91°µÍø

The fields are set for the 55th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals and now its time to crown champions at the first event of the 2024 season at Gainesville Raceway. After two days of intense qualifying, Shawn Langdon, Austin Prock, Erica Enders, and Gaige Herrera are the top qualifiers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Langdon has shown a marked improvement this weekend after the Kalitta team announced that Brian Husen would be his crew chief for the 2024 season. The former Top Fuel and Super Comp world champ drove to a 3.682 in his DHL dragster to secure the top spot for the 20th time in his career.

When Sunday’s final eliminations begin, Langdon will be challenged by up-and-coming Cody Krohn, who is wheeling the Paton family dragster. There are several other intriguing match ups in round one particularly Antron Brown vs. Tripp Tatum. Brown won the $80,000 top prize in Saturday’s Pep Boys Allstar Callout event in his Matco Tools dragster and ran a 3.709 in his final round win over Brittany Force. Brown will have a tough opponent in 2022 Gainesville champion Tatum, who doesn’t race often, but generally makes a solid impression when he does.

NASCAR and IndyCar champ Tony Stewart qualified solidly in his Dodge Power Brokers dragster with an eighth-best 3.739 and will take on Justin Ashley as the Hall of Fame driver officially begins his NHRA Top Fuel career.

It hasn’t been much of a surprise to see Prock make a smooth transition to the Funny Car class as he qualified in the top spot with a 3.820 aboard his Cornwell Tools Camaro, which is tuned by his father, Jimmy, and brother, Thomas. Prock is set to face off against John Smith in Sunday’s opening round.

The final round of Funny Car qualifying was lost due to rain which made for some interesting pairings including veterans John Force and Cruz Pedregon as well as Matt Hagan vs. Daniel Wilkerson in his debut with the SCAG team.

The Pro Stock class was also limited to three sessions but that didn’t stop it from having one of the closest fields in the history of the class with just .043-second separating low qualifier Erica Enders from her Elite teammate, Kelley Murphy, who qualified on the bump in his debut. Every car in the field ran between 6.549 and 6.592 and the non qualifiers included Camrie Caruso, Sienna Wildgust, and the father-son team of Chris and Mason McGaha.

Gaige Herrera locked up the top spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle for the 15th time in 16 career races when he rode his RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki to a 6.746. Herrera, the reigning world champion and Gainesville winner, will face off against Joey Gladstone, who qualified on the bump at 7.097 but it capable of a far better performances.

Sunday’s on-track activities will also include the completion of final eliminations in the Congruity 91°µÍø Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by LearnEV+, the FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown, the Lucas Oil Sportsman series.

Pre-race ceremonies begin at 9:15 a.m. with the first round of Mission Foods Drag Racing Series pros set to begin at 10:30 a.m.

2023 EVENT WINNERS

Mike Salinas, Top Fuel; Matt Hagan, Funny Car;  Troy Coughlin Jr., Pro Stock, Gaige Herrera, Pro Stock Motorcycle.

 MOST VICTORIES

Tony Schumacher, 5, TF; John Force, 8, FC; Warren Johnson, 9, Pro Stock; Eddie Krawiec, 6, PSM.

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.646 seconds by Doug Kalitta, March '23; 337.75 mph by Brittany Force, March ‘22

Funny Car - 3.828 seconds by Robert Hight March '17; 338.09 mph by Bob Tasca III, March '24

Pro Stock - 6.450 seconds by Erica Enders, March '23; 214.69 mph by Erica Enders, March '14

Pro Stock Motorcycle – 6.665 seconds by Karen Stoffer, March ’22; 203.49 mph by Gaige Herrera, March ’23.

NATIONAL RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.623 sec. by Brittany Force, Sept. '19, Reading, Pa.; 338.94 mph by Brittany Force, Nov. ‘22, Pomona, Calif.

Funny Car - 3.793 sec. by Robert Hight, Aug. '17, Brainerd; 339.87 mph by Robert Hight, July ’17, Sonoma, Calif.

Pro Stock - 6.450 sec. by Erica Enders, March '22, Gainesville, Fla.; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May '14, Englishtown, N.J.

EVENT SCHEDULE (Eastern Time)

SUNDAY, March 10

Pre-Race ceremonies begin at 9:15 a.m.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series eliminations begin at 10:30 a.m.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE (All times Eastern)

SUNDAY, March 10, FS1 will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 8:30 a.m.

SUNDAY, March 10, FS1 will televise two and a half hours of eliminations coverage at 10.30 a.m.

SUNDAY, March 10, FS1 will televise 90 minutes of final rounds at 9 p.m.

Watch all day on NHRA.tv