the right direction.

As far as points go, defending Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan is currently running third behind Tasca by 43 points. So far this year, Tasca has three wins in four final rounds, and Hagan has two wins in three finals. While Prock, Tasca, and Hagan have each clinched their right to race in the Countdown to the Championship, the top 10 is presently rounded out by J.R. Todd, Ron Capps, John Force, Daniel Wilkerson, Paul Lee, Chad Green, and Blake Alexander.

Past Funny Car winners in Brainerd include John Force, with an astounding 11 victories; Capps with seven; Beckman with one (2018); and Alexis DeJoria, Hagan, Tasca, and Cruz Pedregon each also with one B.I.R. win.

Pro Stock

Pro Stock points leader Dallas Glenn is also the defending event champion in his RAD Torque Systems KB Titan Racing (KBT) Chevrolet Camaro.  Glenn qualified No. 2 in Sonoma – his best start since he was the No. 1 qualifier at the Winternationals in March – but he has not produced a victory since Chicago. His two wins on the season are complemented by an additional four final rounds, including three in a row at Richmond, Norwalk, and Seattle.

The last six events have been won by the Elite Motorsports group, with Aaron Stanfield deftly pocketing three trophies. Stanfield won Sonoma in his JHG/Melling Performance-branded Chevrolet with a final-round defeat of class newcomer Cory Reed, who will be behind the wheel of a KBT Pro Stock car for his third race.

While the finalists this year have risen from either the Elite or KBT camps, the Harlow Sammons Racing team – with dad Chris McGaha and son Mason McGaha driving their respective entries – has not let their good family name fall out of the conversation. Mason, with two final rounds on his overall scorecard, has reached the semifinals twice this year driving his striking deep blue Chevrolet Camaro, and eight-time Pro Stock winner Chris clocked top speed of the meet (211.13mph) in Seattle to prove they've still got smoke.

In addition to Glenn's win here last year, previous Brainerd Pro Stock victors include Jeg Coughlin Jr. (four; the most in the class), 105-time national event winner Greg Anderson (three), defending world champion Erica Enders (two), and Deric Kramer (one).

Glenn, Anderson, Enders, Stanfield, and Coughlin are all locked into the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, while Troy Coughlin Jr., Jerry Tucker, Kramer, Cristian Cuadra, and Eric Latino each enter the event residing in the prestigious and ever-important top 10. Anderson is 115 points back from the top spot, Enders is 152 marks behind, and Stanfield is 175. Jeg Coughlin is 242 out of the top spot in the No. 5 position.

Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition will own the early hours of the day on Friday, beginning at 9:00 a.m. local time, and the FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown, Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Mountain Motor Pro Stock, and Pingel Enterprise Top Fuel Motorcycle categories are set to make their first passes of the weekend later in the day. Late afternoon and early evening will spotlight the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series as competitors in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock are slated for two qualifying sessions to kick off an intense battle for quickly dwindling points. There are only two events left to gather marks and jockey for position before the points are reset for the 2024 NHRA Countdown to the championship: this weekend's Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals and the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, where accomplishments will count for points and a half.

2023 EVENT WINNERS: Antron Brown, Top Fuel; Ron Capps, Funny Car; Dallas Glenn, Pro Stock

MOST VICTORIES: Joe Amato, 6, TF; John Force, 11, FC; Bruce Allen, 4, Jeg Coughlin, 4, Bob Glidden, 4, Kurt Johnson, 4, Warren Johnson, 4

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel – 3.640 sec. by Leah Pruett, Aug. '17; 338.26 mph by Mike Salinas, Aug. '23

Funny Car – 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight Aug. '17; 338.00 mph by Hight, Aug. '17

Pro Stock – 6.541 sec. by Erica Enders, Aug. '15; 211.39 mph by Shane Gray, Aug. '15

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, Aug. 16
LUCAS OIL SERIES eliminations at 9 a.m. NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES qualifying at 4 and 6:15 p.m.

SATURDAY, Aug. 17
LUCAS OIL SERIES eliminations at 9:15 a.m. NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES qualifying at noon and 2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, Aug. 18
Pre-race ceremonies, 9:30 a.m. NHRA MISSION FOODS SERIES eliminations at 10:30 a.m.

TELEVISION

FRIDAY, Aug. 16
FS1 will televise one and-a-half hours of qualifying coverage at 8 p.m. (ET)

SATURDAY, Aug.17
FS1 will televise one hour of 2Fast2Tasty Challenge coverage at 6 p.m. (ET)

SUNDAY, Aug. 18
FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying coverage at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Aug. 18 FOX will televise three hours of live finals coverage at 3 p.m. (ET)

TICKETS

To purchase tickets to the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, click here or call 800-884-6472