NHRA’s wraps it’s 2024 season campaign with sizzling edition “Finals”…..
For the fourth time in his Top Fuel career and for the first time as a team owner, Antron Brown is a world champion in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Brown clinching an emotional title following his semifinal round win at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the 59th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals and then went on to win the event too.
Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) clinched 2024 NHRA world Mission Foods Drag Racing Series championships on Sunday in Pomona.
Antron Brown also joined Jack Beckman (Funny Car) Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) the event’s victory lane concluding the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and it’s 6-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Brown qualified just 12th in his Matco Tools/Toyota dragster, but as he’s done all year, the standout was in prime form during eliminations. He knocked off Justin Ashley, who entered the weekend with the points lead, with a run of 3.696-seconds at 331.53 mph in an incredible matchup to open eliminations and then faced off with another title contender in Shawn Langdon. Both drivers ran into trouble, but Brown recovered and advanced to the semifinals against Force.
In the championship-clinching round, Brown rolled to one of the biggest round wins in his career, going 3.693 at 330.88 to defeat Force and pick up his fourth career championship and first since he started AB Motorsports in 2022. He followed that up with a final-round victory against Doug Kalitta, going 3.681 at 330.55 to pick up his sixth win of his season and the 80th in his incredible career.
“This is super special. I’ve been dreaming about this day since I shared my vision with [late team owner] Don Schumacher about being a team owner,” Brown said. “This team has been resilient. We never quit and we never stop. When we lined up this weekend and we saw our matchup, it was like doomsday. To get this win, I tell you what, it’s been incredible. It’s truly a blessing and I can’t believe we did it.”
Antron Brown claimed his 4th career NHRA World Championship,
Brown enjoyed a spectacular season, but one also filled with adversity. He won three times during the regular season (Chicago, Norwalk and Sonoma) and entered the playoffs in second. He won the first two races of the Countdown to the Championship, but then won just two rounds over the next three races. That presented a tough challenge in Pomona, but Brown and his team rose to the occasion to score the championship, joining Tony Schumacher, Joe Amato and Steve Torrence as the only Top Fuel drivers with four or more championships.
A spectacular season in Pro Stock came down to a thrilling winner-take-all final round, with Greg Anderson defeating KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn with a run of 6.501 at 211.13 to slip past Glenn’s run of 6.516. It hands Anderson a remarkable sixth world championship, tying him with Erica Enders and Warren Johnson for the second-most in Pro Stock history.
The victory is Anderson’s 106th in his career and he rose to the occasion when it mattered most in the Countdown to the Championship in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
At Pomona, Anderson, who hadn’t won since April prior to this weekend, delivered a classic performance, going 6.492 at 211.66 in the opening round against Kenny Delco. He stayed in the 6.40s against Cory Reed and then went an incredible 6.488 at 211.43 to end Aaron Stanfield’s title chances.
Greg Anderson ambushed the Pro Stock class to win a world championship for the 6th time!
That set up an epic winner-take-all final round against Glenn, the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year. He left first on Anderson, but the veteran tracked him down to pick up what he called the most meaningful championship of his career.
“We struggled the last three or four months,” Anderson said. “I had a great car but crazy things would happen and every time I’d lose it was like a slug to the gut. I knew I had to figured it out and today we did. Today was like a dream. The sun shined on me and we had a flawless day. Nothing crazy happened. I just hoped and prayed and wished it was me.
“This is my sixth and I think it means the most. These young kids are trying to push me out the door but I keep dragging my feet because I don’t want to go yet.”
Anderson finished the year with three wins and Sunday marked the 15th time he’s picked up a victory at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. It also continued the recent dominance for Anderson and Enders, who still have won every title in the class since 2018, even with a huge collection of young standouts.
Another dominant season meant another world championship in Pro Stock Motorcycle for Gaige Herrera, who wrapped up his second straight world title after winning in the first round on Sunday.
Gaige Herrera
Herrera entered eliminations with a commanding 119-point lead on the strength of three straight playoff wins and cruised to another championship to open raceday. Herrera, who qualified third, went 6.779 to dispatch Clayton Howey, leading to another memorable moment for the class phenom. It culminates another incredible season for the rider of the RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki, one that included 10 wins.
“This is very special,” Herrera said. “When I won the title in 2023, it didn’t seem real. It just sort of happened. That wasn’t the case this year. We had to go out and fight for it every weekend. When Matt [Smith] went back to a Buell we knew he’d be tough and I have to hand it to him for all his hard work. He also forced us to work harder.
In his second season, Herrera has made NHRA history by winning 21 out of 29 events. No NHRA pro in any class has ever delivered more victories in a shorter time frame.
This season, Herrera picked up where 2023 left off, winning the first six races of the season, setting the all-time NHRA record with 11 straight wins and 46 consecutive round wins. After defeats in Seattle and Sonoma, Herrera won the U.S. Nationals for the first time in his career and after a slow start in the Countdown to the Championship, Herrera returned to his dominant self to close out the championship. He’s now 50-5 this season and 100-8 over the last two years.
For Fuel Funny Car racing — Jack Beckman closed out the 2024 season NHRA season with a thrilling victory defeating John Force Racing teammate and world champion Austin Prock in the final round to close out the 59th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.
