AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Ron Capps Motorsports Post-Race Recap: Gainesville

AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
Event 1 of 20
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla.
March 6-8, 2026

By: Ron Capps Motorsports (Photos Courtesy RCM)

Top Fuel:

Statement-Making Top Fuel Debut Sends Maddi Gordon to Gatornationals Semifinals 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 8, 2026) – NHRA Rookie of the Year contender Maddi Gordon made her presence known Sunday at the NHRA Gatornationals when she raced to a semifinal finish at Gainesville Raceway. Gordon piloted her Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster out of the Ron Capps Motorsports camp to round wins over two of the most accomplished drivers in class history before tire smoke ended her run at the opening race of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. She leaves Gainesville ranked fourth in the points standings.

Gordon was the first Top Fuel driver to hit the track in Friday qualifying. Just a couple hours after announcing a multi-year major associate partnership with Monster Energy, Gordon posted a 3.861-second pass at 319.29 mph to take the provisional No. 11 position. She stepped up to a 3.793 E.T. at 321.35 mph in the Friday night session and ended the day in the No. 15 spot. On Saturday, Gordon encountered tire smoke on her third qualifying attempt but came back with a consistent 3.797 E.T. at 328.06 mph in the final qualifying session. It was the quickest pass of the round, netting Gordon three bonus points. She solidified the No. 15 slot going into race day and became the 591st driver and the 23rd woman to qualify for an NHRA Top Fuel field.

In her first-ever Top Fuel competition round, Gordon lined up against No. 2 qualifier and former world champion Shawn Langdon, who was recently named to NHRA’s Top 75 Drivers list. Crew chief Rob Flynn guided Gordon to her quickest pass of the event, a 3.762 E.T. at 334.48 mph, to get past a tire-smoking Langdon. The competition didn’t get any easier for Gordon, as she went on to face the winningest driver in the history of the class, eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, when Top Fuel returned to the starting line for the quarterfinals. Gordon powered to a 3.783 E.T. at 331.53 mph to defeat Schumacher and his 3.863 E.T. That sent Gordon to the semifinals and earned her a spot in the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season, which will take place during Saturday qualifying at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

The semifinals brought another battle of youth versus experience as Gordon faced her third “Top 75” driver, two-time and reigning world champion Doug Kalitta. Gordon started hazing the tires early and had to lift off the throttle as Kalitta advanced with his quickest pass of the day.

“That was just a really, really good weekend,” said Gordon, who became the 100th woman to win an NHRA national event when she drove her family’s Top Alcohol Funny Car to victory at the 2024 NHRA Northwest Nationals. “Of course, we all want to win the race, but I couldn’t have asked for much more in my debut. It was so cool to line up against Shawn in the first round. Rob was confident that the car would get down the track. When I heard (Langdon) blow the tires off in the other lane, I seriously spoke out loud, ‘That wasn’t me! We’re still going!’ Seeing that first win light was insane. I actually started to lose my voice after that one. It’s just been an amazing weekend.”

Gordon’s rookie campaign will continue at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, March 20-22, at Firebird Motorsports Park near Phoenix.

Qualified: No. 15 (3.793 E.T. at 321.35 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.762 E.T. at 334.48 MPH defeated Shawn Langdon 4.494 E.T. at 190.81 MPH
E2: 3.783 E.T. at 331.53 MPH defeated Tony Schumacher 3.863 E.T. at 298.87 MPH
E3: 4.630 E.T. at 165.07 MPH defeated by Doug Kalitta 3.754 E.T. at 333.91 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Point Standings (Unofficial):
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
7 Tony Schumacher 53
9 Shawn Langdon 44
10 Billy Torrence 34

Funny Car:

Ron Capps Opens 2026 NHRA Season with No. 1 Qualifier at Gatornationals

Ron Capps kicked off NHRA’s 75th anniversary season by qualifying his NAPA Auto Care Funny Car in the No. 1 spot to score the first Funny Car pole of the year at the NHRA Gatornationals. As a seven-time Gainesville Raceway finalist, Capps was looking to add to his four wins at the historic facility, but an upset loss in the opening round of eliminations Sunday morning ended his day early.

Capps qualified on the strength of his Q2 pass of 3.890 seconds at 334.07 mph and was the only Funny Car racer to dip into the 3.8-second range during opening weekend of the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Knowing they were safely in the show, crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli and the NAPA team used Saturday’s remaining two qualifying rounds as test sessions to prepare for Sunday eliminations and felt they had a solid plan in place heading into round one against No. 16 qualifier John Smith. The three-time Funny Car world champion was first off the line but his machine started rattling the tires. He pedaled the car and got it to hook back up, but the ignition box was inadvertently shut off, allowing Smith to drive away with the win. While the early exit was a disappointment, Capps was not deterred and is eager to head to Phoenix for the Arizona Nationals and a chance to rebound.

“We left the Finals in Pomona at the end of last year and we already knew what we wanted to test to get better,” said Capps, who debuted as a multi-car team owner for the first time at the Gatornationals with the addition of Maddi Gordon and the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel team. “A lot of work was done at the shop with both teams, obviously getting the dragster together and ready for Maddi’s licensing and then the Funny Car team, we had a great game plan and it all came together. We made great runs in testing and Guido was very excited about coming to race under these warm weather conditions.

“Everyone had that decent shot Friday night, and obviously we were number one with that 3.89, which is always great. With the time change Saturday night and the track conditions the way they were, we figured first round was going to be pretty fast. But, typical Gainesville. I always say, the wins I’ve had here, you always feel like you’ve run multiple events in one day because it’s so demanding. It’s hot, humid, hard on the teams, hard on the drivers. And first round was tough, you never discount Paul Smith, that’s a car that will go down the track so you cannot make mistakes. We went out, rattled the tires. I started pedaling and got it going again, but unfortunately, the ignition box inadvertently shut off, and I was just a sitting duck out there and John Smith was able to drive around me. It’s a bummer, but the great thing is we know we’ve got a good hot rod. We’ve got a weekend off and then we’ll get right back at it in Phoenix.”

Up next for Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team is the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park, where Capps made his professional debut in 1995 while competing in the Top Fuel category.

Qualified: No. 1 (3.890 E.T. at 334.07 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 5.074 E.T. at 158.82 MPH defeated by John Smith 4.511 E.T. at 303.64 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
1 Chad Green 115
2 Alexis DeJoria 93
3 J.R. Todd 82
4 Jordan Vandergriff 71
5 Matt Hagan 59
6 Dan Wilkerson 56
7 Spencer Hyde 51
7 John Smith 51
9 Ron Capps 41
10 Paul Lee 37