{"id":103621,"date":"2026-05-16T04:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/kalitta-beckman-enders-and-angie-smith-start-in-provisional-no-1-spots-at-gerber-collision-glass-route-66-nhra-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:44:06","slug":"kalitta-beckman-enders-and-angie-smith-start-in-provisional-no-1-spots-at-gerber-collision-glass-route-66-nhra-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/kalitta-beckman-enders-and-angie-smith-start-in-provisional-no-1-spots-at-gerber-collision-glass-route-66-nhra-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalitta, Beckman, Enders, and Angie Smith Start in Provisional No. 1 Spots at Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reigning Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta made the quickest run on Friday at Route 66 Raceway, taking the provisional No. 1 spot at the 26th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK.<\/p>\n

Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Angie Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the sixth of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.<\/p>\n

Kalitta, who is currently second in points behind Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon, went 3.720-seconds at 338.17-mph in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster, putting the veteran in line for his second straight No. 1 qualifier this season and the 68th in his career.<\/p>\n

He is also after his second victory of the season and first at Route 66 Raceway in 20 years. Kalitta, who has two world titles in the past three years, has three career victories at the standout Chicago facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy to hear that Alan [Johnson, crew chief] was happy on the starting line. That was cool. I was super happy,\u201d Kalitta said. \u201cIt was kind of interesting before that run. They put weight on the clutch, and the next thing you know, they\u2019re doing this, doing that so you can kind of tell that they\u2019re hopping it up. It looked like we needed every bit of it because everybody\u2019s running super close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is a cool place to run. It\u2019s close to home, and we\u2019ve just got a lot of our friends from Michigan here, so, you know, we\u2019re just happy that we have a good run in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Doug Kalitta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rookie sensation Maddi Gordon, who made a pair of 340-mph runs in Valdosta, is second with a strong 3.738 at 334.90 and Billy Torrence\u2019s run of 3.746 at 336.32 has him third. Points leader Shawn Langdon is currently 13th.<\/p>\n

Funny Car\u2019s Jack Beckman is on a good path to repeating last year\u2019s win at Route 66 Raceway, making an impressive run of 3.913 at 329.99 in his 12,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet SS for John Force Racing.<\/p>\n

Beckman performed well at his sponsor\u2019s race a year ago and is off to a good start again in 2026, which bodes well after an early exit two weeks ago in Valdosta. Should that number hold, the past world champion would pick up his first top qualifier of the year and the 34th in his career. He also knows just how important it is to perform well on a weekend like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat last run was entertaining and scary. It was just a handful and it was entertaining. I hope everybody in the stands was half as entertained as I was,\u201d Beckman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just incredibly satisfied that we\u2019ve got some bonus points so far. We\u2019ve made two absolutely solid runs, one in each lane. We have great data. We can now afford to push on Saturday and if we push too hard, that\u2019ll teach us something as well. So, it really just sets us up for a lot more race day success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Capps, who has a pair of wins in 2026, is second with a 3.916 at 330.31 and Cruz Pedregon sits third thanks to a 3.920 at 324.59. Points leader J.R. Todd is right behind in fourth with a 3.942 at 332.26. Valdosta winner Jordan Vandergriff sits 16th after his run in the second qualifying session was disqualified due to a pinned parachute.<\/p>\n

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Erica Enders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Pro Stock, it appears Erica Enders\u2019 early-season struggles are behind her, as motorsports\u2019 winningest female driver put on a show at the site of her first Pro Stock victory, taking the top spot with a standout run of 6.542 at 209.92 in her Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage\/Melling Performance\/R+L Carriers entry for Elite Motorsports. Should that stay atop the field, the six-time world champion would pick up her first top qualifier since the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been an ideal start for the 50-time national event winner, either, as Enders sits an uncharacteristic seventh in points. Qualifying had been a struggle, but Enders advanced to the semifinals in Valdosta and took another big step on Friday with a pair of strong runs. She has a chance for her 50th Pro Stock win this weekend, which would be meaningful for it to come at the site of her historic first victory in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a good feeling and I\u2019m excited,\u201d Enders said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to have the provisional number one after the first session. I\u2019m obviously surprised that we stayed number one, but I honestly don\u2019t think that we\u2019re fast. The (2025) season was extremely rough for our entire organization and \u201926 hasn\u2019t started off on the right foot, either, but we\u2019ve been working really hard, and it\u2019s about tenacity and not giving up, and just keep plugging away at it, and that\u2019s what my guys are really good at.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coming here. I\u2019ve been coming here my entire life and embracing it in all different categories, but I remember vividly winning here in 2012 and being in this very press room, and I was talking to the media, and Bob Glidden called my phone and I\u2019ll never forget it. That was so cool because he was my hero and a legend, and that was my first win. It\u2019s been a long, crazy, crazy road, but I think it is serendipitous, and I love racing here. So, I think it would be great if this were the turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeg Coughlin Jr. is second with a 6.543 at 210.21 and Greg Stanfield helped make it a clean sweep for Elite Motorsports in the top three after going 6.549 at 210.11.<\/p>\n

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Angie Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pro Stock Motorcycle\u2019s Angie Smith continues to perform well in qualifying, making the quickest run in both sessions on Friday at Route 66 Raceway, including a 6.738 at 200.17 in the opening session on her Denso Auto Parts Buell.<\/p>\n

That puts Smith in a great position to collect her second top qualifier in the first four races of the year, also continuing the dominant start \u2013 especially in qualifying \u2013 for Matt Smith Racing. Smith and her husband, Matt, who won in Valdosta, have been atop the field at the first three races and it could be a fourth this weekend.<\/p>\n

The only thing missing for Angie is a victory, something she would love to change this weekend in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt really good,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe went home, and after Valdosta, since we had some time, we took my motor out and freshened it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was a good run. I did not think that it would hold, just because of Gaige [Herrera], Richard [Gadson] and Matt\u2019s [Smith] success with tracks like this that are fast tracks, but it did, and I\u2019m pretty happy with it. We\u2019ve been working really, really hard. We\u2019ve been working hard on our 60-foot program, because there have been a couple of other people in the class talking a little bit of smack, telling us that we needed to go to work on our 60-foot program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadson is currently second with a 6.778 at 200.38 and Herrera, who is undefeated at Route 66 Raceway, took third on the first day after a run of 6.784 at 197.94.<\/p>\n

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK at Route 66 Raceway.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on May 15, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Kalitta, Beckman, Enders, and Angie Smith Start in Provisional No. 1 Spots at Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reigning Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta made the quickest run on Friday at Route 66 Raceway, taking the provisional No. 1 spot at the 26th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK. Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Angie Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also the […]<\/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-103621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103621","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=103621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}