{"id":7562,"date":"2026-05-04T22:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=7562"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:49:23","slug":"rapid-ascent-verification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=7562","title":{"rendered":"Rapid Ascent Verification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NHRA’s first Southern Nationals event edition since 2019 – included a breakthough victory for yet another young gun\/rookie driver!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A longtime dream came true for Funny Car star Jordan Vandergriff<\/strong>, as he rolled to his first career NHRA win, defeating No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd in the final round with run of 4.007 at 314.17 in his John Force Racing\/Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet SS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after winning for the first time \u2013 and doing so not far from the home for the Atlanta-area resident \u2013 Vandergriff popped out of his Funny Car and sprinted back up his lane, much like uncle Bob Vandergriff did after his victories in Top Fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vandergriff had been building to this, winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Charlotte, and then putting together a strong raceday, taking out Canadian-native drivers Jeff Arend and Spencer Hyde and then Hunter Green to reach the final round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It didn’t take long! New John Force Racing designated driver Jordan Vandergriff <\/strong>got his first career win in just his 5th event start.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Vandergriff was the only driver to make four consistent runs on Sunday, going in the 3.90s in the first three rounds before another strong showing in the final round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racing in just his fifth event as a Funny Car driver for John Force Racing, it\u2019s been a rapid ascent for Vandergriff, who has big hopes for the season and was thrilled to celebrate this moment on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m still kind of taking in just how special this is. This moment is something I thought of for a very long time, since my last final in 2019, when I lost to Billy Torrence in Dallas,\u201d Vandergriff said. \u201cYou know, running up the track was something I always thought about doing because my uncle did it out of pure joy when he won his first, and I just had to do it. I was contemplating it in the car before the run, and I was like, I’m doing it, no matter what. Hopefully, this is just the first of many, and it’s a good one to start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JR Todd, who qualified #1 (setting both low ET and top speed) continues to perform well in 2026, advancing to the finals for the first time this season and the 50th time in his career thanks to round wins against Daniel Wilkerson and Alexis DeJoria. He also moved into the points lead, three points ahead of Ron Capps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JR Todd <\/strong>enjoyed a super Southern Nationals event effort – including low ET\/top speed and a R\/UP finish.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

NHRA Southern Nationals \u2013 Funny Car Class Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WIN: Jordan Vandergriff \u2013 4.007 secs 314.17 mph (Career win #1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\/UP: JR Todd \u2013 4.784 secs 169.89 mph<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low ET: JR Todd \u2013 3.887 secs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top MPH: JR Todd \u2013 339.28 mph<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bump: N\/A<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entries \u2013 14 cars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hunter Green<\/strong> roared to an impressive “final four” placing at NHRA’s Southern Nationals. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

More Promising Progress<\/strong> — Toronto-native Jeff Arend’s second season event driving stint for Jim Dunn Racing did produce more positives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arend qualified #12 with a run of 4.035 secs (season’s best ET) but could not handle eventual event winner Jordan Vandergriff in round #1 on Sunday – despite a competitive 4.154 secs at 309.44 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack-to-back events have shown big improvements on the car heading in the right direction,” Jeff stated. “Driving the True Brand car this weekend for Jim Dunn Racing was an honor. In addition, True Brand had some corporate guests attend the race. It was great getting them up to the starting line to see our car run. The car is going right down the track and not hurting any parts. The win lights will be turning on in our lane soon. We\u2019re looking forward to the next event in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Posted with files by NHRA Communications – Ashley Wilson – Bruce Biegler
Photos courtesy of NHRA & Auto Imagery<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHRA’s first Southern Nationals event edition since 2019 – included a breakthough victory for yet another young gun\/rookie driver! A longtime dream came true for Funny Car star Jordan Vandergriff, as he rolled to his first career NHRA win, defeating No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd in the final round with run of 4.007 at 314.17 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[62,250,18,251],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7562"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7569,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions\/7569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}