On the surface, drag racing is a straight-forward sport. Two cars line up beside each other, take the green light and each go as fast as possible to try and cross the finish line first.
Every so often, the lines can get blurred a bit, and fans will be treated to a wild and wacky round that they will be talking about for years to come.
NHRA JBS Equipment Pro Mod Series racer Jason Collins treated the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals crowd to such a round on Sunday at historic Bristol Dragway.
Quite literally, you had to see it to believe it.
In the second round Collins nearly lost the race before it even got started. During his burnout the royal blue and white 1969 Camaro’s removable steering wheel came off in Collins’ hands as the car was performing the burnout. The car veered out of control to the left and Collins was hanging on with all he had and on the brakes as the car plowed into the center island guardwall that protects the Bristol Dragway Christmas Tree.
Collins’ machine hit the wall but managed to stop the car just short of hitting the Christmas Tree starting device. While race officials accessed the situation, it was determined that Collins could continue if his car was able. His out of line burnout isn’t a disqualification under NHRA rules. Collins then reattached his steering wheel, backed the car up, re-staged and lined up against his opponent for the run.
Then there was even more fun.
While Collins was staging his car, it kept moving forward, likely from some minor damage of the earlier impact. Collins went straight in during the staging process and double-bulbed his opponent, Travis Harvey. Generally, each opponent will turn on the top bulbs, and then one by one will inch forward to turn on the bottom bulbs in the staging process. Collins just turned them both on at the same time in rapid fashion right at the start, which is highly unusual, and could be seen as gamesmanship from his opponent. He said afterward that his staging situation was definitely not the plan.
As the cars took the green light, Collins pulled away and won the race that he nearly lost two times earlier. Collins powered to a 5.786-second pass at 247.79 mph while Harvey encountered problems and slowed dramatically, giving Collins the victory and one of the most memorable moments of the weekend.
“This is crazy,” Collins admitted. “I’m really embarrassed to be honest. The steering wheel came off in the burnout and I can’t blame nobody but myself because I’m the one that had it off. Obviously, I didn’t lock it on.
“I’ve never had that happen in all my years of racing.”
Collins said the situation escalated immediately when the steering wheel came free.
“The steering wheel came off in the burnout and all I could do is lock the brakes up,” Collins said. “I couldn’t get the steering wheel back on. I was trying to get it back on and I had to call (the crew chief) on the radio to come over there and help me put the steering wheel back on it.”
After he won the round, he was also questioned about the double-bulb move during the staging process.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Collins said with a grin.
According to Collins, the damaged Camaro continued creeping forward while he fought to hold it in place.
“I was sitting there holding the brake and then it was creeping and I kept mashing (the brake) harder,” Collins explained. “(Harvey) took a long time to get in right there on the first one because I was in the first one pretty long and I thought, well, he’s playing some game over there or whatever.
“When I saw it stuck the second one on, I just grabbed the trans brake. I was like, all I can do is just sit here and do it.”
“Good Lord must be looking out for us today because I can’t believe we won that round,” Collins said.
After beating Harvey in the wild round, he also beat Stan Shelton in the semifinals. In the final round he got the automatic victory when Mike Stavrinos, the race’s No. 1 qualifier, turned on the redlight at the start.
“I wasn’t supposed to win today, but my car was really good,” Collins said. “I didn’t mean to tear it up and that was a little close in the final. This one is all because of my crew. I had some luck and my crew did a great job. I’m just out here chasing a dream and it was unbelievable. Now, we’re in the playoffs and who knows what can happen.”
BRISTOL FIRST-TIMERS: Two NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series superstars finally broke through on Sunday to win at legendary Bristol Dragway. Antron Brown has three world championships and 80-plus victories, but he had never won at Bristol in three previous final round attempts. On his fourth, he was able to bust through the heat and humidity at 330 mph and get the job done in his Matco Tools dragster. And he didn’t just win at Bristol. He took down the current kingpin, NHRA points leader Shawn Langdon in a heavyweight titan final round. Meanwhile, over in Pro Stock, a similar story of a competitor who has been at the game for more than two decades – Matt Harford – was able to push his 200-mph machine to the Thunder Valley Winner’s Circle for the first time. Both were elated to check that particular item off their NHRA bucket list. “Getting my first Bristol win after 82 career victories is pretty special,” Brown said. “This place has always been tough on me.” It was Hartford’s first Bristol final round attempt as he took out three-time Bristol winner Greg Anderson. “I’ve been racing at Bristol since the early 2000s and never managed to win here,” Hartford said. “To finally get a Bristol trophy is an awesome feeling. We had a great car all weekend.”
TWO MORE NEW ENGLAND WINNERS IN BRISTOL: On Friday Bristol fans were treated to the final rounds that were delayed from the circuit’s previous race at New England Dragway in New Hampshire. The nitro finals at the New England Nationals were once again rain-delayed. Bristol fans have seen this movie before. In 2023 Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley swept the competition of the New England race and won the Bristol race on Sunday for a sweep that he still holds exclusive claim to. Leah Pruett was able to defeat category Kingpin Shawn Langdon on Friday in the one-round takes all New England Nationals final. Interestingly, it was Langdon, who leads the points and earlier in the year posted an amazing 345 mph speed, who was the runner-up to Antron Brown in Sunday’s Bristol final. In Funny Car, Jack Beckman beat his teammate Jordan Vandergriff in the New England Nationals final and he went on the claim the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for Funny Car in a re-match the next day.
NEW TRACK SURFACE PRODUCED AWESOME SUNDAY RACING: After a couple of days of laying down rubber, Bristol Dragway’s new surface showed out on Sunday, producing thrilling racing from start to finish in each one of the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series pro classes. The side-by-side racing in Top Fuel in all rounds featured 3.7 and 3.8 second runs at 330 mph-plus throughout the day with many nail-biting finishes. In Funny Car, Sunday produced some winning 3-second runs for Jordan Vandergriff (3.999), newly-enshrined Legend of Thunder Valley Ron Capps (3.989 and 3.980), Austin Prock (3.986) after No. 1 qualifier and race winner Matt Hagan was only able to post at 4.009 to claim the No. 1 spot after four rounds of qualifying. Hagan never ran quicker than 4.079 in eliminations but still got the job done even though the 3-second runs were flickering around him. “I’m like an old plow horse that goes out there and get it done,” Hagan said. “I’m not pretty like Lean (Pruett) and famous like Tony (Stewart), but I just go out there and at the end of the day when you look around the field is plowed.”
CATEGORY’S FIRST TWO-TIME BRISTOL WINNER: After six seasons of competition at Bristol Dragway, finally a rider in the two-wheel class emerged as a two-time winner on historic quarter-mile. Gaige Herrera ran great all weekend and on Sunday he defeated his teammate Richard Gadson in the final round of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class to become the first multi-time winner on the Tennessee track. Herrera was also the No. 1 qualifier aboard his Suzuki. He used a 6.838 second run at 198.47 mph to take the win over Gadson’s Suzuki in the final round. Herrera’s previous Bristol win came in 2024. Other Bristol bike winners have included Jerry Savoie (2022); Angelle Sampey (2021); Steve Johnson (2023); and Gadson (2025). “We’ve been beating our heads against the wall trying to figure out what happened to our performance,” Herrera said. “It felt like we had some bad luck hanging over us, but it feels good to come here and get the win. I wouldn’t say, ‘I’m back,’ but it definitely feels good to get the win and build some confidence heading into (the rest of the season)…Winning with Richard in the final was pretty cool. It reminded me of last year when he got his first win (here at Bristol). We’ve got a lot of fun with it, but I’m glad to be the one taking home the trophy this time.”
