NHRA News: Rain washes out Sat. Qualifying in Pomona, Kalitta clinches

What was meant to be a crescendo of chrome and thunder at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals dissolved into a symphony of soggy disappointment on Saturday, as relentless rain and biting cold once again conspired against the dragstrip faithful.

For the second straight day—and the second time in three years—the historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip fell victim to Southern California’s unseasonal deluge, canceling all qualifying sessions and thrusting the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series championships into a compressed, high-stakes Sunday showdown.

With gates swinging open at 7:30 a.m. PT and first-round eliminations firing up at 10 a.m., the stage is set for a winner-take-most frenzy across Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle—classes where points entering the weekend will dictate the brackets, turning the finale into a pressure-cooker of redemption, rivalry, and raw horsepower.

The weather gods showed no mercy. Friday’s persistent showers had already postponed the opener, forcing a crammed Saturday slate that included makeup qualifying and pro sessions. But by midday, dark clouds unleashed a torrent, soaking the quarter-mile and dropping temperatures into the low 50s—conditions too treacherous for the precision ballet of drag racing.

“It’s disappointing, but safety comes first,” NHRA officials stated in a midday announcement, echoing the 2023 Finals washout that similarly upended the schedule. Fans, undeterred, braved the drizzle for autographs and vendor prowls, but the roar of nitro-fueled beasts remained silenced until Sunday’s forecast promises drier skies.

Top Fuel: Kalitta’s Clinch – A Championship Sealed in the Shadows

In the ironies of the In-N-Out Burger era, Doug Kalitta became the first Top Fuel champion crowned without firing a shot at Pomona since the playoffs’ inception. Entering the weekend with a commanding 2607 points—74 ahead of Shawn Langdon—the Mac Tools dragster pilot’s title was all but inevitable, but Saturday’s cancellation made it official, his second crown in three years and the sixth for the storied Kalitta Motorsports dynasty.

Unlike the heart-stopping 2023 finale, where Kalitta edged Antron Brown in a winner-take-all thriller, this triumph arrived via playoff dominance: four wins, seven runner-ups, and eight No. 1 qualifiers across 19 races. Crew chief Alan Johnson’s wizardry—honed through midseason surges in Sonoma and Brainerd—propelled the team from fourth in the Countdown opener to untouchable.

“Yeah, this is definitely a lot easier,” Kalitta quipped post-announcement, his voice a mix of relief and reverence over NHRA’s digital airwaves. “It’s always seemed to come down to the last race, last day, but we had a nice string of runs throughout the Countdown. Alan and my whole team have had my car going down the track… It’s a huge relief to be able to win the championship before the last round at the last race, and we’re all just super happy.”

The Ypsilanti, Michigan, veteran, nephew of team owner Connie Kalitta, joins a family legacy etched by uncle Scott’s 1994-95 titles. With the hardware hardware secured, Sunday becomes a victory lap for Kalitta, who enters as the No. 1 seed against Shawn Reed—though the real fireworks will ignite in the other lanes.

Funny Car: Prock’s Repeat Bid Hangs on a Rookie’s Shadow

Over in Funny Car, the nitro coupe wars simmer with sequel potential. Points leader Austin Prock (2594) carries a 101-point cushion over Matt Hagan (2493) into eliminations, seeding him atop the ladder against rookie sensation Hunter Green—a matchup that could deliver back-to-back titles for the Montana Express, who stunned the series with his 2024 breakthrough.

Prock’s path is straightforward: dispatch Green in the opener, and the crown is his, capping a season of nine wins and relentless consistency aboard the Montana Express Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But for Hagan, the four-time champ and Ron Capps Racing veteran, it’s do-or-die: a first-round upset for Prock, followed by a Pomona sweep, is the only route to title No. 5.

“We’ve got the speed; now it’s about execution,” Hagan said earlier in the week, eyeing the broadcast on FS1 starting at 5 p.m. ET Sunday. The duo’s intra-team tension—Hagan’s NAPA Auto Parts machine versus Prock’s Montana Express—adds familial friction to the finale, with Jack Beckman (2416) lurking as a spoiler in third.

Pro Stock: Glenn’s Redemption Ride Against the Rain

Pro Stock’s narrative is pure Hollywood: redemption on a rain-slicked stage. Dallas Glenn, the 27-year-old phenom from Virginia, enters with a slim lead over Greg Anderson, the six-time champ whose KB Titan Racing team has tormented him since a heartbreaking .002-second defeat in last year’s Finals. Seeded No. 1, Glenn faces David Cuadra in the opener; a victory there clinches his first title, provided the points gap holds above 90—a margin bolstered by his recent Texas FallNationals win, where he nipped Cody Coughlin at the stripe.

“Last year was tough, but it lit a fire,” Glenn reflected ahead of the weekend, his FTI Performance Chevrolet Camaro primed for payback. Anderson, ever the metronome with consistent low ETs, needs Glenn to falter early and himself to storm the bracket. With Aaron Stanfield (third, 2830 points per partial standings) and Erica Enders rounding out the chase, Sunday’s ladder could shuffle the factory-hot hierarchy.

Pro Stock Motorcycle: Teammates Turned Titans in a Two-Horse Race

On two wheels, the thunder is intimate and electric. Richard Gadson, the Mission Foods Suzuki rider, holds a razor-thin 21-point edge over teammate Gaige Herrera entering the weekend, seeding him No. 1 after a Dallas triumph that swelled his lead to 72 before Vegas’ shave-down. The Vance & Hines duo—Gadson, the veteran mentor honored this week with the Big Brothers Big Sisters award for his community work—faces off against the field, but fate favors a sibling showdown: the better performer Sunday claims the crown, with a final-round clash possible in this winner-take-all tilt.

Herrera, the defending champ and U.S. Nationals regular-season clincher, enters with fire after Vegas, where he closed the gap dramatically.

“It’s teammate versus teammate, but on the track, it’s all business,” Gadson noted, his voice steady amid the stakes. With six rounds separating them this year—each with a win—the Finals could crown a repeat or an upset, electrifying the PSM class’s tightest finale in years.

As the sun crests the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday, Pomona’s faithful—some 40,000 strong despite the gloom—will pack the stands for a compressed card of quarters, semis, and finals across the pros, culminating in a broadcast blitz. NHRA promises updates via app and socials if Mother Nature meddles anew, but for Kalitta, Prock, Glenn, and the bike battlers, the real storm brews in the burnout box. In drag racing’s house of noise, where margins are measured in thousandths, this rain-delayed redemption could redefine legacies under a clearing sky. The lights will glow; the tires will smoke. Let the finals fly.