JOHN FORCE RACING PHOTO
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 8, 2025) – Josh Hart and Alexis DeJoria are both newcomers to the 24-time NHRA Championship winning John Force Racing organization but both made incredibly strong statements at Sunday’s 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season-opening Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, with Hart earning the Top Fuel title and DeJoria finishing runner-up in Funny Car.
Hart and the Burnyzz / Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster team, led by crew chiefs Dave Grubnic and John Collins, defeated two-time and defending Top Fuel Champion Doug Kalitta in the final round, running 3.733 seconds at 337.83 mph to Kalitta’s 3.877 seconds at 319.60 mph. It was the Florida transplant’s second Gatornationals victory, and third overall in six final-round appearances. Hart’s previous victories came at the 2021 Gatornationals in his Top Fuel debut and the 2021 fall race at zMax Dragway when he defeated Brittany Force.
DeJoria and her Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car, led by crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jonni Lindberg, left the starting line strong but lost traction at 300 feet and slowed to a run of 5.003 seconds at 167.59 mph while Chad Green streaked across the finish line at 3.959 seconds at 329.91 mph. It was DeJoria’s 17th career Funny Car final-round appearance.
Jordan Vandergriff, making both his John Force Racing and Funny Car debut in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS, qualified eighth and reached the semifinals before bowing out to Green. Jack Beckman, starting his second full season with JFR in the PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny, qualified ninth and lost to teammate Vandergriff in the first round.
Hart, who earned his career first Top Fuel No. 1 Qualifier spot Saturday, marched to the final round by defeating Dan Mercier in Rd. 1 (3.751 seconds at 335.65 mph to 5.107 at 143.08) a red-lighting Tripp Tatum in Rd. 2 (3.845 at 334.57) and pedaling in the semifinals against Antron Brown (4.488 at 289.51 to 4.552 at 246.93).
“It was truly a week or weekend at Burnyzz, you know,” said Hart. “We had a Burnyzz on the side of the car. We had Burnyzz signage in the lane that I just won in. We had Burnyzz on the scoreboards, and we had Fanfest at Burnyzz earlier in the week and it all was just awesome. The last time I won the Gatornationals, it was a storybook. I think we just beat it, and we crushed every record that I have had in my career all in the first weekend with John Force Racing. Those John Force Racing guys are absolutely awesome. They are the most professional team I’ve ever been a part of and communication is second to none. I just want to say thank you to John Force and Brittany Force for even considering me, let alone picking me, to take that seat.
“We crushed all of our first quarter priority goals in one weekend,” said Hart about working with crew chief Dave Grubnic. “So that must have been his mentality coming into it. This week has been just absolutely epic. The fans’ energy here at home, I can’t put that into words. I mean, they kept me going, I was tired. I’m beat and I know my guys are beat, too, but all the fans are cheering when you do the warm ups. I mean, I forgot what that felt like.
“Getting this win at home, to kick off this new team, is even more special because of the partnership with Speedmaster. I’ve already started calling the car Speedmaster and the partnership is only going to get better with some big announcements coming soon.”
DeJoria earned her way to the final round by defeating two-time NHRA Funny Car Champion Cruz Pedregon in a pedal-fest upset win in Rd. 1 (4.545 seconds at 298.40 to 4.898 162.78), running 4.040 at 324.59 to Spencer Hyde’s 4.066 at 314.39 in Rd. 2 and a -0.099-second red-light victory in the semifinals against J.R. Todd, with DeJoria again running 4.040 seconds at 325.45 mph to Todd’s 4.202 at 326.79.
“I’m so thrilled to be able to go to the final with this new Bandero team in the first race of the year with John Force Racing,” said DeJoria. “Oh, man, this is just incredible. We worked really hard today. It was hot and the conditions were rough. I had to pedal it in the first round against Cruz and the competition was tough all day. But we really did a good job today, and these guys worked really hard, and I’m so proud of them. This is gonna be the first of many. We’re leaving here second in the points and I am just thrilled. Every round was so important, and even though we did not get the hardware today, we still made it to the final round and I just know this is setting the tone for the rest of the season.”
Vandergriff advanced the Cornwell Tools Chevy to the semifinals but put out a cylinder early in the run and bowed to Green with a run of 4.068 seconds at 300.40 mph to Green’s 3.980 at 324.83 mph. The Funny Car rookie defeated JFR teammate Jack Beckman in Rd. 1, running 3.970 seconds at 327.35 mph to Beckman’s 3.987 at 326.87 in PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car.
“A semfinal finish was not the way we wanted to end the weekend for our Cornwell Quality Tools team but, overall, it was a fantastic weekend,” said Vandergriff. “This opportunity with John Force Racing was a dream of mine for years now, and I never thought it would be here, and the fact that it is here with John is still unbelievable. If you would have told me coming into this race that I would have made the semifinals, I think I would have taken it. It’s a great start for this team led by Chris Cunningham and Jason Bunker, and this almost entirely new group of guys. We’ve shown what we can do, what we’re capable of, and we’re definitely going to improve on that headed to Phoenix.”
The first-round matchup between Vandergriff and Beckman meant that only one of the John Force Racing entries would advance to the second round and, unfortunately for Beckman, it was his PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car that did not turn on the finish line win light.
“I’m disappointed to lose, for sure, because there’s no upside to losing,” said the 2012 NHRA Funny Car World Champion. “I don’t care if it’s a teammate in the other lane. We came here to win the race. We just got behind it in qualifying, and we threw down a must-get-down-the-track run on Q4, that moved us clear up to eighth but the conditions weren’t gonna allow us to get into the top half. But that put us against the Cornwell team with Jordan without lane choice. I don’t think that mattered. Jordan left on me, and their car was a thousandth quicker than ours. I think, given all the adversity the PEAK SQUAD had in qualifying, they did a tremendous job calling their shot for first round. It’s frustrating to have the third quickest run of the (first) round and not have a win light to show for it. On the upside, I’ve got three John Force Racing team cars to root for for the remainder of the race.”
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings after one event are: 1. Josh Hart, 122; 2. Doug Kalitta, 96; 3. Antron Brown, 76; 4. Maddi Gordon, 74; 5. Leah Pruett, 57; 6. Tony Stewart, 54; 7. Tripp Tatum, 53; 8. Tony Schumacher, 48; 9. Shawn Langdon, 44; 10. (tie) Justin Ashley, 32. Shawn Reed, 32.
The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after one race are: 1. Chad Green, 115; 2. Alexis DeJoria, 93; 3. J.R. Todd, 82; 4. Jordan Vandergriff, 71; 5. Matt Hagan, 59; 6. Daniel Wilkerson, 56; 7. (tie) Spencer Hyde, 51; John Smith, 51; 9. Ron Capps, 41; 10. Paul Lee, 37.
Next Event
The second of 20 events on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the March 20-22 FMP NHRA Nationals presented by NGK Spark Plugs at Firebird Motorsports Park in Chandler, Ariz.
###