Race day at the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park could perhaps be best summed up in one word: history.
It was a banner day for Ron Capps Motorsports as the team completed the rare double-up. In Top Fuel, Maddi-Mania ran wild after Maddi Gordon scored her first career Top Fuel win in a landmark moment, defeating Antron Brown in the final round.
Gordon ran a 3.786 at 333.16 mph, besting Brown’s 3.840 pass at 328.14 mph.
Gordon had her fair share of adversity en route to her historic day. She defeated Tony Stewart, got the better of Shawn Langdon in a pedal-fest, and narrowly made the pass needed to topple Spencer Massey in round one.
The day served as the culmination of plenty of sacrifice and hard work, and Gordon was reflective after initially being overcome with emotion. She revealed that her day started off shaky, even outside of the cockpit.
“Well, I have to admit this morning was actually pretty low because I missed driver intros… I was frustrated at myself. I thought we got fined for it, which that’s not good… I thought I cost my boss a lot of money. Then, Bill Bader made me feel better because he actually said he was glad that I missed driver intro because that means I got to go with him, but I was still pretty upset.
“So, this morning, I was all flustered and it was a very flustered day in the car, and then we had our first round debacle going on where it was—I thought we weren’t going to make the run, and I’m just sitting there like, ‘Can anything else happen right now?’
“It just seemed like the cards were stacked against us and then we got Chuck, Chuck Grospitch, like that knight in shining armor that comes and saves the day. He thought of some off-the-wall, as he said, ‘hood-rat stuff,’ and he pulled this part off the car that we didn’t need. It’s nice to have, but we made it work.”
She then delivered a message of perseverance as she elaborated further about just how far she has come.
“I’ve had bigger lows in my career. I remember specifically here in Norwalk, I peddled against Bob McCosh in our Alcohol Funny Car and I missed the shifts and I blew the motor up and kicked five rods out, and I was absolutely devastated. I never caused my family that much money in my life.“I worked for the family company at the time, and I knew how much cabinets I had to sell to make up for it, and that is a lot of work. I was really, I was so mad, and I was like, ‘Man, can I even do this?’
“And it’s moments like that when you persevere and you come back, and you do better, and it makes you a stronger driver, and anybody out there who you know is having a bad day or wondering, ‘can I do it?’ then you absolutely cannot, if you think you can, then you can. It’s also about the people that you have around you.”
Gordon also reflected on the impact her family and her boss have had in helping her reach this moment.
“When I drove my family’s car, I had my family who picked me up when I was down and reminded me that I wasn’t that bad of a driver. For me, I don’t have my family around all that often anymore; they’re running all over the place, too, but I got Ron [Capps], and I got every single one on my team and Ron’s team, and if I’m ever down, they remind me why I shouldn’t be down. It’s all about who you surround yourself with.”
For Capps in Funny Car, not only did he achieve his first double-up as an owner, but his third win of the season was also the 80th of his legendary career. The big moment left the three-time Funny Car world champion reflecting on the greats he has worked with over the years.
There was something poetic about Capps defeating his former longtime teammate at Don Schumacher Racing, Jack Beckman, in the final round. The significance was not lost on him, and he took a moment to reflect on his former boss’s impact on the sport, which still looms large.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of Schumacher everywhere. Antron [Brown]. I told Antron down there that I’m not sure this would even be happening without him. He was a huge help to me.
“I decided to go on my own. He had just done it right ahead of me, so I mean the smallest of things and the largest of things that you don’t think about, starting a business or a race team and things like that. He was a huge, huge help to me, so we call each other brothers from another mother, and we are. I’m so grateful for what he’s done.”
Capps then elaborated on the dynasty Don Schumacher created.
“It was cool, Beckman obviously a longtime teammate and good friend, and then Antron. That was pretty cool that they have the final four and have us four, and that's the setup.
“Don always brought out—most of the time—brought out the best in you. He had ways of bringing out the best in us. It’s cool to look around and see Hagan and all my teammates and Leah [Pruett], and you go down the list of people that are still out here that were all under Schumacher’s roof, and it’s impressive.
“Now, when you look back at what he did at one time, we had eight cars at Schumacher, which is just crazy to think about. Very cool.”
Capps toppled Beckman in the final round with a 3.969 pass at 328.54 mph to Beckman’s 4.011 effort at 323.43 mph.
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| (Photo Credit: NHRA) |
In Pro Stock, Aaron Stanfield put Elite Motorsports back on top by defeating Matt Hartford for his second win of the season and the 35th of his NHRA career across multiple classes. Stanfield was quick to give credit to the team around him.
“Surround yourself with great people; that is for sure what I’ve done. Everything I’m a part of in racing, I have great people around me, and that makes a tremendous difference. I eat, sleep, and breathe drag racing, so that definitely helps.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Richard Gadson got the better of Gaige Herrera in an all Vance & Hines final round. For the second straight day, Herrera went red against Gadson, just as he did in Saturday’s Mission Foods Challenge.
The win served as a full-circle moment for Gadson, who had his first real taste of success during his rookie campaign at Norwalk in 2024.
“The first media center interview I ever did was right here. My first taste of any sort of winning was right here. Norwalk is really one of those things; I don’t think I’ve given it justice how good it’s been to me.
“This is the first overall win, but I’ve had success here now two #2Fast2Tasties, a win here, and a final round last year. I love Norwalk. Mr. Bader is amazing. This facility is amazing. The ice cream, the whole deal. The whole experience of being here in Norwalk.
“I really hate that it rained and the forecast on Friday, because we potentially could have had an evening session, and that’s something to see at Norwalk. This is a special place.”
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action July 17-19 with the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals presented by PowerEdge at Sonoma Raceway.
(Cover Photo Credit: NHRA)
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