NHRA season newcomer Top Fuel pilot notches high profile and serious early career score!…
Top Fuel rookie sensation Maddi Gordon won her first career race Summit Motorsports Park, defeating Antron Brown in the final round to hand Ron Capps Motorsports its first Top Fuel and Funny Car sweep — as Ron Capps himself also won at the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.
Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 10th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Coming in just her 10th professional start, Maddi Gordon picked up a Diamond Wally in her Carlyle Tools/Monster Energy dragster, driving past Antron Brown with a run of 3.786-seconds at 333.16 mph.
As they say in Hollywood — a “Star is Born”! Rookie Maddi Gordon took that significant step last weekend at NHRA’ Summit Racing Nationals — winning in Top Fuel in only her 10th Pro start.
Gordon’s day was nearly over before it began, as the team had to scramble to get the car started on the starting line due to a parts issue. It finally started just in time – thanks to Spencer Massey graciously waiting as well – and she went 3.854 at 325.14 to get the win. Gordon followed with victories against Tony Stewart and points leader Shawn Langdon to advance to the final.
Brown left first, but Gordon quickly tracked him down to get the victory, finishing off a Ron Capps Motorsports sweep. To add to the moment, Gordon’s father, Doug, also won in Top Alcohol Funny Car on Sunday.
“It literally doesn’t get any better than this,” Gordon said. “We brought three race cars here, we came home with three trophies and three ice cream scoopers, and y’all know me, you know I love ice cream, so that is like the cherry on top. I remember backing up from the burnout, and I wanted that win so bad, so bad. For my dad to win, and then Ron to win, it’s like the pressure is on, right? I’m just so grateful for this opportunity. This is the best day of my life.
“They say people usually stick out an arm or a leg for you; well, Ron catapulted out of a cannon for me. He believed in me even before I won a Top Alcohol Funny Car trophy. He signed my license in 2023, and I never imagined I would be sitting next to him in the media center. He could have thrown any driver in there, but he chose me, and I’m forever grateful for this opportunity. He changed my life in every way except for where I live.”
Maddi Gordon’s victory also did include some important “Canadian content”! Her Carlyle Tools/Monster Energy Top Fueler is tuned by Canadian Hall of Fame member – Alberta native – Rob Flynn
Brown reached his second straight final round by defeating Leah Pruett, Tony Schumacher and Clay Millican. Langdon maintains a healthy points lead in the category, with it now standing at 150 points over teammate Doug Kalitta.
In Funny Car, Capps did his part for the first-ever nitro sweep for his team, finishing off a consistent day with a run of 3.969 at 328.54 in his 1 NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to power past runner-up Jack Beckman.
It gave the three-time world champion and the current points leader his milestone 80th career victory and his third this season, becoming the first driver in Funny Car to reach three wins in 2026.
Ron Capps clipped the fuel FC field at Norwalk and then celebrated in style with his teammate (TF winner) Maddi Gordon and also Maddi’s Dad Doug (who won in TAFC).
Capps, who qualified third, defeated Bobby Bode, J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria to reach the final round, which presented a pressure-packed situation for both Capps and Gordon. But Capps came through in the clutch, posting a terrific .048 reaction time that led to a thrilling wire-to-wire victory.
It’s a win Capps will always remember for a variety of reasons, including getting to share in the moment with Gordon as Capps and his entire organization wrapped up another milestone moment.
“I went over to her car before the final round, and I go, “Well, you got your head on straight, right?’ and she’s just smiling at me, that Maddi Gordon smile, and I actually asked her for advice,” Capps said.
Knowing he needed to be nearly perfect on the starting line, Pro Stock’s Aaron Stanfield delivered in the final round, using a brilliant .002 reaction time in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling/Janac Brothers Racing car to defeat Matt Hartford on a holeshot with a run of 6.626 at 208.75.
It is Stanfield’s second win this season and the 16th in his career and the young standout earned every part of his second victory in three seasons at Summit Motorsports Park. He scored a holeshot win to start the day against Erica Enders and then knocked off Cody Anderson and Kenny Delco to reach the final round.
Pro Stock class racing at NHRA’s weekend in Ohio featured two “young gun” winners with Aaron Stanfield (winning the event) and Dallas Glenn scoring the Gettrx All Star Callout title.
He held off Hartford by a mere .006 at the finish line to get the victory and give his team momentum heading into the second half of the season.
Hartford advanced to his third straight final round and the fifth this season thanks to wins against Eric Latino, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and points leader Dallas Glenn. Reigning world champ Glenn moved back into the lead and now has a 23-point advantage over Greg Anderson.
For the second straight day, Richard Gadson got the best of his Pro Stock Motorcycle teammate Gaige Herrera in the final round, as Herrera went red for a second consecutive time, giving the points leader and reigning world champion his second victory this season on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki.
Ricky Gadson dominated in Pro Stock Motorcycle winning both the event & the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race.
Gadson was stout in the final round, going 6.849 at 197.36 en route to his sixth career victory and first at Summit Motorsports Park. A day earlier, Gadson won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge over Herrera when his teammate left too early and he took advantage again on Sunday.
The dynamic duo has now met in back-to-back final rounds, with Herrera in Bristol and Gadson Sunday in Norwalk, which they hope is a sign of things to come for the rest of the season in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Herrera reached his second straight final and third of the season by taking down Jianna Evaristo and Angie Smith. Gadson’s points lead now stands at 83 over Herrera.
