What started in Gainesville, Florida has finished in Pomona, California. Yup, the 2023 NHRA season is in the books—and it was a year chock-full of surprise finishes, noteworthy accomplishments, and historic achievements.
That trend continued up until the very last race of the year. So before we all go back to our shops for a winter of testing and tuning, let’s get to our final NHRA Wrap-Up of the 2023 season.
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2023 NHRA Top Fuel Championship Results
With a name practically synonymous with professional drag racing, it’s tough to believe that Doug Kalitta hasn’t won a NHRA Top Fuel Championship.
Well, all that changed in 2023.
After an uneventful start to the season, Kalitta really began to shine in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. And that began with a significant milestone: Kalitta notched his 50th Wally at Maple Grove Raceway in September, before following it up with Wally #51 at the next race at the Carolina Nationals. Sandwiched between Leah Pruett at Number Three and Steve Torrence in the Number One spot going into Pomona, Doug Kalitta found himself up against Preutt in the Final Round—creating essentially a win-and-you’re-in scenario.
And that’s precisely what he did. Both racers had solid runs, but it was Kalitta’s 3.673 second, 334.98 mph pass that topped Pruett’s 3.720@326.16, simultaneously giving Kalitta another Wally and his first Top Fuel Championship.
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2023 NHRA Funny Car Championship Results
It was a three-horse race in Funny Car going into Pomona, with Matt Hagan, Bob Tasca III, and Robert Hight all with legit chances to take the trophy. But the championship picture got a lot more clear after a stunning round of qualifying efforts. In a series of incredible upsets, Tasca III fell to Cruz Pedregon and then Hagan got bested by a spectacular run by Blake Alexander—so essentially, all Robert Hight had to do was get past Chad Green in qualifying to secure the championship.
Except he didn’t. Hight broke the wheels loose halfway down the run, which meant that Matt Hagan became the overall Funny Car Champ. And after watching the shakeups in this class all season long, we couldn’t think of a more fitting way to finish the year.
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2023 NHRA Pro Stock Championship Results
Shaking off her slow start early in the season, Erica Enders raced back to championship form, claiming her sixth Pro Stock Wally and cementing her name alongside folks like Bob Glidden and Warren Johnson. In fact, to nail-down the Pro Stock title in Pomona, all she had to do was grab a win in qualifying against her teammate Fernando Cuadra Sr. And, spoiler alert, she did just that. The Final Round in Pro Stock on Sunday was decided between Aaron Stanfield and Matt Hartford, where Stanfield’s holeshot effort gave him the win with a 6.534@208.91 that topped Hartford’s 6.519@210.14 pass.
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2023 NHRA Pro Stock Championship Results
Pro Stock Motorcycle was perhaps the one class where it was easy to pick the champ. In fact, he was a pretty safe bet even as the 2023 NHRA Countdown to the Championship began. Yup, we’re talking about Gaige Herrera. He was a dominant force all season and those efforts culminated in Herrera’s first-ever Pro Stock Motorcycle title. As icing on the cake, the champ celebrated by adding another Wally to his trophy case too, besting Eddie Krawiec on Sunday with a 6.721@201.46 over Krawiec’s 6.796@199.52.
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The 2024 NHRA Season Kicks Off in Gainesville with the 2024 NHRA Gatornationals, March 7 – 10. We’ll See You Back Here Next Year!
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Final 2023 NHRA Championship Points Standings
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TOP FUEL
- Doug Kalitta, 2,649
- Steve Torrence, 2,601
- Leah Pruett, 2,592
- Justin Ashley, 2,513
- Mike Salinas, 2,465
- Antron Brown, 2,423
- Brittany Force, 2,352
- Austin Prock, 2,349
- Tony Schumacher, 2,297
- Josh Hart, 2,280
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FUNNY CAR
- Matt Hagan, 2,628
- Robert Hight, 2,616
- Bob Tasca III, 2,611
- Ron Capps, 2,453
- Chad Green, 2,445
- Tim Wilkerson, 2,409
- John Force, 2,385
- J.R. Todd, 2,332
- Cruz Pedregon, 2,319
- Alex Laughlin, 2,293
PRO STOCK
- Erica Enders, 2,695
- Greg Anderson, 2,591
- Matt Hartford, 2,564
- Aaron Stanfield, 2,539
- Troy Coughlin Jr., 2,450
- Dallas Glenn, 2,446
- Kyle Koretsky, 2,375
- Deric Kramer, 2,332
- Bo Butner, 2,301
- Cristian Cuadra, 2,293
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PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
- Gaige Herrera, 2,877
- Eddie Krawiec, 2,663
- Hector Arana Jr., 2,543
- Matt Smith, 2,470
- Jianna Evaristo, 2,358
- Steve Johnson, 2,334
- Marc Ingwersen, 2,326
- Angie Smith, 2,312
- Chase Van Sant, 2,254
- Kelly Clontz, 2,243
Tony Stewart & Matt Hagen Inc. are the best !!!