Last Updated on September 16, 2026 9:48 pm
A look at the most Interesting Drag Racing Stories over the Weekend that may get buried in the News Cycle. The DRN Weekly Roundup is Presented by DragRacing.News
NHRA Division 5 LODRS @ Earlville (DRN Coverage)
Kevin Haack Doubles the May Race in September
The NHRA Division 5 September trip to Tri-State Raceway in Earlville, Iowa also featured the completion of the May D5 Points Race at this same track that was shortened due to rain. The completion was scheduled to finish up on Friday evening, however daylight disappeared with a couple rounds left to go in each class. One racer who was unphased by having to wait overnight to finish the event was Kevin Haack. Haack went into Saturday morning with entries still alive in both Top Dragster and Super Street. Two very different categories, but Kevin was on a roll in both cars. Kevin would eventually reach the Final Round of both classes Saturday AM. The first Final Round would be a challenging scenario in Top Dragster as he would face one of the quickest cars on the property in Les Feist. Haack would get nearly eight-tenths of a second head start, making the finish line driving a bit difficult. Kevin would have no problems at all in this run as he let go 023 for a 010 RT advantage and set it Dead 4 (7.034 on 7.03 Dial) to lock out Feist’s 033 RT and Breakout lap. Haack would then turn around and jump in his Fourth Gen Camaro to line up against Sandy Cawsey for the Super Street Final Round. This one was over on the Starting Line as Cawsey let go 003 Red, handing the Win and Double Up Victory to Wisconsin’s Kevin Haack.
Jordan Pratt Makes Big Points Moves in Iowa
Jordan Pratt’s incredible 2026 Season continued with a superb outing during this Month’s Division 5 Event in Iowa. Jordan had things absolutely clicking in both the Super Comp Dragster and Super Gas Roadster as he raced deep into Eliminations, eventually reaching the Final Round in both classes. First up was the Super Comp Final Round for Jordan. He would face off with D4 contender Heidi Robison. Pratt gained a big RT edge 009 to 035, but just missed the Finish Line as he fell in a Double Breakout decision 8.890 to 8.885 on the 8.90 Class Index. Jordan showed how mentally tough he is by coming back around in the Super Gas Final, and getting the job done. Bill Cawsey would have a Better RT 007 to 013, but Jordan would manage the Finish Line correctly for a 9.942 to 9.965 victory by 017 at the 1320′ Finish Line. The Double Final Round finishes, along with his Semi-Final finish in the May Earlville conclusion put Jordan in the Driver’s Seat for both Division 5 championships as well as positioned him right in the thick of the Super Gas National points battle chasing down Nathan Vrooman from 2nd place. Can Pratt break through and score his first National Championship this season?
Top Sportsman and Comp Double Winners at Tri-State Raceway
A cool story from Saturday at Tri-State Raceway was a pair of Double Up Victories as both Michael Chitty and Pat Nahan scored wins in the May completion as well as the September D5 Points Race. It is a rare opportunity to win multiple Wally’s in the same class in the same day. Nahan would defeat Brian Stufflebeam in both Competition Eliminator Final Rounds, which would essentially lock up the D5 Title. On the other hand, Chitty defeated Dave Coapstick for the May Wally before putting away Dan Schei for the Saturday W.
Rare Stock Eliminator Heads-Up Final Round
Another big story on from Saturday at Earlville was the Stock Eliminator Final Round, which came down to a B/SA Heads-Up battle between East Coast Hitter Joe Santangelo and D5 Regular Ben Line. This was a sensational race with Line having the Better RT 033 to 036 and hanging on to the lead with Big Horsepower in a 10.055/129 to 10.071/130 decision.
NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series @ Redding (DRN Coverage)
Kaiser’s Win Keeps Epic Nostalgia Top Fuel Points Battle Alive
The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series headed to Redding, California for the next to last round of the season, and all eyes were on the Nostalgia Top Fuel class as their intense championship battle continued on. Ohio’s Tyler Hilton and California’s Pete Kaiser have been battling all season with the goal of earning the Nostalgia Top Fuel season championship. Hilton came into this event with the momentum of the most recent event win at the Nightfire Nationals in Boise. Tyler would keep the momentum up with the #1 Qualifying position at 5.834 Seconds. Round One Eliminations saw both racers advance with strong ET’s. Hilton recorded a 5.866 on his Bye Run, while Kaiser went 5.893/240MPH to defeat Bobby Cottrell. Hilton was scheduled to face off with Brendan Murry in the semi-final round, but Murry would suffer severe parts breakage in his Round 1 victory and was unable to return. The Racers elected to go straight into the Final Round. Kaiser would turn on the Win Light with a 5.96/246MPH blast, while Hilton had issues at the end of his 6.329/253MPH run and ended up with an incident in the Great Expectations NTF. Per the Team’s social media, Tyler is OK and they are already making preparations to get the car repaired for the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Dragstrip next month. Kaiser made up some ground in the standings, but it appears the battle will continue on to Bakersfield between the two teams at the top of the Nostalgia Top Fuel game currently.
Steve Faller Continues Incredible Season in 7.0 Pro
One of the most impressive performances throughout the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series in 2026 has been of Lake Havasu, AZ racer Steve Faller in the 7.0 Pro class. Steve dominated the early season with wins at Tucson, Bakersfield (March Meet) and Firebird (Chandler). Faller then scored a Runner-Up in Race 1 of the Double at Woodburn before heading to Redding atop the standings. Steve showed his dominanance in Redding as he defeated Steve Hodgson in Round 1 with a 7.08 ET. He then had a tough matchup with points rival Brad Peters in the semi-final round. Steve had a big Starting Line edge 012 to 122 and took a masterful 011 Stripe with a 7.028 on the 7.00 Class Index for the victory. This set up a Final Round matchup for Steve against local hitter Tony Trimp in his Mustang Funny Car. Trimp would have the Starting Line advantage, but would take too much stripe handing the win to Faller in a Double Breakout decision 6.993 to 6.948. Steve goes into the Season Finale at Famoso Dragstrip’s California Hot Rod Reunion with a safe points lead in 7.0 Pro.
NL Promotions Fall King of the Creek @ MIR (DRN Coverage)
Kris Bunch Dominates Pro ET $3K’s at Maryland International
Virginia racer Kris Bunch stole the show at Fall King of the Creek with his Fox Body Mustang in the Pro ET class. Bunch made all three Pro ET Finals throughout the Weekend. On Friday, he made it to the Final & came up 005 Short against John Madison in a great Drag Race. During Saturday’s event, Bunch reached the Final against Motorcycle Racer Jimmie Miller III. Miller would turn it 012 Red handing the win to the Mustang. That set up Sunday’s Final $3K Pro ET Event, where Bunch was double entered all the way to the Semi-Final round. Kris would drop one entry to Cobi Toliver in that round before coming back around to defeat Jason Parker, setting up a rematch in the Final Round with Toliver. Kris got all of it on the Tree in the Final Round with a 001 Bulb and put it 1 Above (5.907 on 5.89 Dial) to earn the $3K Top Prize and lock up the King of the Creek Series Pro ET points championship.
Super Pro Winners Score Big at King of the Creek
The Footbrake headline wasn’t the only big story from the Fall King of the Creek event at Maryland International Raceway. Two $25K Super Pro Main Events took place. Friday’s 25 Grander saw a pair of Dragsters roll into the beams as Jason Hoff’s Procharged-entry squared off with the N/A-entry of Chase Marrs. Marrs let go absolutely perfect 000 RT, but would take a bit too much stripe to put it 006 Under handing the W over to Hoff’s 024 and 1 Above Lap (4.458 on 4.44 Dial). Hoff would also clinch the King of the Creek Series Super Pro points championship later in the weekend. The second $25K Main Event saw Team W teammates Dylan Witherow & Kyle Cultrera split and quit at the Final Round. The weekend’s Final Super Pro Main Event for $10K boiled down to a Final Round between Jason Barrow’s Dragster and Layton Sumpter in a borrowed S-10. Sumpter’s Camaro broke in the early rounds, and was able to jump into a friend’s S-10 to continue on. Sumpter was able to score the $10K victory with an 011 RT and 1 Above Lap (6.378 on 6.36 Dial) to defeat Barrow by 019 at the 1/8 Mile stripe.
