NHRA Routes Through Chicagoland « DragRaceCanada.com

NHRA Routes Through Chicagoland

by editor on May.19, 2025, under National News

A high standard & very fast paced season round #6 for NHRA’s cars and stars….

Racing legend Tony Stewart moved into the NHRA Top Fuel points lead for the first time with his second win in three races at Route 66 Raceway, defeating Justin Ashley in the final round of the 25th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK.

Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the sixth of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Stewart went 3.777-seconds at 329.10 mph in his Rinnai dragster to hold off Ashley and earn his second Top Fuel win, just more than a month after he won for the first time in his Top Fuel career in Las Vegas. It’s the fourth straight final round for Stewart and his standout team, as he also moved three points ahead of Shawn Langdon, who fell in the second round, to take the Top Fuel points lead for the first time ever.

Stewart, who made a career-best run of 3.679 in qualifying, defeated Terry Totten, Shawn Reed and Steve Torrence to reach the championship round. Ashley left first with a stout .042, but Stewart was right there with a .048, quickly running him down and cruising to another impressive victory in what is shaping up to be a special season for the former NASCAR and IndyCar champion.

Tony Stewart & team tasted victory lane for NHRA Top Fuel racing for the 2nd time within his amazing motorsports career journey.

“You’ve got to believe we’re real now at this point,” Stewart said. “I wouldn’t have said it before today. Even in Vegas (for his first win), I said we’re making progress but we’re not where we need to be yet. But it’s hard to be the points leader and not think you’re a contender now. I’m very grateful and it’s nice we’ve got a consistent car.

Ashley advanced to the championship round for the second time this season thanks to round wins against Brittany Force, reigning world champion Antron Brown and No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta to reach the finals.

Funny Car’s Jack Beckman needed his own impressive performance on the starting line and he delivered, winning on a holeshot in the final round against John Force Racing teammate and reigning world champion Austin Prock with a run of 3.935 at 325.77 in his PEAK Chevrolet SS.

Prock went a quicker 3.933 at 329.02 and had his own solid reaction time, but Beckman went .049, which made the difference at the finish line as he earned his second victory this season and 37th in his professional career. Since returning to racing and taking over driving duties for the legendary John Force late last year, Beckman has four wins in 14 races, moving to second in points on Sunday with the memorable victory at his sponsor’s race.

Jack Beckman moved into the points lead for fuel FC racing — notching his 37th career NHRA event win.

The veteran and former world champion got past Dave Richards, Chad Green and Cruz Pedregon to set up the all-JFR final round. It ensured a fourth JFR win in the first six races of 2025, as both Beckman and Prock continue to roll at an impressive pace. On Sunday, though, it was Beckman who got back on track in a major way after first-round losses at the previous two events.

“Every win is great and I have a lot of trophies from places like Indy and my home track in Pomona but winning here in Chicago, a track that was off the tour for a while is as good as it gets,” said Beckman, who was making his first appearance in Chicago since 2019. “It’s also the headquarters for PEAK and we’ve got 623 employees here.

Prock advanced to his third straight final, fourth this season and 24th in his career, defeating Bobby Bode, Paul Lee and defending event winner Matt Hagan. He will also remain in the points lead.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera still hasn’t tasted defeat at Route 66 Raceway, knocking off rival Matt Smith in the finals with a run of 6.777 at 198.90 on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki. It’s the third straight Chicago victory for the back-to-back world champion and Herrera was stellar when it counted in the championship round against Smith.

He laid down a .005 reaction time, keeping Smith at bay and winning for the second time this season and the 23rd time in his career. He’s on track for another special season, too, it appears, qualifying No. 1 at the first three races, winning two of the first three races and also taking the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday to sweep the weekend in Chicago.

Gaige Herrera collected career victory #23!

On Sunday, he knocked off John Hall and Chris Bostick to reach the finals before dispatching of Smith and leaving Chicago with the Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead.

Smith advanced to the final round for the third straight race in 2025, defeating Wesley Wells, Jianna Evaristo and Steve Johnson, and leaving Chicago second in points.

During Saturday’s racing schedule at Chicago it was the Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel duo of points leader Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta enjoyed a banner day. Langdon won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge bonus race and Kalitta grabbed his third straight No. 1 qualifier with a track-record run (3.661 secs).

It was Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also winning within the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge series.

Matt Hagan scored in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race on Saturday.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action May 30-June 1 with the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.

NHRA’s amazing Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series was also a featured at the event and that saw Mason Wright (photo below) get the best of J.R. Gray in the final round. Detailed results from that 4th round of 10 races series can be viewed within our Smokies Garage Pro Mod Portal subsection: HERE

Intra-Event Attractions

Racing at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals included some speciality eliminators featuring season round #1 for Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle along with the annual PEAK Street Car Shootout presented by Sick the Magazine.

It was Larry “Spiderman” McBride once again dominating the TFM category with his nitro-burning machine. McBride singled for the title when his scheduled opponent Bob Malloy could not make the call for the final round.

The world’s fastest motorcycle drag racer Larry McBride – won the Pingel Top Fuel MC feature.

McBride’s venture to collecting his 5th career NHRA Wally did include qualifying #1 (3.814 secs) and then setting both low ET and top speed at 3.797 secs 211.91 mph (within the 1000′ ft format).

The PEAK Street Car Shootout (presented by Sick the Magazine) also featured a dominating victory with Tom Bailey (from Michigan) prevailing on an 8-car field.

Tom Bailey ran astounding match while winning the Peak-presented Street Car Shootout event.

Bailey, driver of the World’s all time quickest & fastest Pro Street machine (“Sick Seconds 2.0” — a ’69 Camaro rated at 4,000-horsepower) qualified #1 (5.793 secs) and then ran a stupendous 5.787 secs at 263.51 mph during eliminations.

In the final he collected the event title beating #2 qualifier, Bryant Goldstone’s Javelin, with a 5.811 secs 253.23 mph while Goldstone had a red light foul.

FlexJet Double Up!

Jason Dietsch came to Chicago and the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals looking for his first career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown national event win. A couple days later he left the Chicago area event as a 2X winner!

Dietsch was one of four drivers competing this weekend in the rain delayed Gatornationals and there were 20 drivers competing for the Route 66 Nationals Wally.

Jason Dietsch had a perfect winning weekend record at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals with his Ford Cobra Jet.

On Saturday Dietsch won the Gatornationals and then on Sunday he went back-to-back winning for the second time in less than 24 hours. By winning the 25th Route 66 Nationals he too over the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown overall points lead.   Dietsch’s last run of a busy weekend was against the No. 1 qualifier Lee Hartman. Hartman was looking for his first win of this career and was racing in his second consecutive Route 66 Nationals final round. Dietsch was consistent getting off the starting line first and getting to the finish line first. Dietsch made his quickest run of the day for the hole shot victory turning on the win light with a 7.725 second run at 177.93 mph to Hartman’s quicker 7.716 second run.

The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will be back in action at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, in Bristol, TN, coming June 6-8.

Sportsman Racing (Final Round Summary)

Super Stock — Donna Morris, Chevy II, 10.696, 118.18 def. Troy Galbraith, Chevy II, 9.138, 136.40.