This weekend, the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout was contested on Saturday during the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, and it was packed with punch. Ultimately, Dallas Glenn won the coveted GETTRX All-Star Callout belt, but storylines abounded throughout the special Pro Stock event.
“This is really exciting for me,” said Glenn. “We showed up at this race with a different car, and all night Thursday I stickered it and got it ready to go. It’s been a little bit of a thrash last minute, but I think it was worth it. I trusted the crew chiefs, they wanted to swap and work out a few things on this car, try a few new things, and it made a fantastic run in the final. I’ve wanted to get one of these Ice Cream Scoops for a long time, I think I’ve been to like three of these finals and shook every time. This is pretty huge, and that nice, big, extra bonus check should be pretty nice too. Thank you, GETTRX.”
The roots of a bonus race for the pro doorslammers date back to 1985 and the inaugural Mr. Gasket Pro Stock Challenge, and since then it has gone through several iterations, including the King Demon Crown and most recently the K&N Horsepower Challenge.
The specialty event highlighting the cream of the 500-cubic inch naturally aspirated crop is now contested in a callout-style format kept running strong by GETTRX. The re-imagined All-Star Callout emerged in 2023, debuting at the Route 66 Nationals and bringing together eight drivers based on qualifying points accumulated year-to-year.
In its first season, the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout was won by rookie Camrie Caruso. The next season, six-time world champion Greg Anderson earned the title, and last year, it was Matt Hartford. Stretching back to the beginning, Bruce Allen won the first Pro Stock bonus race in 1985 over Butch Leal, and just over four decades later, during NHRA’s 75th anniversary season, Glenn took the prestigious title. Here’s how it all shook down at Summit Motorsports Park.
Contentions revealed at first call
The No. 1 seed for this season’s GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout (also the No. 1 qualifier for the main event) was Greg Anderson, who owns the most Pro Stock specialty race wins (seven in its original orientation, and one in the callout era). As the top seed, the six-time world champion had his pick of the lot when it came to who a first-round opponent in the specialty race. Anderson, with a wry grin, polled the crowd at the Callout shindig, asking, “What do you think? Should we pick EE?” His longtime rivalry with Erica Enders is possibly and/or probably the staunchest in present-day Pro Stock, and the fans were in hearty agreement that she was the right choice.
Glenn, the reigning Pro Stock champion, next selected Jeg Coughlin Jr. with a nod of respect to his nickname, “The Natural,” and Eric Latino, who has a very capable car but has not yet established himself as a steady leaver in Pro Stock, selected one of the best in the class in third-gen racer Aaron Stanfield.
That left only two, and Matt Hartford and Greg Stanfield, Aaron’s father, shook hands behind the GETTRX All-Star Callout trophy that they each hoped to be carting off the property at the end of the day. The pairing of the two struck a sentimental chord for longtime followers of Pro Stock; Hartford’s crew chief, Eddie Guarnaccia, was the crew chief for Stanfield when he drove for Kenny Koretsky beginning in 2010. Stanfield won the U.S. Nationals that year, garnering the first Pro Stock win for “Captain Chaos,” as Koretsky is affectionately – and aptly – known. Guarnaccia and Hartford have been partnered now for well over a decade, and together they’ve won a good lot – including the U.S. Nationals.
All of the picks were intriguing, but Anderson choosing Enders delighted Pro Stock fans who feed on the genuine rivalry between the two. In the world of Pro Stock, the KB vs. Elite theme has held a fierce and sometimes boiling-over tension for years, the kind that tempts combative words and gestures, nearly bubbling to blows. And these two are the anchors in their respective camps; Anderson founded KB Racing – now KB Titan Racing and champions 11 times over – with Ken Black over two decades ago, and Enders put Elite Motorsports on the map (and vice versa) with a swath of wins and championships that tipped Pro Stock upside down. A girl? In Pro Stock? Apparently so.
Gunning for glory
In the first pair, Greg Stanfield launched first, .012 to .016, but it was Hartford at the stripe on a 6.576, 208.97 to a 6.591, 208.52. Point, KB Titan. Aaron Stanfield evened the score with his .027 light and 6.611, 208.78 to knock Eric Latino out on a holeshot. One KB Titan, one Elite. “Double-Oh” Dallas did “Double-Oh” things, dropping a .008 on one of the greatest overall racers of all time, Coughlin, who was .019 at the tree. Glenn’s 6.558, 208.39 held strong over a 6.597, 208.78, and the score tipped in KB Titan’s favor, two to one.