West Coast Bracket Races Northwest Classic @ Spokane
Kidd and Chun Top Big Winners at Qlispe Raceway Park
West Coast Bracket Races made their first trip to the Northwest with the Northwest Classic at Qlispe Raceway Park in Spokane, Washington. This event was a great success with over 300 entries spread across the Box and No Box classes. The big story was Idaho racer Mark Kidd’s incredible weekend in the Box category. Wheeling his Kidd Performance & Dyno Dragster, Mark scored two $10K Main Event victories (Thursday and Saturday). Another big addition to this event was the Team USA versus Team Canada battle on Wednesday evening. Cooper Chun would take the Victory for Team USA defeating Team Canada’s Braydon Heroux in the Final Round.
Bracket Shootout @ Empire Dragway
JP Schuster Strikes Again in New York
$20K was on the line at New York’s Empire Dragway on Sunday. JP Schuster continued his heater on New York to take another victory at Empire. The Ohio racer was a part of two $10K Finals back in July, and this time reached the final round against Canadian hitter Matt Costabile’s Third Gen Camaro. Schuster would let go Perfect 000 in the Final and parlay that into a $20K Main Event victory.
NHRA LODRS National Championship Update
Stock Eliminator
NHRA Division 5’s Points Race at Earlville, Iowa could end up being pivotal in the Stock National Championship chase. Division 1 hitter Joe Santangelo headed from Indy to Earville for his Final Stock Eliminator Divisional claim on the season. Joe was improving on a second round finish, and nearly took it all the way. He ended up in a B/SA Heads-Up battle D5 Regular Ben Line. This was a sensational race with Line having the Better RT 033 to 036 and hanging on to the lead with Big Ford Horsepower in a 10.055/129 to 10.071/130 decision. Joe’s Runner-Up Finish propelled him past Michael Brand into the National Points lead by just 9 points. Santangelo only has a National Event 3rd Round Finish to improve on with 1 race left to claim. Brand, Shane Oakes, Jeff Adkinson, Cody Lane and Jimmy Hidalgo are among the other still in contention as the season moves on.
1. Joe Santangelo 610 5/8
2. Michael Brand 601 4/6
3. Shane Oakes 600 5/8
4. Jeff Adkinson 559 4/7
5. Cody Lane 530 4/7
6. Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. 525 4/5
7. Justin Lamb 515 4/7
Super Gas
Jordan Pratt was the other big mover during the Division 5 Tri-State Raceway event. Jordan continued his incredible season by nearly scoring a Double win in this Weekend’s race. Jordan won the Super Gas Final Round over Bill Cawsey in a crucial D5 Points Battle, before losing a Double Breakout in the Super Comp Final to Heidi Robison 8.890 to 8.885. The Super Gas victory moved Pratt all the way to 2nd Place in National Points with 529, 83 Points behind current leader Nathan Vrooman. Jordan currently sits with only 2 National Events & 6 Divisional Events to his total, so he has a lot of room for improvement to chase down Vrooman. The excellent weekend for Pratt also places him in the Drivers Seat for Division 5 championships in both Super Comp & Super Gas with SC essentially locked up and SG still up for grabs with Bill Cawsey & Tom Carlson still in contention.
1. Nathan Vrooman 612 5/7
2. Jordan Pratt 519 2/6
3. Charlie Kenopic 508 5/8 (X – Cannot Catch Leader)
4. Bo Butner 504 3/6
5. Steve Furr 496 5/6
