NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a pair of four-wide events in Las Vegas and Charlotte, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to a conventional two-wide format with this weekend’s Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Peak. The event will mark NHRA’s 25th anniversary at venerable Route 66 Raceway in Chicago.

The event is the sixth of 20 races this year in the NHRA Mission Foods Pro series, and it will include Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, along with the Holley EFI NHRA Factory X series, the Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown, the Top Fuel Motorcycle class, and NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Sportsman competition in five categories. Also on tap is the third edition of the popular Peak Street Car Shootout that features some of the world’s quickest street-legal vehicles.

The event will also include the latest round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season, which will pit the semifinal finishers from the recent Charlotte event in a race for bonus cash and additional points. These rounds are run concurrently with Saturday qualifying.

Coming into the Chicago race, Shawn Langdon, Austin Prock, and Gaige Herrera are the championship leaders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively.

Langdon has already scored a pair of wins in Phoenix and Charlotte to go with a runner-up at the season opener in Gainesville. He currently enjoys a 60-point lead over Tony Stewart, who recently celebrated his first NHRA Pro win in Las Vegas. Langdon not only won the most recent NHRA event, but he also claimed a recent $50,000 payday at a high-stakes E.T. Bracket event in St. Louis.

Antron Brown, the defending Route 66 Raceway champion, enters the event in third place, followed by 2023 world champ Doug Kalitta.

In Funny Car, Prock also has two wins and a runner-up, including victories at the two most recent four-wide events in Las Vegas and Charlotte. The reigning world champion holds a 59-point lead over Paul Lee, winner of the Phoenix event.

Matt Hagan, currently third in the standings, is not only the defending event champion, but he also has a solid record in Chicago with four wins at the facility.

Herrera is unbeaten in his first two races at Route 66 Raceway, and he won the 2025 season opener in Gainesville, but he enters this week’s event trailing six-time world champion Matt Smith by 15 markers in the standings. Smith won the second event in Charlotte, and he has won this event in back-to-back years in 2018-19.

Finally, the Peak Street Car Shootout will once again feature drag and drive stars Alex Taylor, Tom Bailey, Bryant Goldstone, Nick Taylor, Craig Groebner, Dave Schroeder, Ed Ensor, and Tom McGilton.

2024 EVENT WINNERS
Antron Brown, Top Fuel; Matt Hagan, Funny Car; Gaige Herrera, Pro Stock Motorcycle.

MOST EVENT VICTORIES
Tony Schumacher, 5 TF; Matt Hagan, Tony Pedregon, 4, FC; Andrew Hines, LE Tonglet, 3, PSM.

TRACK RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.667 sec. by Steve Torrence, June ’18; 336.65 mph by Torrence, May ’24.
Funny Car - 3.831 sec. by Robert Hight, May ’23; 335.07 mph by Hight, May ’23.
Pro Stock Motorcycle – 6. 672 seconds by Gaige Herrera, May ‘23; 202.45 mph by Herrera, May ’23.

NATIONAL RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. ‘19, Reading; 341.59 mph by Brittany Force, April. ‘25, Charlotte
Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd; 341.68 mph by Austin Prock, Nov. ’24, Pomona
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.627 sec. by Gaige Herrera, Oct. ’23, Dallas; 205.04 mph by Matt Smith, July ‘22, Sonoma

SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, May 16
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series qualifying and time trials at 9 a.m.
Peak Street Car Shootout at 1 p.m.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Mission Foods Series Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, May 17
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 9:00 a.m.
Peak Street Car Shootout at 11:45 a.m.
Mission Foods Series Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifyingat 1:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
Mission Foods Series Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying at noon and 2:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, May 18
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 8:45 a.m.
Pre-race ceremony, 9:30 a.m.
Mission Foods Series eliminations begin at 10:30 a.m.

TELEVISION
SATURDAY, May 17, FS1 will televise one and half hours of qualifying highlights at 9:30 p.m. (ET)
SUNDAY, May 18, FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying highlights at 11 a.m. (ET)
SUNDAY, May 18, FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 2 p.m. (ET)