{"id":103208,"date":"2026-03-13T15:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/tyler-hilton-adds-final-jewel-to-top-fuel-crown-with-march-meet-victory\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:44:06","slug":"tyler-hilton-adds-final-jewel-to-top-fuel-crown-with-march-meet-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/tyler-hilton-adds-final-jewel-to-top-fuel-crown-with-march-meet-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Hilton Adds Final Jewel to Top Fuel Crown With March Meet Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The March Meet is steep in Top Fuel tradition \u2013 Garlits, Sorokin, McEwen, and Warren have all hoisted that iconic triangular trophy head high in victory at the patch. Four-time NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel champ Tyler Hilton and the Great Expectations III team have done it all and won it all in Top Fuel \u2013 except for one. The March Meet title has eluded their path of dominance. A healthy dose of California sun, great track conditions, and that elusive nitro consistency proved to be the combo as team Hilton finally broke through for a March Meet victory at the recent 68th running of the event.<\/p>\n

Qualifying found many of the teams dusting off the cobwebs of 2025 in search of a 2026 winning formula. Visalia\u2019s Overtime Special team, with Tyler Hester in the seat, took top qualifying honors, running an all-time best pass at 5.67 at 224.66 MPH. Tyler Hilton and Pete Kaiser, who battled down to the wire for the 2025 Top Fuel crown, landed No. 2 and 3,\u00a0\u00a0respectively, with solid 5.70-zone passes.<\/p>\n

Michael Hilton and Frank McBee both ran their personal best ETs to date, a pair of 5.74s, to hold down the fourth and fifth spots. Making his Top Fuel debut in spectacular fashion was seven-time NHRA Heritage Series Funny Car champ Bobby Cottrell, whose 5.98 landed him No. 6 on the ladder. Of note and on the bump was second-generation nitro ace Adam Sorokin in the sleek Champion Speed Shop entry. Adam\u2019s father, Mike Sorokin, won this very event 60 years ago in the legendary Surfers fueler.<\/p>\n

Come eliminations, the unpredictability of nitro racing was on full display. No. 1 qualifier Hester was beat in round one when his throttle cable broke on the hit, allowing Sorokin to run his weekend best of 5.91 for the win. Michael Hilton won with a 6.77 and .309 RT when McBee red-lit away his March Meet chances. Tyler Hilton and Kaiser both won their opening rounds, setting up a huge semifinal showdown.<\/p>\n

In the semis, Michael Hilton ended Sorokin\u2019s title quest with a 5.75 @236.96, then Kaiser and Tyler Hilton rolled into the burnout box for battle. Kaiser left first \u2013 way first with a .05 holeshot \u2013 but unlike last year\u2019s final, Hilton ran him down at the top end to punch his ticket to the final \u2013 5.68 to a losing 5.81 for Kaiser.<\/p>\n

In the final it was uncle Michael Hilton vs. nephew Tyler Hilton for the 2026 March Meet title. Michael left early and tripped the red light, while Tyler stormed to an unbeatable 5.71\u00a0\u00a0at 265.09 for the win \u2013 his very first March Meet title\u2026finally.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Funny Car legend and seven-time champ Bobby Cotrell made his Top Fuel debut in his \u201cbuilt by hand\u201d \u201cNo Inheritan$e\u201d entry. The car laid down some spectacular crowd-pleasing burnouts all weekend long, making the show with a 5.98.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Tyler Hester and the Overtime Special dragster launches on their way to a best-ever 5.67 to claim the No. 1 qualifier spot. A soul-sucking throttle cable failure during round one ended the team\u2019s weekend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Defending March Meet champ Pete Kaiser ran a solid string of 5.80s in eliminations but came up short despite a huge holeshot in the semis vs. Hilton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The always sure and steady Michael Hilton, lights the hides during qualifying at the 2026 March Meet. Hilton ran a string of 5.70s en route to a fantastic runner-up finish in his March Meet Top Fuel debut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Frank McBee and the uber-sanitary Valley Thunder Top Fuel machine ran a personal best ET of 5.747 making the March Meet show at the fifth spot. His unfortunate red-light in round one ended a promising weekend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The hard-charging Brendan Murry ran a weekend best of 6.24 in the always legit Running Wild entry. The ET just missed the 6.12 bump and ended as first alternate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Adam Sorokin, despite qualifying on the bump, made a good March Meet showing with a semi-final appearance. Sorokin competing in his 23rd March Meet showed he\u2019s still got it, cutting the best light of the event in E1 with a .017 RT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Tyler Hilton and the Great Expectations team finally shed the Top Fuel monkey off their collective backs, winning the March Meet Top Fuel title for the first time. Tyler\u2019s final round MPH of 265.09 earned him the fifth spot in the exclusive 265 MPH Top Fuel club.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Shawn Van Horn and the Titan Speed II Top Fuel team looked strong on the front 660 at the March Meet, but back-half mechanical problems and an untimely blower bang sealed their fate. The car could not make the call for Q3 and ended up 10th with a 6.57 best effort.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Bret Williamson and the Mike Fuller \u201cForever Young\u201d entry launch at the 2026 March Meet. Williamson and the FY team qualified No. 7 in the tough field despite breaking a rear end in test-and-tune.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This story was originally published on March 13, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Tyler Hilton Adds Final Jewel to Top Fuel Crown With March Meet Victory<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The March Meet is steep in Top Fuel tradition \u2013 Garlits, Sorokin, McEwen, and Warren have all hoisted that iconic triangular trophy head high in victory at the patch. Four-time NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel champ Tyler Hilton and the Great Expectations III team have done it all and won it all in Top Fuel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}