1,000TH FUNNY CAR RACE COMING TO LUCAS OIL NHRA WINTERNATIONALS IN POMONA
 
In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip will again make history this spring during NHRA’s milestone 75th season, as the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals will play host to the 1,000th Funny Car race in NHRA history on April 9-12 on the hallowed grounds at Pomona.
 
Funny Car made its first-ever appearance at the 1966 World Finals in Tulsa, with Eddie Schartman picking up the victory. NHRA’s milestone year in 2026 will begin with the 998th Funny Car race at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, with the historic moment coming two races later in Pomona.
 
The 12,000-horsepower, 340-mph Funny Cars have made history for 60 years, but only one driver will lay claim to being the winner of the 1,000th Funny Car race in NHRA history. Last year, Shawn Langdon took the honors at the 1,000th Top Fuel race, while a host of standouts will have their shot in Pomona to etch their own place in history.

 
To get here, this list showcases the first and then every 100th Funny Car winner heading into the historic Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona:
 
• 1. Eddie Schartman, 1966 Tulsa, World Finals
• 100. Tripp Shumake, 1981 Atlanta
• 200. Bruce Larson, 1989 Winternationals
• 300. John Force, 1994 Topeka
• 400. Tim Wilkerson, 1999 Chicago
• 500. Wilkerson, 2003 U.S. Nationals in Indy
• 600. Jack Beckman, 2008 Phoenix
• 700. Johnny Gray, 2012 Englishtown
• 800. Force, 2016 Denver
• 900. Cruz Pedregon, 2021 Norwalk

 
So who will win the 75th anniversary Diamond Wally at the 1,000th race in Funny Car history? Will it be back-to-back world champion Austin Prock, who has dominated the past two seasons? Others, including John Force Racing standouts Beckman, who won the Winternationals last year, and his new teammate, Jordan Vandergriff, while Top 75 drivers like Ron Capps, Matt Hagan and Pedregon would love to win the magical 1,000th race.

One thing is for certain: it will be one of the highlights of NHRA’s milestone 2026 campaign.

Posted by NHRA Communications