NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Two weeks and 2,400 miles later, the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals follows in the heels of the season opener in Florida with the annual West Coast lidlifter at historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, which has hosted the Winternationals since 1961.

Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals winners Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), J.R. Todd (Funny Car), and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) will be looking for second season wins and a chance to extend their early points lead when the action kicks off today with the first of three Professional-class qualifying sessions.

Langdon and crew chief Brian Husen had the hot hand at Gainesville Raceway, where they not only led qualifying but then dominated race day en route to Langdon’s first Gatornationals win and Husen’s first win as a lead crew chief.

Pomona is home turf to Langdon, who grew up in Mira Loma, and he’s had quite a bit of success at the track, with four wins, spread evenly over the Winternationals and Finals. No season was better for Langdon than 2015 when he won both races at the birthplace of West Coast NHRA racing.

Langdon’s Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta also has fond memories of Pomona as it was last November when he finally clinched his first career world championship in a dramatic winner-take-all final-round showdown with Leah Pruett. Pruett is not racing this season, having turned over the wheel to her husband, motorsports icon Tony Stewart, who will make his West Coast Top Fuel debut after a promising debut in Gainesville.

Langdon’s other teammate, Todd, with whom he shared the honors of creating the Kalitta team’s first double win in Gainesville, has two career wins in Pomona and hopes another strong run this weekend will erase memories of last year’s Winternationals, where he got tangled up with John Force in a high-speed crash during qualifying.

Funny Car world champ Matt Hagan, a four-time Winternationals champ, will look to recover from an early exit at the season opener and, as defending event champ, his odds are good. No driver has repeated a Winternationals Funny Car title since Hagan himself did it in 2017-2018. Hagan is looking for another milestone this weekend as his 49 victories leave him just one shy of the 50-win milestone.

Pomona fans will also get their first look at Austin Prock as he continues to make the transition from Top Fuel to Funny Car in the John Force Racing entry vacated by three-time world champ Robert Hight, who is out on medical leave. Prock had a strong history in Top Fuel in Pomona, making it to three of the last four final rounds, including a win at the 2022 Finals.

Like Hagan in Funny Car, Enders is also within one victory of her 50th career win, but she'll have to do it at a track that hasn’t always been kind to her. The six-time world champ has just two wins in Pomona – one each at the Winternationals and Finals – but did win the Winternationals two years ago.

As always, other than her own fleet of Elite Motorsports teammates, Enders’ toughest challenge is likely to come from Greg Anderson, whose Pomona success is stunning, having collected 14 Wallys at the facility, including six at the Winternationals.

We're also on milestone watch for Top Fuel racer Antron Brown, who could win his 75th title this weekend, becoming just the 12th driver to reach that mark.

2023 EVENT WINNERS
Justin Ashley, Top Fuel; Matt Hagan, Funny Car; Dallas Glenn, Pro Stock

MOST EVENT VICTORIES
Don Garlits, 6, TF; Doug Kalitta, 4, TF (active driver); John Force, 7, FC; Bob Glidden, 7, PS; Greg Anderson, 6, PS (active driver).

TRACK RECORDS
Top Fuel - 3.628 seconds by Clay Millican, Feb. '18; 338.94 mph by Brittany Force, Nov., ‘22.
Funny Car - 3.822 seconds by Matt Hagan, Feb. '17; 337.33 mph by Ron Capps, Nov. '22
Pro Stock - 6.480 seconds by Erica Enders, Nov. '14; 213.84 mph by Drew Skillman, Nov. '15.

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, Minn.; 339.87 mph by Robert Hight, July ’17, Sonoma, Calif.
Pro Stock - 6.450 sec. by Erica Enders, Mar. ’22, Gainesville, Fla.; 215.55 mph by Erica Enders, May ’14, Englishtown N.J.

SCHEDULE
Friday, March 22 
Lucas Oil Series qualifying and eliminations at 8:30 a.m.
Top Alcohol qualifying at noon and 3 p.m.
Factory Stock Showdown qualifying at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Pro Stock qualifying at 4:30 p.m.
Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying at 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 23
Lucas Oil Series eliminations at 8:30 a.m.
Top Alcohol qualifying at 10:15 a.m. and eliminations TAD at 1:30 p.m. and TAFC at 4 p.m.
Factory Stock Showdown qualifying at 11 a.m. and eliminations 4:30 p.m.
Pro Stock qualifying at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Top Fuel and Funny Car qualifying at noon and 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 24
Pre-race ceremonies, 9:45 a.m.
Final eliminations begin at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION
Saturday, March 23: FS1 will televise one and half hour of qualifying highlights at 9:30 p.m. (ET)
Sunday, March 24: FS1 will televise one and half hour of qualifying highlights at 12:30 p.m. (ET)
Sunday, March 24: FS1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 7 p.m. (ET)