Pro Mod Playoff Push Off
Racing his supercharged Ford Mustang, it was Kevin Rivenbark opening the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports — Road to the Championship rounds with a victory.
Rivenbark knocked off Billy Banaka in the final round as part of the weekend’s schedule — which was the 7th of 11 races for 2026 – but the first round for the playoffs,
Rivenbark started strong, going 5.714-seconds at 251.53 mph in the final round to hold off Banaka’s 5.716 at 252.33. Rivenbark’s first victory this season and second in his NHRA Pro Mod career couldn’t have come at a better time, as he moved to ninth in points.
Kevin Rivenbark collected his 2nd NHRA career victory for the NHRA’s JBS Equipment Pro Mod Series division.
Rivenbark, who qualified 13th, knocked off past world champion Mike Castellana, Derek Menholt, who came into the race with the points lead, and Lyle Barnett to reach the final round. Banaka advanced to the final round with wins against Alex Laughlin, Justin Bond and Mike Thielen.
Montana’s Menholt stayed in the points lead, but has just a 13-point advantage — as the series “goes dark” for a bit with the next race not until Sept. 2-7 as part of the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
FlexJet Flash!
Summit Motorsports Park also hosted the next leg event for the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown series and it was second generation drag racer Taylor Dietsch winning for the first time in NHRA for 2026 when he captured his 3rd career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series win.
Dietsch took out the points leader Jonathan Allegrucci in an all-Ford Mustang Cobra Jet final and ended his three-race win streak in the process. The win also moved the young Dietsch to 11th in points, just six points out of the Top Ten.
After winning big at IHRA’s race only the weekend before (also in Ohio) — Taylor Dietsch roared to another victory for NHRA’s FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown series.
“It’s just been a perfect day,” said Dietsch. “We couldn’t have asked for a better race day. Every round we raced was a good race. We were looking at incremental times after the third round. We thought we saw an opportunity and we went for it.”
In the final round Dietsch took a slight starting line advantage leaving first with a .031 second reaction time in front of Allegrucci’s .038 second start. Dietsch kept his factory stock Mustang hooked up all the way down the track with a winning time of 7.711 seconds at 178.10 mph as Allegrucci overpowered the track and slowed to 10.836 seconds at 85.11 mph. Allegrucci will leave Norwalk with the points lead.
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will also take a bit of a summer hiatus — it will not be back in action until the U.S. Nationals at Indy.
Saturday’s event schedule was action packed and was highlighted by Dallas Glenn winning the prestigious annual GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout event.
Glenn became the fourth different winner of the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout in four years, securing the $40,000 prize when Matt Hartford went red in the final round. Glenn would have been tough to beat, going a Saturday-best 6.556 and 207.98 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro.
It’s the first All-Star Callout for Glenn, who also beat Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Aaron Stanfield to reach the final round of the bonus race.
The day also included the continued season saga for the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge series. For that it was Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon rolling to another win (3rd of year) stopping teammate Doug Kalitta in the final — with a 3.695 secs — (and also qualifying No. 1).
Shawn Langdon led qualifying for Top Fuel and also won again for Kalitta Motorsports within the Saturday feature Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenger series.
Kalitta Motorsports has been a major step ahead of everyone in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge — over the past two years in Top Fuel and remaining in complete control of the bonus race in 2026. Kalitta has won the challenge 4X this season.
Austin Prock – who qualified #1 for Funny Car, and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges.
Summit Racing Equipment Nationals — Final Round Winners Summary
Top Alcohol Dragster — Matthew Cummings, 5.283, 273.39 def. Jamie Noonan, 5.337, 268.81.
Top Alcohol Funny Car — Doug Gordon, Chevy Camaro, 5.510, 266.06 def. Sean Bellemeur, Camaro, 6.589, 218.83.
Driving for Randy Meyer Racing – Matt Cummings collected the event’s TAD class title.
Norwalk’s TAFC class champion was Doug Gordon.
Competition Eliminator — Peter D`Agnolo, Chevy Cobalt, 8.485, 142.39 def. Al Ackerman, Dragster, Foul – Red Light.
Super Stock — Brenda Grubbs, Chevy Camaro, 9.385, 140.17 def. Ron Richards, Chevy Cobalt, Foul – Red Light.
Stock Eliminator — Matt Antrobius, Chevy Camaro, 11.288, 113.43 def. Timothy Fletcher, Camaro, 11.139, 114.10.
Super Comp — Phil Unruh, Dragster, 8.888, 183.49 def. Howie Smith, Dragster, 8.887, 181.64.
Super Gas — Phil Unruh, Chevy Camaro, 9.936, 161.40 def. Raymond Miller, Chevy 210, 10.017, 119.46.
Super Street — Victor Marqua, Plymouth Duster, 10.907, 128.24 def. Phil Smida, Chevy Cavalier, 10.957, 138.86.
Top Sportsman — Alex Miller, Olds Cutlass, 7.957, 141.76 def. Glenn Butcher, Chevy Camaro, Broke – No Show.
Top Dragster — Sadie Glenn, Dragster, 9.470, 87.70 def. Kenny Carson, Dragster, Foul – Red Light.
Posted with files by NHRA Communications, Elon Werner & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Dave DeAngelis & Courtesy of NHRA & Auto Imagery
Link to the LMLCMedia event photo gallery from this race: HERE (Coming soon!)
