The NHRA Mission Foods drag racing series held its final race of the regular season earlier this month at Lucas Oil Raceway Park just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. It as the 72nd running of the Cornwell Tools US Nationals.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman took John Force’s 1996 tribute car to two victories in two days. On Sunday, Beckman scored the victory in the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout with a win over Matt Hagan in the final round to pick up the $80,000 prize.
On Monday, Beckman was dominant, posting the best run of each round of eliminations. Beckman defeated Jeff Arend in the opening round, teammate Alexis DeJoria in round two and former teammate, two-time and reigning series champion Austin Prock in the semifinal round. Prock was looking to become the first driver in the history of the Funny Car class to win the U.S. Nationals three straight years. Beckman was running a special John Force throwback paint scheme from his dominating 1996 championship season where he won 13 of the 19 races to capture his then sixth series championship. Beckman would not be denied, by posting 3.965 at 327.35 in the final round to defeat Matt Hagan for the second straight day, to capture his third US Nationals win. It was his second victory of the 2026 season and the 39th of his career. It also made that particular scheme 3-0 as Force ran it only one time in 1996 at the NHRA Finals in Pomona. Hagan may not have won the race but he did earn enough points to take the regular season championship and the $150,000 payday. Hagan will have a 17-point lead over Ron Capps, 34 over Beckman in third, 35 over Jordan Vandergriff in fourth and 49 over JR Todd in fifth.
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon scored the diamond Wally after having a stellar weekend. Langdon qualified on the pole and took out the 16th qualifier Clay Millican in in the opening round with the second fastest speed of the weekend at 340.22 mph. In round two Justin Ashley would fall as he lost traction and watched Langdon streak away with a 3.791 at 323.19 win. Leah Pruett would be his semifinal round match up; she too fell to a loss of traction as Langdon marched down the left lane at 3.816 at 332. 51. Langdon would then defeat Tony Stewart in the final with a 3.804 at 333.99 mph in his SealMaster dragster to Stewart’s 3.904 at 315.27. This was Langdon’s fifth victory of the season out of 14 races. It was his 27th career win and he will enter the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in second place behind his teammate, two-time Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta.
Kalitta scored the regular season championship which comes with a $150,000 prize. The points following Indy will be reset with Kalitta having a 26-point advantage over Langdon, 43 over Leah Pruett in third, 61 over Tony Stewart, and 65 over four-time Champion Antron Brown in fifth.
In Pro Stock, defending series champion Dallas Glenn defeated Mason McGaha in the opening round, teammate Matt Latino in round two and defending event winner and six-time champion Erica Enders in the semifinal round. In the final round Glenn took out five-time series champion Jeg Coughlin to capture his first US Nationals victory, fourth of the season and 25th of his career. With teammate Greg Anderson’s loss in round two, Glenn needed to win the race which he did to capture the $55,000 prize that is the regular season championship.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith Racing finished one and two, with six-time world champion Matt Smith defeating his wife, Angie Smith in the final round with a run of 6.791 at 198.58. It was Smith’s fourth career win at Indy and 45th of his career.
While the Smiths battled it out for the US Nationals trophy, defending series champion Richard Gadson took home the $15,000 regular season world champion prize.
The NHRA Mission Foods series Countdown to the Championship playoffs begin with the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals Sept. 18 through 20 at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park at Martin, Michigan.
