This weekend mark’s NHRA’s 25th visit to historic Route 66 Raceway located South of Chicago in Joliet, Ill. The track, and the Chicago area in general have a rich drag racing history including the home base of Hall of Famers such as Chris “the Greek” Karamesines and the Chi-Town Hustler team, just to name two.

Route 66 Raceway opened in 1998 with professional wins by Kenny Bernstein (Top Fuel), Whit Bazemore (Funny Car), Mike Thomas (Pro Stock), Matt Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle), and Larry Kopp (Pro Stock Truck).

Antron Brown is arguably the most successful racer in the history of the facility with six wins including two in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Brown is also the defending event champ, having defeated current championship leader Shawn Langdon in the 2024 final round.

***

After a full day of Lucas Oil Series qualifying on Thursday,  sportsman eliminations began on Friday morning along with qualifying for the Holley EFI Factory X and FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown. This week’s packed schedule also includes the Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle category as well as the Peak Street Car Shootout featuring an eight car field of the sport’s premiere street legal drag and drive cars including Alex Taylor’s six-second ’55 Chevy, Tom Bailey's 250-mph Camaro, and the unique AMC Javelin of Bryant Goldstone.

***

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q1

There are 15 bikes entered for this week’s event so everyone who makes a run during qualifying will be able to return for Sunday’s final eliminations. Halfway through the first session, John Hall made the first six-second run with a solid 6.906, 195.82 run aboard his Matt Smith-tuned Buell.

Two pairs later, Angie Smith raised the bar by a considerable margin with a 6.797 on her Denso Buell that held for the top spot. Richard Gadson moved to No. 2 after a 6.824 on her RevZilla/Vance  & Hines Suzuki. During her interview, Angie Smith noted that the pass felt so smooth that she thought the time slip was inaccurate.

So what became of championship leaders Gaige Herrera and Matt Smith? They both shut off early in the final pair after their bikes pushed towards the guardwall. Smith ran 7.314 while Herrera coasted to an 8.171.

"I don't know for sure what went wrong," Smith admitted. "I fought it and fought it and it wasn't coming back so I had to shut it off. Hopefully, we use that data and fix it for the next run."

FUNNY CAR Q1

The racing surface at Route 66 Raceway isn’t used often and it hosts “big show” nitro cars just once a year so it probably shouldn’t have been a big surprise that Funny Car teams struggled to get down the track during the first session. Bobby Bode III, who is driving his family-owned ArBee entry this week, navigated the tricky surface with a 4.005 that held for the entire of the session.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to run a 4.00,” said Bode, who added that he wanted to improve to a 3.95 on Friday afternoon.

No one was able to overtake Bode, but Jack Beckman and Paul Lee each ran 4.143 to take the second and third spots, respectively. The rest of qualifying figures to be a shootout since there are 19 Funny Cars on the grounds and there are just 16 spots available for Sunday’s final eliminations.

TOP FUEL Q1

The adjustment period continued through the first half of Top Fuel qualifying as teams continued to search for the proper combination to navigate the Route 66 Raceway track surface. In the fourth pair, Josh Hart and his crew chief Ron Douglas finally solved the riddle with a 3.879 in the R+L Carriers entry.

From there, the floodgates more or less opened up as Clay Millican followed with a 3.863, 325.61 in his Part Plus dragster.

In the final pair, Tony Stewart grabbed the top spot and the three bonus points that accompany it with a 3.847 behind the wheel of his Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters entry.

FUNNY CAR Q2

They don’t call Chicago the Windy City for nothing. There has been a stiff breeze blowing at Route 66 Raceway all day and that has dictated a schedule change for Q2. At the request of the Pro Stock Motorcycle teams, they have elected to allow the nitro cars to run their second session in order to give the wind a chance to die down. If conditions permit, the motorcycles will run following Top Fuel.

With that, the Funny Car class returned for Q2 and results were far better than the opening session. Matt Hagan fired the first salvo with a respectable 4.018 in his Direct Connection Dodge.

Alexis DeJoria became the first Funny Car racer to log a three with a 3.997 at over 324-mph while Ron Capps followed with a 3.998. Capps brushed the wall after the finish line, but the run stands and his NAPA Toyota wasn’t heavily damaged.

“You’d better be ready when you get to the end of the grandstands because of the crosswinds,” said Capps. “I think it also dropped a hole, too. Either way, we’ll get it fixed and be back tomorrow.”

From there, performances steadily improved including a 3.982 from J.R. Todd, that was good for the top spot, and a 3.998 from Daniel Wilkerson, who has perhaps the largest fan following in Joliet.

Jack Beckman finished the round with a competitive 4.003. This may not be the quickest field of the year, but the top half is tightly bunched.

TOP FUEL Q2

The Top Fuel class also made major changes to account for the windy conditions and for the most part, their performances improved in Q2. Justin Ashley fired the first significant shot when he drove the SCAG entry to a 3.805.

“That was a stout lap right there,” said Ashley. “It’s an interesting mindset. It’s so windy out here, you keep it in your subconscious knowing the car might be moving around but you also don’t want it to be at the forefront.”

T.J. Zizzo, the low qualifier at last year’s event, posted the first 330-mph speed of the weekend with a 330.72 that was connected to a competitive 3.849.

One of the few drivers to make competitive runs in both sessions was Joch Hart, who  tallied a 3.838.Clay Millican was also consistent with a 3.845.

The back and forth continued as Doug Kalitta bumped Ashley with a 3.788 to finally secure the provisional top spot.

“It almost felt like it wouldn’t make it,” said Kalitta. “The wind caught me a little bit but it was fun. I just have to keep doing a good job and working together to make it happen.”

***

At the conclusion of the Top Fuel session, NHRA officials determined that conditions were too windy for Pro Stock Motorcycles to have their second session so the class will get three qualifying runs with Angie Smith as the provisional low qualifier.