NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Pro Stock racer Mason McGaha warmed up for this summer's Western Swing with his best performance of the season two weeks ago in Norwalk. Elevated and with back-to-back races in Seattle and Sonoma on the horizon, the third-generation racer is heading into territory that his family-operated team knows well.

In 2015, McGaha's father won the first two races of his Pro Stock career just one weekend apart during the big trip out west. The schedule was flipped then, so Chris McGaha – who was also the No. 1 qualifier at both events – claimed his first Pro Stock trophy at Sonoma Raceway and followed up in short order with a win in Seattle.

"That's definitely been on my mind," said the younger McGaha, who made his Pro Stock debut in 2020 and has had his sights set on scoring a Wally of his own ever since. "It would be pretty cool to win my first at one of these races where Chris got his first two. If we could do it on that little stretch, it would be something special."

To some, that might seem a tall order – but to McGaha and those with a discerning eye, it is completely plausible. In 2023, the young driver was out of the gate with a career-best start from the No. 3 position and a journey to the first final round of his career. What followed was a startling and disheartening string of early exits that proved to be an intense season of education. While others might have turned away dejected, McGaha leaned in and learned.

Qualifying order is based on where drivers are in the points and how they performed in the previous session, so for McGaha, that meant a rash of early appearances on racing surfaces that had not yet been primed or tested by his competitors.

"I feel like that was under the radar," he said. "Having to go first or second out in qualifying so much, we were shaking a bunch. I was having to pedal it to try to sneak in and be 15 or 16 qualifier, and I'd been pedaling it a lot. When I did it first round in Norwalk, it was like, 'Oh wow, you were driving that thing, Mason.' But I had been doing that every race. It's just nobody pays attention to 15 or 16."

In Norwalk, McGaha qualified No. 8 – his best start since the 2023 NHRA Gatornationals – and that meant that he and first-round opponent Jerry Tucker, the No. 9 qualifier, would be first out and have to deal with whatever surprises the racetrack held in store. Tucker ran into severe tire shake and had to give up the ghost, but when McGaha felt the tires rattle, freshly enhanced instinct kicked in and he drove on through it for the win.

He swept in another round-win with a strong reaction time and a solid run against Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan. Then, in his second semifinals appearance on the season, McGaha lined up next to points leader Dallas Glenn and remained steady, launching first by .003-second and valiantly charging along to miss the win light by just .011. It was a respectable appearance for the Odessa, Texas-based team, and one that McGaha stressed was not a fluke.

"I know I can drive, we know we can set the car up right, and we might not have the power to be No. 1 qualifier right now, but we definitely have power to be right there. I feel like we have the combination to win four rounds on Sunday," he stated, before referencing the race prior to Norwalk as proof of progress.

The NHRA Virginia Nationals started off on a slightly sour note for McGaha, who wasn't able to make a clean pass in the early and most potentially productive session, but he was seventh quickest in Q2 and eighth best in Q3 with a car that was nipping at the heels of the quick and fast. The team knew they had something, and in the first round of eliminations, his elapsed time was just .012-second off challenger Glenn's winning run.

"To everybody else, it didn't look like much happened in Richmond," said McGaha. "But a whole lot has gone on the last year and a half. We had really worked on some issues and started to pick up some performance, and then we backed it up in Norwalk, and that definitely shifted the tone for us. I don't want to say you dread coming to the races because I always love going racing, but it's like, 'Are we going to go out there and struggle again, or are we finally going to turn it around and have a good weekend?' Turning the win light on and making good runs definitely boosts the morale."

The family side of the Harlow Sammons Racing team is led by McGaha's grandparents, former Comp racer Lester McGaha and wife Valois, and rounded out by dad Chris, mom Holly, and sister Berkley. Another familiar face has been in the pit in recent times, though, assisting Lester and Chris. Brian "Lump" Self, who was with the team during a solid championship run in 2015 that included three wins in five final rounds for Chris, returned to the team last fall as an extra set of hands and eyes and another brain in the think tank. The younger McGaha explained that bringing Lump back to the pack helped "level out" the program some.   

On a personal note, "leveling out" hasn't always been easy for 22-year-old McGaha.

"I feel like I appear as a quiet guy, but I wear my emotions pretty heavily when it comes to racing," he admitted. "I probably do throw a little bit of a fit at the top end or back at the trailer, but I just love it so much, and it's all I know. I want to go out there and be fast and win rounds and turn those win lights on. I guess I'm still young, so I'm learning and maturing, but I know I have to remember that there will be a race next week. The sun is going to come up tomorrow."

Part of that passion stems from how entrenched McGaha is in the program. He grew up at the races, watching his dad – a former Jr. Dragster competitor – make the category jump from Comp to Pro Stock. He observed his father make his Pro Stock debut at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in 2011 and earn his first round-win at their home race in Dallas a month later. He saw his dad toil away for three more seasons before finally claiming his first win in Sonoma. More wins came in Seattle, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Phoenix, Epping, and Norwalk in the months and years ahead. Watching his father's strenuous efforts, McGaha saw all of the highs and the lows, and he knew well and good what he was getting into.

"This is probably the most competitive class in drag racing; you might even be able to argue it's the most competitive in all of motorsports," said McGaha. "But that's why you love it. It's so tight, we're looking for thousandths of a second – you might lose by a one-and-a-half hundredths, and you're like, 'Gosh, I'm a country mile off.' In NASCAR, that would be a photo finish. The competition is so unreal.

"I haven't accomplished anything yet – but Chris has won Indy, and he almost won the championship in 2015. I feel like people have forgotten that. We've done a lot of great things, and growing up in all this, it upsets me that maybe we're given a cold shoulder. But I feel like that tide is going to turn at some point, and I feel like everybody will remember, here come soon."

While McGaha is committed to racing the full schedule alongside his father and striving for round-wins and race trophies, he's also digging deep into learning the program from every angle. During the summer, he spends his days at the Southwest Performance and Machine race shop, and in the fall, he'll be spreading his time between learning from his dad and grandfather in the engine and dyno rooms and continuing a college education with a focus on mechanical engineering.

"Without racing, I'm not sure what purpose I would serve in life," said McGaha. "It's all I've ever known. When I was a little kid, I was running around the living room acting like I was racing, watching Greg Anderson and Jason Line on TV. It's all I've ever known, and I don't picture myself doing anything else.

"I feel like we can keep having Richmond and Norwalk type of weekends, making some good runs and winning rounds, and show those races weren't a fluke."