ADEL, Ga. — After an eventful event in Charlotte, past Funny Car world champion J.R. Todd and the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series travel to South Georgia Motorsports Park for the facility’s first NHRA national event for this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals.
It’s the first back-to-back race of the year, and Todd and his DHL GR Supra Funny Car team continue to build momentum with two semifinal finishes this season, including last weekend in Charlotte. Todd advanced to the final quad, but it was a wild ride to get there, as he took an unexpected trip to the sand trap at the end of the track.
The team went to the spare car in the final quad, but the primary car will return at SGMP and Todd feels confident the team is on the verge of a victory.
“That was unfortunate,” said Todd. “We brought out our spare car for the final (in Charlotte). I feel like if we didn’t have that issue in the semis with the primary car, I really think that we had a really good shot at winning. But we’ll go out there in Georgia and try and get it done this weekend.”
This weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals marks NHRA’s historic first visit to South Georgia Motorsports Park and the first of the four new facilities added to the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
It marks a memorable moment during NHRA’s 75th anniversary season and Todd knows being the first-ever winner at the facility during a milestone year would make for a special moment.
“We don’t have any notes to go off of from there, but at the same time, it’d be nice to be the first Funny Car winner, since it’s the first time we’re competing there,” said Todd. “I’ve been there about 15 years ago to race a Pro Mod, but I’m looking forward to getting to a new venue and hopefully we draw on some new fans to the area.”
A win won’t come easy, as Funny Car continues to be an ultra-competitive class. Three-time world champ Ron Capps has two wins on the season and is the points leader, while four-time champ Matt Hagan earned the historic 1,000th Funny Car race win in Pomona.
Chad Green won at the season opener in Gainesville for the second consecutive year, while others to watch include back-to-back world champ Austin Prock, Cruz Pedregon and Daniel Wilkerson.
With his semifinal finish in Charlotte, Todd and his team will be slated into this weekend’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. He’ll rematch with Capps while Hagan will take on Jack Beckman, and Todd can sense the momentum his team continues to build this season.
“The confidence is definitely high in our camp,” Todd said. “I feel like team morale has definitely changed this year with all the changes that we’ve made between the race cars, the tune-up, bringing Todd Smith back to work with (crew chief) Dickie Venables. Everybody’s outlook has changed and the results have shown that.
“We’ve made the right changes and improvements to the team, so confidence, I’d say, is definitely high. I feel like this is the best race car that we’ve had in a long time, going back to probably 2018. With the way that it’s going up and down the track, the majority of the time with no issues, you feel good going into the busy part of the year.”
