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Peak Performance September Racer of the Month: Brad Plourd

With his Top Dragster win at the inaugural Rockingham event, Brad Plourd joined a short list of drivers with NHRA national event victories in seven different classes, and he went to the final round in Stock. As a result, he has been named the Peak Performance Sportsman Racer of the Month for September.
30 Sep 2026
NHRA National Dragster staff
Peak Performance Sportsman Racer of the Month
Brad Plourd

Earlier this season, Brad Plourd was added to an exclusive list when he was named as one of NHRA’s Top 50 Sportsman Racers. While Plourd has yet to win a world championship, he has done just about everything else, and in September, he crossed off another important item on his to-do list when he won the Top Dragster title at the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway.

With that win, Plourd joined Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Bo Butner as the only drivers to have won in seven different eliminators. In the case of Plourd, he has now won in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, and Top Dragster, leading one to wonder if he’s got a Top Sportsman ride lined up in the future.

As if that wasn’t enough, Plourd also capped off a successful month by reaching the semifinals in Stock at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals and pulling off a near double in Rockingham with a Stock runner-up to go with this Top Dragster title. As a result, he's our Peak Performance NHRA Sportsman Racer of the Month for September.

Honorable mentions

Trey Vetter has all but locked up the 2026 Super Comp title thanks to a win and a quarterfinal finish at the Division 7 event in Bakersfield. Vetter has now crested the 700-point threshold, which makes him a huge favorite to claim the title.

Joe Carniscale might also be on the verge of winning the 2026 NHRA Comp eliminator title, and if he does, his September win in Rockingham might be remembered as the defining moment of his season. Carniscale has won eight races this season.

Sam Pourciau’s Stock win at the Division 4 event in Tulsa, Okla., was one for the ages, literally. Pourciau, who turned 86 in March, became the oldest driver to win an NHRA national or divisional event. And Pourciau didn’t just win; he did so in style with a perfect .000 light in the final round to beat two-time world champ Austin Williams.

Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. put together another solid month with a pair of wins and a runner-up at the doubleheader event in Tulsa. Hidalgo won in both Stock and Super Stock and scored a runner-up in Super Stock to solidify his spot in the Top 10 in both categories.

After a runner-up finish at the U.S. Nationals, Jordan Pratt headed for Earlville, Iowa, where he scored a win in Super Gas to place himself solidly in contention for the world title.

Hunter Pierdolla won the Stock title at the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals and then went to Tulsa and earned another 75th anniversary NHRA diamond Wally in his Super Stock entry.