In the final two, Anderson had the bullet and the will, but Enders had the gumption, dropping the clutch to the tune of .022 and pairing it with a 6.564, 210.01 to top her opponent’s charging and best-of-the-weekend 6.543, 208.26 by a tiny fourteen thousandths of a second. Final count for round one of the All-Star Callout: two KB Titan, two Elite.
The calling out continued, and for round two Glenn selected Aaron Stanfield — a driver with whom he is exceptionally well matched in any round. Both are established and respected Sportsman racers, and each rose to the upper echelon of Pro Stock. Both can hold their own on the starting line against any opponent. Both can drive just about anything they get in. Both appear calm under duress, perhaps a byproduct of their Sportsman racing roots. In Pro Stock final rounds, they are nearly even: Glenn holds a 4-3 advantage over Stanfield.
That pairing automatically matched Hartford with Enders, fueling another fiery rivalry where no love is lost.
At the top end, after Enders kept ahead of Anderson’s eye-popping 6.54 for the win, she told NHRA on FOX reporter Amanda Busick, “Everybody always asks me what Richard [Freeman, team owner] says when he bends down to talk to me, and right then he goes, ‘This fool is fixin’ to go .54, so you better cut a light.’ [We were] fortunate enough for our JHG/Melling Performance car to turn the win light on, and it looks like we get to race old Matt Hartford here, so we’ll have some fun.”
Hartford, keeping with the tongue-in-cheek “we’re just out here having fun” narrative, volleyed back, “If I stage first or last, it really doesn’t matter – we’ve done it both ways and had a lot of fun both ways. All know is the Total Seal car needs to go up there and I need to drive well. She just proved she can take out the fastest car out here. If I don’t perform behind the wheel, we’ll go home. But we’re going to give it all we’ve got.”
Sure enough, Hartford was up and ready for the call. His .008 reaction time decided their match; Enders had the quicker car, but a .031 and 6.575, 209.33 left her behind at the final stripe by nearly the exact margin in which she defeated Anderson the round before. Hartford advanced to his third consecutive GETTRX All-Star Callout final on a 6.584, 208.71.
On the opposite side of the ladder, the Glenn vs. Stanfield match did not disappoint, and the end result came with a .009-second margin of victory in Glenn’s favor. The world champ’s .031 and 6.583 inched just ahead of Stanfield’s .020 and 6.603.
The battle for the belt
Heading into the final, it was clear that Hartford had momentum, something he audibly claimed for his team two weeks ago after winning Bristol – his third win in his fourth final of the season that moved him up to No. 3 in the points. But Glenn was on a mission in a KB Titan car that he had only just stepped into on the first day of qualifying. He drove the now RAD Torque Systems-branded Chevrolet to a 6.556, 207.98 next to a red-lighting Hartford, who launched -.048 too soon.
Glenn won the GETTRX All-Star Callout, the flashy belt, the big wad of cash ($40,000!) and, of course, the sought-after Summit Motorsports Park Ice Cream Scoop.
“In the final, I really wanted to kill Matt,” said Glenn. “I staged first, and I started getting light on my pedal, and I told myself, ‘Now, don’t throw your foot like you’ve already done three times this season.’ Turns out, he got a little too light with his foot.
“Matt and I, we always have really good, close races. We’re always both pretty tough on the tree, we both have really fast racecars and the same power. I’m sure he was going up there trying to be .008 like he was second round and it just pops up a little bit, the engine takes off, and it’s gone. It’s over. I’ve done it, I don’t know how many times, and it’s a horrible, sinking feeling. But when you’re trying to live on the edge, sometimes you just tip over it a little too far.”
As for the new-to-him car, Glenn was pleased to confirm that he could not only keep the pace of chasing a second consecutive championship, but also cut a light worthy of the “Double-Oh” Dallas moniker.
“I’m getting more and more comfortable, and maybe it was a fluke when I went up there E1 and went .008 – but anytime you’re racing against a guy nicknamed ‘The Natural,’ you want to go up there with your guns loaded,” said Glenn. “I definitely feel good going into tomorrow. The car made a great run in the final round, and I feel like there is no reason I can’t get four win lights tomorrow.”
The main event, the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, are slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, June 28, at Summit Motorsports Park.
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If you find an error in this story or have anything to add, please contact WinLight News editor Kelly Wade: kelly@winlightnews.com. Thanks for reading!
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