November 18, 2025 | By NHRA

2025 NHRA MISSION FOODS DRAG RACING SERIES CHAMPIONS HONORED AT ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY

TEMECULA, Caif.—First-time world champions Dallas Glenn and Richard Gadson were honored Monday evening, along with two-time world champs Doug Kalitta and Austin Prock during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series awards ceremony at the Pechanga Resort Casino in scenic Southern California Wine Country.

The four standout competitors were crowned for their remarkable achievements during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and presented with their world championship trophies for their title runs during the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta earned his second world championship in three years on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, finishing off a stellar showing in the playoffs. He advanced to the finals at the first four Countdown events, winning races in St. Louis and Dallas to take command of the points race. It led to his second world championship in Pomona, finishing off what has been an incredible three-year run in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster. After waiting years to win a championship, Kalitta and crew chief Alan Johnson have proven to be a lethal combination for Kalitta Motorsports in the Top Fuel ranks. He won the 2023 title in a winner-take-all final round in Pomona and then rolled to four wins, seven final rounds and eight No. 1 qualifiers in 2025, including career-best performances of 3.628-seconds at 341.34 mph in Seattle.

Funny Car’s Austin Prock rolled to a second straight world title in dominant fashion in his 12,000-horsepower Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS, picking up an incredible nine wins this season. That gives the standout 17 victories over the past two seasons, marking a remarkable first two seasons in the Funny Car ranks. Prock won five of six races at one point this season, capped off by a second straight Indy victory. He added two more wins in the Countdown to the Championship, holding off four-time champ Matt Hagan to become just the seventh Funny Car driver in NHRA history to win back-to-back championships, and only the third this century.

In Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn was brilliant from start to finish, reversing last year’s heartbreak and clinching his first world championship in his RAD Torque Systems Camaro. Glenn, who fell in a winner-take-all final round to teammate Greg Anderson a year ago in Pomona, pulled away in the playoffs, winning four times over a five-race stretch, including in Vegas to cap off the championship run for KB Titan Racing. Glenn was nearly unstoppable in 2025, winning eight races and advancing to 13 final rounds en route to a near-flawless 50-9 record during eliminations.

For the first time, Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson is also a world champion, holding off teammate Gaige Herrera to take the crown. Gadson earned his first career Pro Stock Motorcycle victory in June in Bristol and rolled from there, picking up four total wins. Two of those came in the playoffs and paved the way for the championship run, as Gadson picked up wins at the Charlotte four-wide race and then Dallas, holding off Herrera by 21 points. As part of a breakout year on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki, Gadson advanced to six final rounds and also earned the first two No. 1 qualifiers of his Pro Stock Motorcycle career.

Funny Car’s Spencer Hyde was named NHRA Rookie of the Year after a standout debut season. The first-year Funny Car driver finished ninth in points, slipping past an impressive field that included Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Brayden Davis, Funny Car’s Hunter Green, and Pro Stock’s Matt Latino, Cody Coughlin and Chris Vang.

The Crew of the Year presented by Red Line Oil was given to a team in each professional category and was based on a number of statistical categories, including average qualifying position, average eliminations E.T., speed index, average points per race and oildowns. In Top Fuel, the Kalitta Motorsports team of Kalitta earned the award, while Prock’s JFR team was named the top crew in Funny Car.

The KB Titan team of six-time champ Anderson earned the award in Pro Stock, while the Vance & Hines team for Herrera won the honors in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

The NHRA also recognized Bob Brockmeyer for its Lifetime Achievement Award.

For the second straight year, Toyota won the NHRA’s Manufacturers Cup. The award is given to the automaker whose current model year vehicles accumulate the most points during the NHRA season. Among those who enjoyed banner seasons for Toyota were Top Fuel standouts Kalitta, Justin Ashley, Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown, Billy Torrence and Steve Torrence, and Funny Car stars Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and Alexis DeJoria.

Drivers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series were also recognized as 2025 world champions, including Shawn Cowie (Top Alcohol Dragster), Sean Bellemeur (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Jeff Taylor (Comp), Justin Lamb (Super Stock), Russ “Bubba” Linke (Stock), Chad Webber (Super Comp), J.J. Brock (Super Gas), Casey Plaizier (Right Trailers Top Dragster), and Darian Boesch (Right Trailers Top Sportsman).

The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 5-8 with the 57th annual NHRA Gatornationals at legendary Gainesville Raceway to kick off NHRA’s 75th anniversary season.