NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

With thousands of racers and hundreds of events to choose from, it’s just about impossible to pick just 10 favorite moments from the recently completed 2025 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, but once again, we’ve managed to sift through an entire year’s worth of data to pick 10 of our favorites. Presented in no particular order, here we go.
 

CHAD GUILFORD TAKES LONG OVERDUE FIRST WIN

Chad Guilford captured the Stock world title in 1992, and he did so without the benefit of a national event victory. Guilford was just 25 when he held off Terry Emmons to win the championship. Now 30 years later, Guilford finally got to hoist an NHRA national event Wally after winning the 25th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas.

During his championship season, Guilford went to the final at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, where he was turned aside by Norman Kaptan. This year, racing in Super Stock, Guilford won after now six-time world champ Justin Lamb fouled by five-thousandths in the final round. For good measure, Guilford also won the Division 7 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Las Vegas and finished a very respectable No. 21 in the standings. 
 

JEFF LANE RUNS THE TABLE IN DIVISION 6

He came a few rounds short of the 2025 Comp world championship, but it would be impossible to argue that Jeff Lane didn’t have an amazing season, especially when it comes to racing in the Northwest Division, where Lane posted a perfect score by winning five of six events. 

Lane kicked off the season with a win at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, and then followed by sweeping both ends of the doubleheader weekend in Acton, Mont. Additional victories followed in Woodburn, Ore., and his home track in Seattle. The only blemish on Lane’s divisional record was an early loss at the second race of the Woodburn Dragstrip doubleheader, giving him five wins in six starts. Lane’s career has been remarkable as he’s got a total of 65 NHRA Lucas Oil Series victories in Comp, Super Stock, and Stock, dating back to the 1986 season.
 

CHAMPS PREVAIL IN WINNER-TAKE-ALL FINALS

There are few things in drag racing more exciting than a winner-take-all final round, and this year, NHRA fans were blessed with three of them to decide NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Sportsman titles. The first one came during the final Division 7 points meet in Las Vegas, where Justin Lamb faced a must-win in order to secure the Super Stock title, and he did so with a final-round win against Craig Gualtiere to secure title No. 7.

Two weeks later in Pomona, Chad Webber and Casey Plaizier found themselves in similar situations, and despite long odds, both found a way to get the job done. Webber overcame Doug Johnson’s .004 light to win the final in Super Comp, while Plaizier won the title in Right Trailers Top Dragster over his teammate, Aaron Steinkey.

EXNER AND HOUSTON IN FINAL ROUND OF THE YEAR

The sport’s biggest stage often attracts the best talent, and that was certainly the case at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, where Landon Exner and Vance Houston put on a show that will long be remembered. In what was arguably the best Sportsman final round of the season, Houston put together a phenomenal run with a .009 light and an 8.908 on the 8.900 index, and that wasn’t enough to get the job done. Exner also saved his best performance for last with a slightly quicker .004 light, and he also ran 8.908 to turn on the win light by just four-thousandths. At a time when it mattered most, both drivers put their best foot forward.

Exner didn’t get past the quarterfinals in any of his other appearances in 2025, but he won the race that every drag racer wants to win, and he did it in the most impressive fashion possible.

CAL METHOD BECOMES NHRA’S NEW FATHER TIME

Cal Method went to his first Stock eliminator final at Pomona in 1969 and collected his first national event Wally at the same track during the 1983 NHRA Finals. Method defeated Len Schnieder in that final, and ironically, both of them are still competing at a high level. 

Fast forward to 2025, and Method, now 81 years old, became the new title holder of NHRA’s oldest national event winner this season when he won the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Method won the final round over reigning Stock champ and fellow veteran Joe Sorensen and did so in style by taking a thousandth of a second at the stripe. With the win, Method claimed the record for NHRA’s oldest national event winner from the late Irvin Johns, who won a pair of events at age 79.

