NHRA: Prock, Langdon, Anderson, Ashley, Force and Glenn win

Austin Prock powered to his first career Funny Car win on Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park for John Force Racing, driving past Alexis DeJoria in the final round in front of a sellout crowd at the 39th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) each won at the third of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Sunday also marked the second straight sellout crowd this weekend.

Prock, who was also the No. 1 qualifier, went 3.952-seconds at 320.74 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to get past DeJoria in his second final round this season. After defeating Buddy Hull, Daniel Wilkerson and points leader J.R. Todd to reach the finals, Prock led wire-to-wire against DeJoria, becoming just the 19th driver in NHRA history to win in both Top Fuel and Funny Car.

It marked a memorable moment for Prock, especially winning with his father, Jimmy, as the crew chief, and his brother, Thomas, as the car chief.

“This is a huge win,” Prock said. “This car has been running great and we started the year out strong and struggled a little bit last week in Pomona. We had to get some revenge this weekend and we definitely did that. That was a great run in the final round there. That’s a run we were trying to do that all weekend long and just couldn’t piece it all together. For it all to finally come together to get my first Funny Car win means a lot.

“To enter that league (of winning in Top Fuel and Funny Car) with the Don Prudhommes, the Shawn Langdons, the J.R. Todds, the Kenny Bernsteins, who are legends and Hall of Famers, it’s pretty cool to be a part of that. To do it with my family makes it even more special. It was a beautiful day, a packed house and we’re rolling out of here with some gold. What more could you ask for?”

DeJoria reached the finals for the first time this season thanks to round wins against Bob Tasca III, Paul Lee and Blake Alexander.

Shawn Langdon picked up his second Top Fuel win in three races to open the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, this time knocking off Justin Ashley in the final round on Sunday with a run of 3.760 at 318.69 in his 11,000-horsepower Kalitta Air Careers/Toyota dragster. It’s the first career Top Fuel win at Firebird Motorsports Park for Langdon, who also denied Ashley a double-up victory this weekend in Phoenix. Langdon defeated Josh Hart, Antron Brown and No. 1 qualifier Steve Torrence to reach the final round and then posted a brilliant .050 reaction time against Ashley to pick up his 19th career victory.

It’s the first time Langdon has led the points three races in a row since the 2015 campaign as he continues to roll early in the year, again crediting the job first-year crew chief Brian Husen has done.

“When you run a Justin in the final, you know what he’s capable of. He’s the best leaver in the class bar none, so my only focus was just leave with him. and then leave it up to Brian because I have that much confidence in Brian and my guys,” Langdon said. “So when I hit the gas, we left with him, I said, ‘Well, we’ve got a shot,’ and so I just tried to hold it straight and saw the win light and the rest is history.

“It feels great, obviously. I’m just really proud of everybody and all the hard work that went into the offseason. It’s been hard for the last couple of years to struggle. but you just keep your head down, just keep working hard, and eventually, the tide’s going to roll the other way. At some point, you don’t know how long that will be but it’s paying dividends right now.”

Ashley reached his second straight final and 21st overall on the strength of round wins against Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta and Tony Stewart, who won his first rounds in Top Fuel on Sunday.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson grabbed his first victory of the season in impressive fashion, taking down teammate Dallas Glenn in the final round with a 6.582 at 208.97 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. It’s also the 104th career victory for Anderson and his third career win in Phoenix, winning at Firebird Motorsports Park for the first time since 2017. Anderson defeated Eric Latino, Troy Coughlin Jr. and then No. 1 qualifier and longtime rival Jeg Coughlin Jr. to reach the championship round, posting an impressive .022 reaction time to lead wire-to-wire against his KB Titan Racing teammate.

The early-season win is also a breath of fresh air for Anderson, who remains focused on winning a sixth career world championship. He didn’t pick up a victory last year until late in the season but made sure that didn’t happen again on Sunday in Phoenix.

“This feels great and, honestly, it feels as good as the first,” Anderson said. “It’s just so hard to win in this class anymore and to have the day I had, the weekend I had, I actually a good job behind the wheel. I’m really thrilled with that, but that’s what it takes to win in this class anymore. You have to have the whole total package, you have to have the best car, you have to have the best crew and you have to drive it well.

