| AUSTIN PROCK, DALLAS GLENN AND RICHARD GADSON EARN WORLD TITLES ON SUNDAY AT POMONA
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 16, 2025) – Funny Car’s Austin Prock claimed his second straight world championship on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, while Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn and Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson each earned their first career NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series world championships.
This weekend’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals were canceled on Sunday due to persistent and adverse weather and unsafe track conditions, deeming the trio of points leaders as world champions.
Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta earned his second career world championship on Saturday.
For Prock, it’s the culmination of a simply dominant season in Funny Car for the John Force Racing standout, as he followed up his first year in the class with an even more impressive campaign in his 12,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS.
Prock, who won eight races a year ago en route to the world title, claimed nine wins in 19 races in 2025, advancing to 12 final rounds and earning seven No. 1 qualifiers. His year was filled with highlights, including a sweep of all three four-wide races, three straight race wins in the summer, capped off by a second straight U.S. Nationals victory and then clutch moments in the playoffs to finish off another spectacular season.
“To win one world championship is one thing, and to win two is another and it puts you in a select group,” Prock said. “I think there’s only seven of us who have ever done it, and to add my name to that list, I wish my entire team could be added to that list. I get all the praise and the glory from the media and from the fans, but it’s not just me. I couldn’t accomplish what I’ve done in the last two years without the people behind me, and I’m really proud of them.”
In the Countdown to the Championship, Prock was pushed by four-time champion Matt Hagan, who pulled close after winning in St. Louis. But Prock, who also won the Charlotte fall race in the playoffs, made a strong statement in Dallas, qualifying No. 1 and winning the race in style to give the reigning champ some breathing room.
Hagan won in Las Vegas over Prock in the final round, but the young standout, who went 45-10 this season, held a sizable cushion heading to Pomona. With the championship, Prock becomes just the seventh Funny Car driver – and just the second in 20-plus years – to win back-to-back titles in the loaded category.
“Everybody on the Cornwell Quality Tools team is doing a phenomenal job, and they’re putting in that 110 percent effort,” Prock said. “We had a dominant race car all year long. Last year, a lot of people told me it’s not going to come as easily next year after the season that you had. We came in there and ended up getting the championship. I think that says a lot about this race team, and says a lot about me as a driver, and I’m looking forward to 2026 already.”
In Pro Stock, Glenn achieved what had so closely evaded him the past two seasons, picking up his first world championship on the strength of a spectacular season in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro.
Glenn won eight times in 17 races, advancing to a staggering 13 final rounds en route to an impressive 50-9 record in eliminations in 2025. Between Glenn and KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson, the duo won 14 of the 17 races, but Glenn got red-hot during the playoffs to keep the reigning world champion at bay and earn the championship.
“It’s definitely really special, especially getting so close last year,” Glenn said. “It feels good. I honestly don’t think it’s really hit me yet. It maybe will hit me on the long four-day drive home later in the week. But no, it feels really good right now. You know, there’s a lot of just a lot of stuff, a lot of emotions and you’re just trying to process everything.
“It definitely feels good. You know, I get to race all next season with number one on my car. I get to take it from Greg, take it off of Greg’s car, and put it on mine. We get to swap numbers.”
Glenn won the opener in Gainesville, swept both four-wide races and then won at his home track in Seattle, shattering track records in the process, taking the points lead into the playoffs. There would be no stumble this season, as he won four of the five events in the Countdown to the Championship, rolling to wins in Reading, Charlotte, Dallas and then Las Vegas.
A year ago, Glenn lost in the first round at Las Vegas, opening the door for Anderson’s wild run to the title. This time, Glenn slammed the door shut with a splendid performance, paving the way for his championship.
“It’s almost one of those seasons that you don’t really want to end, even though you’re in the points lead, and, you know, ending means you’re the champion,” Glenn said. “We’ve had the car to beat, we’ve had the team to beat. We’ve been doing our job, on and off track.”
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson enjoyed the fruits of his breakout 2025 season on Sunday, as he was awarded his first world championship on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki.
It ended Gaige Herrera’s chance at a third world title, as Gadson held off his hard-charging teammate down the stretch. Herrera won in Las Vegas, but Gadson took a 21-point lead into Pomona, which earned him the championship. Gadson was great all year, and especially when it counted, winning twice in the Countdown to the Championship and ending his 2025 season with four victories and six trips to the final round, as well as his first two career No. 1 qualifiers.
“The mentality was kill or be killed. That was it. We talked about me and (Herrera) meeting in the finals, but it didn’t have to go that way,” Gadson said. “We had two sides of the ladder that we had to get through and none of those people owed us any favors. I didn’t want anybody to take it from me or stop it and I was willing to lay it all on the line out there. So, you know, I came here to go to war with my friends, with my teammate. It was that mentality the whole weekend.”
After coming up just short on a handful of occasions, both during his rookie season in 2024 and early this year, Gadson broke through with his first career victory in Bristol, savoring the special moment that seemed to only spur him on for more. He added another win in Sonoma and entered the playoffs second in points.
While Herrera struggled early in the Countdown, Gadson was on point, winning the four-wide race in Charlotte and adding another victory in Dallas – after qualifying No. 1 – which proved to be the difference.
“Me and Eddie (Krawiec, crew chief) both had to dig deep and figure out what in what ways we can be better individually, and then how we mix that together and make us better on results,” Gadson said. “I think we really, really, really have come a long way this year.”
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series kicks off its 75th anniversary season in 2026 on March 5-8 with the NHRA Gatornationals at legendary Gainesville Raceway.
|
