The father-son Pro Stock tandem of Greg and Aaron Stanfield delivered the most promising performance of 2025 for Elite Motorsports Sunday at Somoma, Calif., with multi-time and multi-class champion dad tutoring his son in the final round of the Denso Sonoma Nationals.
Elite Motorsports had to stand all season long and watch keen rival KB Titan Racing hog all the trophies and all the glory and all but two of the 22 final-round berths. And neither Elite driver—Erica Enders at Epping, N.H., nor Jeg Coughlin at Seattle, who have 11 champions between them—could win. Elite owner Richard Freeman said, “We have sucked all year long.”
But the Stanfields assured Elite Motorsports its first victory in 14 races, since last November, when Aaron Stanfield won at Las Vegas. Winner Greg Stanfield earned his fourth Pro Stock trophy and first since November 2011 at Pomona, Calif., validating his return to the class after a lengthy absence.
“It was special, running Aaron—big time,” the emotional Greg Stanfield said. “That was breathtaking.”
It marked the first time all season that neither Greg Anderson nor Dallas Glenn was in the final round, and both Stanfields said they were dedicating the performances to Elite engine builder Jake Hairston, who's battling cancer.
Stanfield joined Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Austin Prock (Funny Car), and Richard Gadson (Pro Stock Motorcycle) in the winners circle.
Funny Car
And while Brittany Force’s fortunes fizzled in the first round of Top Fuel and Jack Beckman’s Funny Car crossed the center line in the semifinals and was disqualified, John Force Racing salvaged a victory with Austin Prock in Funny Car.
In the final round, Prock defeated class rookie Spencer Hyde, who like Prock broke into the NHRA pro ranks as a Top Fuel driver. Arguably the leading Rookie of the Year candidate and pleasant surprise of the season in Jim Head’s Ford Mustang, Epping, N.H., runner-up, Hyde was making his second final-round appearance.
Earlier in the day, points leader Prock recorded the class’ second-fastest speed at 340.90 mph. But Hyde jumped into the top 10 in the standings, from 12th place to eighth. Hyde advanced to the final round as Jack Beckman’s Chevrolet crossed the center line and was disqualified from the semifinal.
Before the final round, Hyde called Prock “the best Funny Car driver in the world right now.” After clutching his 13th Funny Car trophy in 32 starts, Prock said that he has been working his whole life to live this dream, and “for someone to give you a compliment like that is unbelievable.”
Top Fuel, Pro Stock Motorcycle Winners
Kalitta, facing Brown for the 10th time in a final round, became the eighth different Top Fuel winner this season. It came at the site of his first victory.
Bristol winner Gadson, captured his second victory, denying Norwalk, Ohio, champion John Hall his second triumph in five weeks.
Brittany Force’s Magic Vanishes Early
Brittany Force, operating in the Top Fuel stratosphere for the past two weeks with her string of 340-plus-mph runs at Seattle and Sonoma, came back down to Earth Sunday morning. Her elation from her 343.16-mph speed in qualifying that is the fastest-ever in drag racing came to an abrupt end as she lost to points leader Shawn Langdon, uncharacteristically the field’s slowest qualifier.
It was a triple play for Langdon. He not only topped Force, but he also earned a bye run into the semifinals because of the short field (only 10 cars for the 16-car line-up) and took advantage of Tony Stewart’s first-round defeat just before. Josh Hart ended Stewart’s streak of Round 1 victories at 11 races.
John Force Racing’s Jack Beckman records milestone victory
Funny Car racer Jack Beckman hit the 500-round-win plateau with his victory in the first round against Jason Rupert. Beckman quipped that he was “half of John Force” and said, “I’d have to live to be 103 to catch Greg Anderson, let alone John Force.” Pro Stock veteran Anderson had 1,104 round-wins as of Round 1 Sunday, and the inactive Force leads the sport with 1,460.
Dan Wilkerson Ends Costly Weekend with Second Engine Explosion
Funny Car bodies are pricey at about $75,000 each, so it’s no wonder Dan Wilkerson was distraught Sunday after his second major engine explosion this weekend. The body of his SCAG Jackal cracked in two as he pushed his luck, falling behind Bob Tasca III in the opposite lane and thinking he could catch him.
“I don’t think I’ve done such a piss-poor job in my entire life of driving one of these things,” a dismayed Wilkerson said. “I was driving with my heart instead of my head. The thing juts blew up in my face again. I can’t believe how bad I let everybody down. Now, tice this weekend, I’ve done a pitiful job.”
Antron Brown Gets Rare Jump on Justin Ashley
With his quarterfinal victory over Justin Ashley, Brown became only the second Top Fuel driver to beat Ashley off the starting line this season.
Known as the sport’s best “leaver,” Ashley has launched first in 30 of his 32 passes. The only other driver to have a better reaction time than Ashley this year was Shawn Langdon, the other notorious leaver, who got the jump on Ashley 11 races ago, April 7 at Phoenix.
Brown said about Ashley, “That kid’s unbelievable. He’s an all-star.”
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