After starting the season on the East Coast, teams have traveled to the opposite coast for the second race of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour, the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals. The conditions in Phoenix (well, Chandler, technically) are exactly as you’d expect for spring in this part of the country: plentiful blazing sunshine illuminating a brilliant blue sky. The forecast is for toasty temps and mostly clear skies, so pack your shorts.
Last race was an extravaganza, with the national record being reset and personal bests falling like leaves from trees. In contrast, conditions are expected to be quite warm in Phoenix, and it doesn’t seem that the track records of 6.498-second and 213.77 mph – set by Mike Edwards in 2013 – are likely to be touched.
Pro Stock competitors are eager to get back to work after getting a healthy fix in Gainesville two weeks ago, and they’re less concerned with breaking records than they are with chasing a trophy this weekend.
Who and how many
There have been 21 different Pro Stock winners here in Phoenix, and drivers who have won in the Valley of the Sun multiple times include Bob Glidden (5); Darrell Alderman, Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Warren Johnson, and Kurt Johnson (3); and Erica Enders, Allen Johnson, Jason Line, and Jim Yates (2). The defending event champion is Greg Anderson, who bested KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn in the Phoenix final last season.
The next first
According to history, we’re overdue for a first-time winner in Pro Stock – and there are a few keenly qualified candidates. Since and including 2010, there has been a fresh face on the Pro Stock win sheet in all but two seasons – 2019 and 2024. So far, there’s only been one first-time Pro Stock winner in Phoenix – Camrie Caruso in 2023, and she was the most recent driver to claim a first win in the naturally aspirated class of factory hot rods.
In all, there have been 72 different winners in the class since Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins claimed victory at the 1970 Winternationals, and No. 73 is probably going to happen sooner rather than later.
This weekend at Firebird Motorsports Park, it could very well be a Cuadra. Older brother Fernando Jr. (runner-up at the U.S. Nationals in 2023); Cristian (two-time Pro Stock runner-up); and twin brother David (who won Top Sportsman at the fall race in Charlotte in 2023 and was runner-up in that class four additional times) are all on the entry list after missing Gainesville, and the sacred grounds at Firebird Motorsports Park are where Fernando Jr. earned his Pro Stock license in 2019.
Eric Latino had a pretty impressive car in Gainesville (low elapsed time and top speed in round one, then top speed again in round two), and he’s in line for a win. His son, Matt Latino, is making his Pro Stock debut in Phoenix, so he’s also eligible.
It’s difficult to believe that Mason McGaha hasn’t yet claimed a victory of his own; he’s shown he can drive his Harlow Sammons Racing entry in all kinds of challenging situations, and he’s “officially” been runner-up in three final rounds since making his Pro Stock debut in 2020 (more for those counting finishing third or fourth in the final round of four-wide competition).
Brandon Foster, who made his debut in the class last season, is also a possibility, as is KB Titan Racing’s newest pair of drivers in the 10-time championship stable, Cody Coughlin and Matt Latino. Stephen Bell, a championship contender and seven-time winner in Factory Stock, is transitioning to Pro Stock this year as well, and he’s more than equipped to win with his Elite Motorsports-backed entry. He was not in Gainesville but is on the entry list for Phoenix.
Cory Reed is name most often dropped when “the next first win” conversation comes up, and he had one of the quickest cars on Sunday at the Gatornationals as he powered his way to the semifinal round. Reed was runner-up at the SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton earlier this year, and he reset his career-best speed in Gainesville. Reed, a former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider, reached the final round twice in his rookie campaign last season driving his J&A Service Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stocker, including in Sonoma at the second race of his four-wheeling career.
Old vs. new
The final round of Pro Stock at the Gatornationals pitted Pro Stock veteran and reigning world champion Greg Anderson against a driver who has become a friendly though powerful rival. Dallas Glenn and his RAD Torque Systems Chevy got the nod over the most winning driver in the history of the class at the Gatornationals when six-time champ Anderson obliterated the tires leaving the starting line and Glenn made a successfully smooth pass. Notably, it was the first time Glenn had gotten a win light over Anderson in the final round; he had come up short four times before, including last year in Phoenix.
After locking down the 133 No. 1 qualifier award of his career and resetting the national record for elapsed time to 6.443 at Gainesville Raceway two weeks ago, Anderson’s HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro is looking to be in fine form to start the season, and his driving is up to par as well proving that age is just a number and mindset is of the greatest importance. The young guns are charging, but Anderson is holding them at bay.
What remains to be seen is if there will be a rejuvenation of the not-that-long-ago rivalry between Anderson and Greg Stanfield, who returned to the class this season for a full pull after exiting at the conclusion of 2014 to let the spotlight shine on son Aaron. Aaron’s done his job (and is continuing to do so); he’s been a true contender for the championship, and he rallied to get dad to come on board at Elite Motorsports and race alongside him for wins and the series title. Like Anderson, Greg Stanfield is a six-time world champion – but his titles are diversified across Super Stock (five championships) and Holley EFI Factory X, where he is the reigning champ. Stanfield’s return to Pro Stock reawakens a rivalry bolstered by a 28-16 eliminations win-loss record in favor of Anderson. Stanfield has 21 wins in 54 final rounds across six different categories, and his most recent Pro Stock win was at the NHRA Finals in 2011.
Pro Stock is an awesome mix right now of a generation of drivers who haven’t lost their touch and a new breed who are forcing them to rise even further to the challenge. Anderson (whose first Pro Stock start was in 1998), Stanfield (1999 Pro Stock Truck, 2002 Pro Stock car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (1997), Kenny Delco (1985!), Erica Enders (2005), and Matt Hartford (2006) are battling a rash of drivers who are relative newcomers and a fraction of their age in most cases, and driver capabilities are more important than ever before in this class that demands a home run at every single increment on the racetrack.
It’s an exciting time for the naturally aspirated factory hot rods, and with the sun shining on Phoenix, it should be a very exciting weekend. Two Friday qualifying sessions will be followed by two more on Saturday at the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals, with eliminations slated to begin at 11 a.m. MST on Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park. More info at NHRA.com.
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