JUSTIN ASHLEY – NHRA PHOTO
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 09, 2025) – The 2025 Mission Foods NHRA Drag
Racing Series season officially kicked off this weekend with the Amalie
Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Daniel Wilkerson,
driver of the SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang Funny Car and Justin
Ashley who pilots the SCAG Toyota Top Fuel dragster each had first round
exits while Dave Richards and the BlueBird / Versatran team fell victim
to Mother Nature’s rain out of Saturday qualifying.
Wilkerson and his SCAG Mustang secured the No. 5 qualifying spot after a
3.901-second pass at 325.45 mph on Friday. Their efforts matched them
with No. 12 qualifier Buddy Hull in the first round. Wilkerson would
leave the starting line first but both Funny Cars would have tire smoke
forcing the drivers to pedal their way to the finish line. Hull would
get there first with a 4.048 elapsed time at 313.37 to defeat
Wilkerson’s 4.177 at 322.88.
“You know, first off, I hate losing. I hate losing for SCAG, hate
losing for Ford, hate losing for Summit and I really hate losing for all
my guys that have worked their butts off especially after I wrecked a
car in testing, but, I haven’t had that much fun driving a race car in
my entire life. That thing shook its balls off. When it did, I eased up
just a little bit like [crew chief] Tim [Wilkerson] told me to and I
stood back on it and it was sliding around all over the place, it was
actually kind of badass. But we’re never going to do that again
because we’re going to start winning rounds instead.”
Ashley and the SCAG Toyota team qualified No. 14 after a 3.782-second
pass on Friday. They would line up against defending event winner and
eventual runner-up Shawn Langdon in the first round. Often called two of
the best leavers in NHRA Top Fuel competition, Ashley had a 12-10
winning record against Langdon. Ashley left the starting line first, but
it would be a pedalfest. Ashley had cylinders out, but Langdon was able
to get it hooked back up to run 5.020 seconds at 235.19 mph bettering
Ashley’s 5.682 at 130.61.
“It felt great getting back into the swing of things. Obviously, we
would’ve liked to perform much better, but it’s a long season. Shawn
is as tough as they come and the weather conditions were tricky,”
Ashley said. “We gave it our all, but it wasn’t meant to be this
time. Right now, we’re focused on Phoenix and the Arizona Nationals.
We are grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time with our SCAG
dealers and look forward to doing more of the same the week after
next.”
Richards and the BlueBird / Versatran team found themselves looking in
from the outside at the season opener. The BlueBird hotrod only managed
a 4.594 second run at 160.42 mph during Friday qualifying that put them
No. 17. They were looking to take full advantage of Saturday, but Mother
Nature had other plans.
“Definitely not the way we wanted to start our season. Mother Nature
didn’t cooperate with us on Saturday. We were extremely disappointed
not to get two more shots at the track,” Richards said. “We’ll
leave here keeping our chins up and I’m confident this team is going
to surprise some folks. It’s going to be a long few weeks waiting to
get back on the track, I can’t wait for Phoenix.”
The three-car SCAG Racing team will return to competition March 21-23 at
Firebird Motorsports Park for the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
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JUSTIN ASHLEY, SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster
Qualifying: No. 14
3.782 seconds, 324.44
Race Results: Lost to Shawn Langdon
DANIEL WILKERSON, SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang Funny Car
Qualifying: No. 5
3.901 seconds, 325.45 mph
Race Results: Lost to Buddy Hull
DAVE RICHARDS, BlueBird Turf / Versatran Funny Car
Qualifying: No. 17
4.549 seconds, 160.42 mph
Race Results: DNQ