In the teammate versus teammate final round, Beckman went a career-best 3.812-seocnds at 327.35 mph in his 11,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS to defeat Prock and pick up his second win of the season since taking over driving duties for John Force in August. It’s been a magical ride for Beckman, a former world champion, who won his 35th career race on Sunday.
To get to the final round on Sunday, Beckman knocked off Terry Haddock, Blake Alexander and Ron Capps, ensuring Prock and Force/Beckman finished first and second in the loaded Funny Car ranks.
“It doesn’t get any higher than this,” Beckman said. “It’s just magical at your home track. It’s special when it’s the Winternationals when the Winternationals was the first race of the year, but the Finals is finals, right? Whoever wins here gets a couple months to say we were the baddest on race day.
Jack Beckman wheeled the JFR Camaro to victory at the In-N-Out Burger Finals.
“This season has just been just pinch-me moment after pinch-me moment. The way John went out was terrible, but he’s still with us, and I think he’s just as valuable standing on the starting line as he is strapped in the car at the starting line. Having John here doesn’t make us want to win more. We want to win every time we go out there. It just made winning that much more special. To see Brittany [Force] win after a two-year winless drought the weekend her dad comes back and then Austin double up with her, was just great (in Las Vegas). We’re right back in another final against Austin, and this time we won it.”
Prock hd advanced to his 12th final round in his dazzling championship season in Funny Car after clinching the World Championship mathematically for himself and John Force Racing by just qualifying.
Prock finished as the No. 1 qualifier with a track-record/career quick run of 3.804-seconds in his AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS — the quickest run in Funny Car since 2017 and the fourth-quickest in class history. Prock however added to that speedy notice big time when in the first round on eliminations he collected the all time fastest speed recording in NHRA – a jaw-dropping and epic 341.68 mph!
Austin Prock secured the World Championship for Funny Cars on Saturday and then recorded a 340 mph barrier breaking run on Sunday!
It was the first (official) time in NHRA history that any driver reached the 340-mph mark in an NHRA event and it was almost fitting that a dominant champion like Prock and his team, led by his father, crew chief Jimmy Prock, and his brother, Thomas, were the ones to deliver it.
“I’m comfortable in this thing,” Prock said. “I’ve been able to catch the scoreboard the last two runs. When we ran .80, I saw it and right there I caught it. I just love Pomona. This is unreal to run 3.80 last night and go 341.68 today. This is one fast Chevrolet and we’re the first NHRA team to do it.”
Prock reached 289.69 by 660-feet and then his Camaro made a hard charge to the finish line, eclipsing the 340-mph barrier in remarkable fashion in what was yet another magical moment in what has been an incredible and dominant first year in Funny Car for the young standout.
Prock put together one of the most impressive Funny Car seasons in history, winning eight races and clinching his 15th No. 1 qualifier, the most in a single season in Funny Car history. Prock has been just as terrific in the Countdown to the Championship, culminating in his first world title and a magical moment in his young career.
For Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith ended his year with a strong statement on his Denso Auto Parts/Matt Smith Racing Buell, defeating world champion Gaige Herrera in the final round with a run of 6.702 at 202.12. It is Smith’s second win this season and the 41st in his career, enabling the six-time world champion to finish second to Herrera for the first time in his career.
Matt Smith won in Pro Stock Motorcycle and finished second in final points to Gaige Herrera
Smith, who also qualified No. 1, took down Aaron Pine, Marc Ingwersen and Steve Johnson to reach the final round, setting up another marquee matchup with Herrera. This time, Smith had enough to get past the two-time defending champion,
“We came in knowing we probably couldn’t get three hats, but we knew we could get two and we did,” said Smith, getting the No. 1 qualifier and winner’s hat. “We got the low qualifier hat and the winner’s hat, just not the champion’s hat. Still, we were able to put pressure on Gaige [Herrera]. He’s a deserving champ, and we just made too many mistakes.
Lucas Oil Lowdown (Final Round Results Summary)
Top Alcohol Dragster — Julie Nataas, 5.180, 275.62 def. Shawn Cowie, 13.582, 54.61.
Top Alcohol Funny Car — Shane Westerfield, Chevy Camaro, 5.423, 267.69 def. Ray Martin, Camaro, 5.973, 155.44.
Competition Eliminator — Travis Gusso, Chevy Cobalt, 10.377, 93.93 def. Jason Grima, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.
Super Stock — Justin Jerome, Plymouth Duster, 10.616, 120.67 def. Shelby Williams, Chevy Camaro, 9.718, 134.66.
Stock Eliminator — John McLaughlin, Plymouth Road Runner, 10.565, 126.35 def. Michael Wann, Plymouth Barracuda, 10.794, 121.25.
Super Comp — Bob Van Popering, Dragster, 8.879, 182.08 def. Nick Alejamdre, Dragster, Foul – Red Light.
Super Gas — Val Torres, Chevy Corvette, 9.919, 154.88 def. Kris Whitfield, ’27-T Ford, 9.887, 155.27.
Top Sportsman — Joe Mellof, Pontiac GXP, 9.158, 94.33 def. Robert Strohm, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.
Top Dragster — Ed Olpin, Dragster, 7.058, 187.55 def. Kevin Wright, Dragster, 6.274, 202.82.
Junior Dragster Shootout — Makenzie Higgins, Motivational, 11.249, 56.24 def. Jenna Chesleigh, Halfscale, 11.156, 57.38.
Posted by NHRA Communications
Photos Courtesy of NHRA
