NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car racers put on a heck of a show in 2025, with everything from new winners to record-breaking performances. It’s difficult to single out the 10 most memorable moments from each NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series season, but we’ve done just that. Presented in no particular order, here we go.

JIM WHITELEY GETS FIRST ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR WIN

Jim Whiteley long ago mastered the art of Top Alcohol Dragster racing with 23 wins and four world titles between 2007 and 2013, but he’d never won in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class until the end of 2025. Whiteley managed to sneak in a pair of Pro Mod wins in 2016 and 2018, and this year, he scored in Top Alcohol Funny Car when he won the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals powered by Direct Connection.

Racing against one of the most competitive fields of the season, Whiteley qualified No. 5 and then went on to beat Stan Sipos in a great final round, 5.49 to 5.50. For good measure, Whiteley finished the season as the No. 7 ranked driver in the class.
 

SEAN BELLEMEUR SCORES LANDMARK A/FUEL TITLE

Sean Bellemeur has done a lot in his career, and he made more history earlier this season when he won the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals title. The win was one of five this season, but it was history-making because it was the first time since the new injected nitro combination was introduced two years ago.

Bellemeur and the Bartone Bros. Killer B’s team leveled the field with a 5.31 in qualifying, and in the final, which was moved to Charlotte due to rain, he posted a 5.42 to defeat Chip Beverett. For good measure, Bellemeur also left first with a great .009 light. The team eventually switched back to their more conventional supercharged combination, but not before making history.

FIVE NEW WINNERS EMERGE THIS SEASON

Don’t give us that “same old, same old” stuff when there were five first-time national event winners crowned this season in Top Alcohol Dragster. The first new winner came early when former Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown racer Anthony Troyer won in Pomona. A few weeks later, Brandon Greco scored at the four-wide event in Charlotte, beating Kelly Kundratic in the final round.

When the tour hit Norwalk, Canadian rookie McKenna Bold got the job done, driving the Meyer Racing entry to a final-round win against reigning world champ Shawn Cowie. Jamie Noonan scored an impressive first win when he topped Troyer in the Reading final, while Jon Bradford finished off the season with a victory against Madison Payne in Las Vegas.

SHAWN COWIE FLIES IN MISSION

Shawn Cowie managed to hold on to win his second straight NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster title this season, and he also made one of the most impressive runs of the year at the Pacific Division regional event at Mission Raceway. Cowie used a string of 5.1-second performances to win the event, which helped fuel his successful title defense. 

In qualifying, he was particularly impressive with a 5.119, the quickest run of his career, and also the quickest run for a supercharged Top Alcohol Dragster and not far off of Megan Meyer’s 5.090 record in her injected nitro car from the 2020 season.

BELLEMEUR SCORES FIFTH TITLE IN EIGHT YEARS

Sean Bellemeur still has a long way to go in order to catch Frank Manzo’s NHRA record of 17 championships, but with his fifth title in eight seasons, he has managed to join a very exclusive fraternity of alcohol racers. Bellemeur, a world champ in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024, and now 2025, is one of just five alcohol racers with five or more titles.

Manzo is obviously the leader with 17 championships, while Bellemeur now joins a fraternity of Top Alcohol Dragster champs that includes Joey Severance, Bill Reichert, and Rick Santos, who each have five.

BRADFORD'S INCREDIBLE VEGAS PERFORMANCE

When Jon Bradford won the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals in Las Vegas, it’s hard to tell what was more impressive, his reaction times or the performance of his supercharged and fuel-injected dragster. Bradford kicked off the season with an impressive win at the first regional event of the season in Phoenix and added three more finals during the season.

In Las Vegas, Bradford had the quickest and most consistent car in the field with a 5.174 best that held for low elapsed time of the event. On the starting line, he was even more intimidating with a competitive string of reaction times, .033, .007, .003, and a .032 in the final against Madison Payne. For an encore, Bradford returned to Las Vegas the following week and won the final Pacific regional event of the season.

MEGAN SMITH’S 285-MPH SPEED

Megan Smith, the daughter of former Top Fuel racers John and Rhonda Smith, is still looking for her first national event win, but based on the performance of her injected nitro dragster late in the season, she won’t have to wait much longer to get it.

At the fall four-wide event in Charlotte, Smith ran some of the most impressive speeds in the history of the class with four runs between 282.48 and 285.65. No one else was even close, and it held for the fastest speed of the season. Smith is still just shy of Aaron Cooper’s 286.62 speed record for the class, but the team’s progress this year is remarkable.

JOHNSON WINS NORWALK NIGHT UNDER FIRE

Melanie Johnson’s first year in the Top Alcohol Dragster class was far from disappointing. The daughter of championship tuner Alan Johnson, and the niece of late four-time world champion Blaine, Melanie quickly began to make a name for herself when she landed a ride with the McPhillips family this season. Johnson went through the typical ups and downs of any first-year alcohol driver but was rewarded at mid season with a win at the North Central Region event at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, the Cavalcade of Stars, which attracted some of the best cars in the country. Johnson later went to the semifinals in Dallas and finished in the Top 10 in her rookie campaign.

MIKE KOSKY CALLS IT A CAREER

Mike Kosky claimed the first of his nine national event victories in Englishtown in 1987 and also scored wins in Columbus, Reading, Houston, and Montreal. In fact, Kosky won the Reading event three times during his career, so perhaps it is appropriate that he hang up his helmet at his home track, Maple Grove Raceway. After a career that spans nearly 50 years, Kosky attempted to qualify for one last event at the 40th annual NHRA Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish. Kosky drove is supercharged methanol entry to a 5.449 to tie the bump spot held by Dan Dietrich, but missed the spot based on speed.

Kosky won his first NHRA event in Top Gas in 1971 and later moved to Pro Comp, and eventually to Top Alochol Dragster. In addition to his nine national event wins, he has 25 Lucas Oil Series divisional and regional titles.

FEMALE DRIVERS TAKE EIGHT OF TOP 20

We debated including this because, quite frankly, women drivers have a long history of success in NHRA racing to the point where no one could or should consider them a novelty. Then again, when eight female drivers combine to hold spots among the Top 20 finishers, including four in the Top 10, it’s newsworthy.

Jackie Fricke led the way with a No. 3 finish, while McKenna Bold (No. 8), Madison Payne (No. 9), and Melanie Johnson (No. 10) also had a lot of success. The Top 20 also included Angelle Sampey, Shaunda Blinzler, Taylor Januki, and Megan Smith. Overall, there were a dozen women active in the class during the 2025 season.