SOUTHEAST DIVISION CRUSHES JEGS ALLSTARS

For the Southeast Division JEGS Allstars team, the annual trip to Dallas didn’t just produce an overall team victory, but rather an old-fashioned Texas-sized butt-whipping. The Division 2 squad, featuring eight of their best drivers, routed the competition and produced the biggest win in the 41-year history of the program.

Racing in eight different categories, a total of six Division 2 racers made it to the final round, and four of them turned on win lights. Thanks to the efforts of Monty Bogan (Comp), Steve Foley (Stock), Jim Perry (Super Gas), and Donald Webb (Super Street), the Division 2 team scored 1,600 points and had the overall title clinched by the end of the semifinal final round. The North Central Division team turned in a respectable performance, yet their points total of 1,000 came up far short in the final tally.

HINKLE FAMILY PREVAILS IN FATHER-DAUGHTER VICTORY

Winning an NHRA national event is one thing, but having your son or daughter win on the same day is a thrill that most parents can only dream of. For Top Sportsman racer James Hinkle, that isn’t just a dream, it’s a reality as he shared the spotlight with his daughter, Kelsea, at the JEGS SPORTSnationals in Adel, Ga.

James won his fourth NHRA Wally after Doug Crumlich fouled in the final of Right Trailers Top Sportsman. James also watched daughter Kelsea claim her first national event victory when she topped Robert Houston in Right Trailers Top Dragster. The Hinkles join John and Brittany Force and Joe and Kayla Mozeris as the only father-daughter combos to share the winner’s circle at the same event.

RENT-A-RIDE SUITS KEVIN HELMS, TWICE

During his Hall of Fame career, world champ Kevin Helms has raced everything from a stick-shift Camaro Stocker to an eight-second SS/AH Hemi car, so it should not come as a surprise that he is able to adapt quickly to new surroundings. Helms showed his versatility when he jumped into Doug Duell’s ’68 Barracuda and promptly won the Super Stock title at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk. Helms had previously never driven the car, but that didn’t prevent him from winning six tough rounds.

Helms won the Norwalk final round over past world champion Pete D’Agnolo, and just in case anyone thought it was a fluke, he also won the St. Louis event in September, once again in Duell’s Plymouth. For good measure, Helms also won the JEGS SPORTSnationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park behind the wheel of his own Oldsmobile Super Stock entry.

FIVE IS GREAT, BUT SIX IS EVEN BETTER

At least two of this year’s NHRA Lucas Oil Series champions did not need much instruction when it came to the post-season awards banquet in Temecula, Calif. Jeff Taylor seemingly came out of nowhere to capture his fifth world title in Comp eliminator, while Justin Lamb continued to collect titles at a torrid pace with his sixth series championship. Lamb has been a winning machine ever since first arrived in NHRA competition. Lamb won the Stock title in 2013, and followed with additional wins in 2015, 2018, and now 2025. In 2017, he doubled up with titles in Super Stock and Stock.

Taylor drove the J&A Services dragster to the Comp title, overtaking Jeff Lane on the final weekend of the season. Taylor’s first title came in Stock in 1981, when he joined his late brother, Charlie, who won in Super Stock. He also has titles in 1988, 1991 in Super Stock, and a Comp title in 2005.
 

DONNIE DURENBURGER’S DOUBIOUS DOUBLE

So many racers compete in two classes that doubles are not that rare, especially at NHRA Lucas Oil Series divisional events. That being said, Division 5 racer Donnie Durenburger pulled off a rare feat when he won both the Super Street and Sportsman Motorcycle titles at the Division 5 event at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis. 

Durenburger had a long history of motorcycle racing before he became a national event winner in Super Gas and Super Street. In St. Louis, he defeated Janie Palm to claim the Sportsman Motorcycle title and also topped Brandon Harris to win in Super Street. Durenburger finished the season ranked No. 2 in Super Street in the West Central Division while also posting a No. 4 finish in Sportsman Motorcycle.