Defending world champion Austin Prock and his John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman dominated the Funny Car ranks on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, as Prock powered to the No. 1 qualifier position at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals and Jack Beckman won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge specialty race.
Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, while Brittany Force (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) qualified No. 1 at the third of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Beckman went 3.831s at 330.72mph in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS, defeating Paul Lee in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and claiming his first win in the specialty race.
“Paul Lee’s car is an A-level competitive car and when we went 3.83s in round one, we were feeling pretty spicy and then they go 3.82s and got lane choice, but we knew it didn’t matter,” Beckman said.
“These conditions are A-plus-plus, as good as it gets out there. The issue when the track gets as good as the crew chiefs don’t have much data on this. We know what to do when the track gets good, but when the track gets great, you can count on one hand, typically, the number of runs a year you get when the track is phenomenal. In all likelihood, all the runs tomorrow are going to be in those type of conditions.”
Prock, who clinched the world title in Pomona last season and set a Funny Car record with 15 No. 1 qualifiers in 2024, went a blistering 3.816s at 338.26mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to take the No. 1 position into race day for the 20th time in his career. Prock will open eliminations against Blake Alexander as he looks for his first victory of 2025.
“Our race car hasn’t run bad all year long, it’s just things haven’t been really going our way like they did last year,” Prock said. “We’ve been trying to do that all weekend long and just been tickling the thing. I’m really proud of how diligent everybody’s been working and making progress each run and just getting it A to B.
“The boys were high-fiving before we even got in the water box, like they knew, it was either going to be hero or zero, and we ended up on the good end of it. I’m really proud of John Force Racing and John Force is so proud right now of the whole team.”
Lee is qualified second with a 3.829s at 331.45mph and Ron Capps is third after going 3.830s at 328.94mph.
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon kept Kalitta Motorsports rolling and continued his recent dominance as well, beating teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round with a run of 3.662s at a near-record 338.68mph in his Kalitta Air Careers dragster. It denied Kalitta a chance at a perfect weekend, but Langdon kept rolling along, capturing his second straight Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory.
Langdon also won the event in Phoenix last weekend as the car continues to perform at an extremely high level. The run in the Challenge final was his best of the weekend and puts him third heading into eliminations, while the speed marked the second-fastest run in Top Fuel history. The points leader will now have a chance to double-up for the second straight race in his red-hot early-season start.
“Honestly, it’s a great feeling to come back from the run and see the smile on Connie’s [Kalitta] face and see the smiles on the team’s faces. All their hard work, everything’s paying off,” Kalitta said. “The cars are running good, which is great. They’re responding well to what the crew chiefs have been doing.
“It’s obviously a great feeling when everything’s clicking, and the biggest thing now is we got a good, fast, consistent race car. Now it’s just a matter of maintaining it and trying to see if we can kick off a couple wins along the way and get ready for the Countdown at the end of the year.”
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Brittany Force earned her first top qualifier of the year on the strength of Friday’s 3.646s at 334.82mph in her Monster Energy dragster. She’ll open eliminations against Steve Chrisman as she looks for her first career Winternationals win. She added a 53rd career No. 1 qualifier to her accomplishments on Saturday, but a victory at her home track – and a chance for JFR double-up – would make the weekend even better.
“We’ve had some really strong performance on track,” Force said. “We earned a No. 1 qualifier. We went 3.64s twice, and then a 3.69s today. We want to turn on four win lights tomorrow. Looking at our ladder, we could have a bye second round, which is awesome for us. I love this place. It’s just home for me. I grew up out of here at this racetrack and in the stands. You just have that good feeling coming out here and we want to do well. My whole family’s out here, I’ve had all my friends this weekend, popping in and out, and it’s just our home race track, so we want to finish strong.”
Kalitta qualified second with a 3.657s at 335.15mph.
In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford defeated Greg Anderson in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, going 6.496s at 210.67mph in his GETTRX/Total Seal Camaro to get his second win in the specialty race. The first came two years in Pomona as the veteran continued his strong performance at the historic facility. Next up on Hartford’s list is an event win, which would be his first since the 2023 campaign.
“This is as good a car as I’ve ever had. It’s hateful,” Hartford said. “Over the winter, we made a very easy decision to make sure that we continued in our older chassis and to try to reinvent the wheel every run or make changes that we don’t know. Let’s use facts and work off data.
“A win is the next thing for us, but you’ve got to get through first round and take it one round at a time. When you look at the qualifying sheet, I can promise you of the 16 cars, none of them you want to race first round because they’re all good. The conditions tomorrow are going to be hateful. If you think the runs that you’ve seen over the last four runs were good, wait until tomorrow. The cars are all going to pick up tomorrow.”
Anderson held on to his second No. 1 spot this season, improving to a 6.490s at 210.77mph on Saturday in his HendrickCars.com Camaro, handing the defending world champion his 134th career top qualifier. Anderson made two more runs in the 6.40s on Saturday, which could bode well as he seeks his second straight win and his 16th overall at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
“Running 6.40s seems to be the price of poker out here this weekend,” Anderson said. “You better run 6.40s or you’re probably going to go home. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of cars that can do it. I think only two of them didn’t today, but there’s a lot of them that can do it and you’re going to see more of it tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a hell of a race.
“You kind of need to have a lot of luck because there’s too many good cars, too many good drivers and too many good race teams. You better not only have a fast race car, but you also better have some luck.”
Hartford qualified second with a 6.490s at 210.67mph and Deric Kramer is third after going 6.511s at 210.80mph.
Eliminations for the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