“We were able to put all three together today on a very, very tricky racetrack. It’s a tough one, but I love those challenges. My crew loves those challenges. You had to be on your toes, so now we’re going to Vegas with a little bit of momentum.”

Glenn, who won the postponed Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals on Saturday in Phoenix, reached the finals for the 19th time in his career and second time this season thanks to round wins against Mason McGaha, Cristian Cuadra and Aaron Stanfield.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action April 12-14 with the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ashley, Force, and Glenn win rain-delayed Winternationals finals in Phoenix

Justin Ashley, John Force, and Dallas Glenn won the rain-delayed Winternationals final rounds during qualifying at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, claiming respective victories in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock.

Ashley collected his third straight Winternationals title, using an .023 to .081 holeshot to get ahead of Mission #2Fast2tasty winner Tony Schumacher and score the win, 3.80 to 3.77, and deny Schumacher the chance for a triple win this weekend. It’s Ashley’s 12th career win in the class.

Ashley began his quest for a Pomona three-peat by taking out tractionless Shawn Reed and Steve Torrence in the first two rounds in Pomona, then defeated two-time world champ Brittany Force in a semifinal pedalfest.

To reach the final, Schumacher had defeated tire-smoking Terry Totten, then bested Gatornationals champ Shawn Langdon and then Gatornats runner-up Billy Torrence with a 3.74 in Pomona that earned him final-round lane choice in Phoenix.

Force won the Winternationals for the eighth time, even if he did finish it nearly two weeks later in Phoenix. Force collected his sport-leading 156th career win, 4.03 to 4.04, over Matt Hagan. The win was the first for Force in nearly two years, since the spring event in Charlotte in 2022. For what it’s worth, Force was undefeated (4-0) in all Winternationals races against Hagan.

“I’m just so facing the truth in life, that, you know, time’s running out, and I’m trying to hang on,” said Force. “This morning I was talking about, ‘You know, maybe this is it, maybe I should just walk out the gate and go to the casino, and then all sudden your weight and your personality just changes.

“I was mad, mad at myself [for losing in the Mission Challenge earlier in the day], and I started saying, ‘You just need to get out of the seat, you’re just too old for this stuff’ or ‘Get out there and fight the fight.’ And I did and things went right, and I got the win, so I’m excited.”

Force roared to his 267th career final by taking down Jim Campbell, tire-hazing Bobby Bode, and three-time world champ Ron Capps with a 3.92 to earn final-round lane choice.

Hagan made his to the delayed final round after defeating Buddy Hull, Jeff Diehl, and Gatornationals champ J.R. Todd, ending the Kalitta driver’s six-round season-opening win streak with a 3.93.

Two of the class’ best starting-line artists went at it in the final round of the rain-delayed Winternationals, and the quicker left foot won it as Glenn put an .024 to .045 holeshot on Erica Enders and won a back-and-forth battle, 6.537 to 6.531, for his ninth career Pro Stock win and 10th overall. The win was a big comeback for Glenn, who red-lighted in round one of the Mission Challenge earlier in the day.

“That definitely kind of feels like it got the mojo back on Sunday in Pomona,” said Glenn. “It definitely kicks you a little bit when you go red in #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and then winning kind of just brings you back into like ‘OK, yeah, you know, I do still know how to do this,’ so it feels good.

“Tomorrow I’m just gonna go out there and try to cut for solid lights and all my shifts on every run. My goal for the whole season you know is I want to try to get into every single 2Fast2Tasty Challenge so, so far so good, and looking forward to keeping it going.”

Enders began her pursuit of career win No. 50 by taking down Elite Motorsports teammate Fernando Cuadra Jr., who shook the tires in round one, then trailered Brandon Foster before eking out a .004-second victory over longtime rival Greg Anderson with a sizzling 6.52 that earned her final-round lane choice.

Glenn, the defending Winternationals champ, launched his bid for a repeat by defeating his new KB/Titan teammate, rookie Sienna Wildgust, then defeated David Cuadra and Mason McGaha to reach his 18th Pro Stock final.