HEBRON, Ohio — Shawn Reed and Dale Creasy Jr. led the quickest fields in IHRA history at the IHRA Triple Crown race at Darana Dragway — Hebron on Friday.
Reed rocketed to the top of the charts in Nitro Top Fuel. Creasy led both sessions of Funny Car qualifying.
Top Fuel and Funny Car are among five classes that are competing for a $1 million bonus on top of the event purses if a driver can win all three Triple Crown events.
The other classes are Pro Modified, Pro Stock and Mountain Motor Pro Stock with the final two races held at Maple Grove Raceway.
Reed went down the track in 3.767 seconds at 332.35 mph as 11 racers were in the three-second range. Reed set new time and speed records for the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series after being No. 8 qualifier when he made his night run.
“Going into it (the second session), we were No. 2 and then everybody got ahead of us,” Reed said. “We were sitting at No. 8, so we went in there and turned on the happy knobs. It ran about what we thought it could run when we were confident we couldn’t get knocked out.”
Tripp Tatum, who led the first qualifying session, also bettered his time in round 2. He ended up second at 3.797 seconds at 329.19 mph. Jasmine Salinas ended up third, also at 3.797 seconds at 324.68 mph.
Gary Pritchett and Spencer Massey were fourth and fifth, followed by Mike Salinas to set up a father-daughter matchup in the first round of eliminations. Chuck Loftin and Lex Joon were others who qualified.
Former IHRA champion Creasy led both sessions of Funny Car qualifying and lowered his time to 3.962 seconds at 319.15 mph in the second session. Bobby Bode moved up to second at 3.976 seconds and 315.58 mph. It was Bode’s first run over 300 mph this year.
Creasy had plenty of motivation after failing to qualify his last time at the Columbus, Ohio-area track.
“We just needed to do what we do. When we get out of the realm of what we know how to do, that’s when things go wrong,” Creasy said. “This week, we seem to have it going right. When we didn’t get to race here Saturday the last time we were here, that was a rude awakening.”
Del Worsham, another former World Champion and the most successful driver since the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series debuted in 2025, was third at 4.010 seconds and 309.49 mph. Jon Capps and Paul Lee rounded out the top five with John Bodie Smith, Terry Haddock and Joe Haas also advancing to Saturday eliminations.
Top Fuel and Funny Car racing were at 1,000 feet. The Top Alcohol Dragster, Funny Car and Hemi Shootout all at quarter-mile. The rest of the classes ran the eighth-mile.
Jason Harris led the Pro Mod class at 3.595 seconds and 209.69 mph. Jacob McNeal ran a 3.615 at 207.95 mph as 31 cars qualified.
Taylor Dietsch edged his father, Jason, for the No. 1 qualifying award in Pro Stock. Taylor had a 4.908-second elapsed time at 147.54 mph. Jason powered down the track in 4.927 seconds at 147.20 mph.
Twenty-six drivers were vying for 16 spots in Mountain Motor Pro Stock. John DeFlorian Jr. led the way with a 4.078-second pass at 176.54 mph. Jason Grima posted a 4.086-second run at 176.26 mph. Jerry Tucker and Elijah Morton tied for the fastest speed at 176.68 mph.
Top Alcohol Dragster saw Jeffrey Chatterson go 5.254 seconds at 272.40 mph to edge Rachel Curl, who finished in 5.284 seconds and 270.60 mph. Megan Smith had the fastest speed at 278.47 mph.
Phil Esz was quickest amongst the Top Alcohol Funny Cars at 5.468 seconds and 257.73 mph. Chip Beverett had the second best time at 5.512 seconds and the fast speed at 264.55 mph.
Larry “Spiderman” McBride lived up to the hype in Top Fuel Motorcycle, going 3.853 seconds and his speed of 207.85 mph was over 15 mph than the next fastest. Mitch Brown was second quickest at 3.958 seconds and 191.65 mph.
Also on the bikes, Bob Malloy was quickest in Nitro Harley at 4.084 seconds and 188.68 mph. Next was GT Tonglet at 4.166 seconds and 182.26 mph.
Bubba Stanton was the No. 1 qualifier in Outlaw Pro Mod at 3.543 seconds and 213.17 mph. Robert Davis, who was second at 3.552 seconds, posted the top speed at 213.78 mph.
It was 1-2 for the Austin family in Fuel Altered. Jody Austin went low at 3.594 seconds and 213.57 mph, while his son, Cody, was at 3.604 seconds and 213.88 mph. Chuck Loftin ran 261.78 mph to record the fastest speed.
Anthony Rhodes paced the Hemi qualifiers with an 8.359-second pass at 159.80 mph. Steve Comella finished in 8.392 seconds at 159.40 mph.
Eliminations take place Saturday with drivers racing for enormous purses with the opportunity for a $1 million bonus in the five aforementioned classes. Watch it LIVE and FREE on SPEED SPORT 1 beginning at 2:00pm ET.
