{"id":104828,"date":"2026-09-20T02:44:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T02:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/prock-kalitta-hartford-and-oehler-qualify-no-1-in-front-of-sellout-crowd-at-dodge-nhra-great-lakes-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T02:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T02:44:05","slug":"prock-kalitta-hartford-and-oehler-qualify-no-1-in-front-of-sellout-crowd-at-dodge-nhra-great-lakes-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/prock-kalitta-hartford-and-oehler-qualify-no-1-in-front-of-sellout-crowd-at-dodge-nhra-great-lakes-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Prock, Kalitta, Hartford, and Oehler Qualify No. 1 in Front of Sellout Crowd at Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back-to-back defending Funny Car world champion Austin Prock powered to the No. 1 spot in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, earning his second top qualifier of the year for Tasca Racing at this weekend\u2019s Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR.<\/p>\n

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) and Ryan Oehler (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 15th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It is also the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.<\/p>\n

Prock went 3.859-seconds at 331.61 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Ford Racing Mustang to take the No. 1 spot for the 27th time in his career, making four strong runs in qualifying, including the third-quickest run of the year to take the top qualifier.<\/p>\n

He picked up bonus points every round and can enjoy a big Sunday as Prock looks to win a third straight title. Prock will open eliminations against standout Jordan Vandergriff, looking to win in NHRA\u2019s debut at the facility and the first national event in Michigan in 66 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Ford Mustang has really been turning the corner in the latter half of the season. To roll into the Countdown, munch up quite a few qualifying points, and then be the No. 1 qualifier at the first Countdown race definitely feels good. It gives us some confidence,\u201d Prock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working really hard this year \u2014 putting in the hours, thinking about it in the middle of the night, waking up and just going and getting your grind done. I\u2019m really proud of accomplishing this, and hopefully we can turn it into a win tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see how excited everybody has been, not only at the racetrack but outside the racetrack and around the hotel \u2014 \u2018We\u2019re so excited NHRA is finally here. We get to see the big show.\u2019 That\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Beckman qualified second with a 3.861 at 332.10, while points leader Matt Hagan jumped to third in the final session after going 3.886 at 330.88.<\/p>\n

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

With a capacity crowd on hand, Kalitta impressed in his home state, surpassing Friday\u2019s top run with a stellar 3.660 at 338.86 in his 12,000-horsepower Applied Innovations dragster for Kalitta Motorsports.<\/p>\n

The reigning world champion and points leader earned his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 71st in his career with the standout performance, taking plenty of momentum into raceday. He\u2019ll open eliminations against Kyle Satenstein on Sunday, looking to win in front of a huge number of family and friends as part of NHRA\u2019s national event debut at the standout facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew our hospitality was going to have a ton of people, so I assumed the fans would be piling in here, and they were,\u201d Kalitta said. \u201cIt was really nice that we were able to get something done in front of them. This is a new market for us, and we definitely want to put on a good show for everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s working their tails off. I definitely didn\u2019t want to have a Saturday rainout, so it was good that we were able to get something done. Another No. 1 qualifier is huge. We\u2019ll drag it in tomorrow and see what we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Hart vaulted to second during the final session with a 3.671 at 329.19 and Antron Brown moved to third with a 3.673 at 338.09.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Matt Hartford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford stayed in the top position, clinching his second No. 1 qualifier in 2026 thanks to Friday\u2019s 6.516 at 209.79 in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro. It gives Hartford his second straight top spot as he looks to continue rolling to open the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.<\/p>\n

It gives Hartford his seventh career No. 1 spot and he\u2019ll open eliminations against Shane Tucker, looking to pick up his fourth victory of the season, which would match Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn for most in the class this season. A first-round victory also nets Hartford a bye into the semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thrilled to get two runs in today. Anytime you can go up and down the track, you learn something,\u201d Hartford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more pressure because it\u2019s a known fact that if you win first round, you go to the semifinals. It\u2019s a two-for-one, so that\u2019s just added pressure. I think any driver would tell you that first round is the hardest one every weekend. Once you\u2019re through first round, you relax a little bit more. To me, first round is harder than a final round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson took second with a 6.521 at 209.11 and points leader Dallas Glenn qualified third with a 6.529 at 209.99.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ryan Oehler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pro Stock Motorcycle\u2019s Ryan Oehler made it official on Saturday at a packed U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, picking up his first career No. 1 qualifier when Friday\u2019s 6.7190 at 200.80 on his El Bandito Yankee Tequila EBR held up through Saturday\u2019s two rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very special,\u201d Oehler said. \u201cMy dad is an engine developer and horsepower developer, and this is what he\u2019s wanted. He\u2019s always said, \u2018I just want one of those yellow hats.\u2019 I\u2019ve always said, \u2018I just want to be in the winner\u2019s circle.\u2019 We got him his yellow hat today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis really flexes his muscles and shows what we\u2019re made of back home and what we\u2019ve been doing in the offseason to make power. It\u2019s going to be scary to see where we\u2019re headed if we keep going in this direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a brand-new engine we\u2019re putting together right now. Whether it\u2019ll be ready during the Countdown or not, it very well could be. That could be the secret sauce to a championship run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angie Smith took second with a 6.7377 at 196.51 and Indy winner Matt Smith qualified third with a 6.7403 at 197.02.<\/p>\n

Eliminations for the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on September 19, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Prock, Kalitta, Hartford, and Oehler Qualify No. 1 in Front of Sellout Crowd at Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back-to-back defending Funny Car world champion Austin Prock powered to the No. 1 spot in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, earning his second top qualifier of the year for Tasca Racing at this weekend\u2019s Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Matt Hartford […]<\/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-104828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104828","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=104828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}