Logo courtesy of the National Hot Rod Association

The biggest meet of the year in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing series took place over Labor Day weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Billed as the U.S. Nationals, it was also the regular-season points finale for the top four NHRA classes.

When the rubber settled, Doug Kalitta was the Top Fuel champion. Matt Hagan took the Funny Car title. Dallas Glenn earned the Pro Stock top spot and Richard Gadson will enter the six-race playoffs as No. 1 in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Points will be reset for the top 10 contenders in each class, with the regular-season titlist starting at 2,100 points, dropping to 2,080 for second and then 10 points at each successive level to 2,000 points for the 10th-place contender.

At the U.S. Nationals, Shawn Langdon won the Top Fuel final matchup, leaving him a mere eight points behind his title-winning teammate Kalitta. Langdon beat Tony Stewart in that 1,000-foot race.

Jack Beckman, driving for John Force Racing, beat Hagan in the U.S. Nationals final. Dallas Glenn took the Pro Stock win over Jeg Coughlin and passed Greg Anderson by a mere eight points for that regular-season title in the process.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final was a battle between husband and wife Matt and Angie Smith. Matt shut his wife down with a 6.791 elapsed time compared with a 6.834. They can settle this domestic dispute in the six-race playoffs that begin Sept. 18-20 in Michigan.

NASCAR’s first playoff race, held in Darlington, South Carolina, over Labor Day weekend, saw Chris Bell win for the first time this year, driving his Joe Gibbs Toyota. Bell beat Toyota teammates Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick to the checkered flag and advanced to second in the playoff points behind Denny Hamlin.

Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry and Bubba Wallace followed Ford driver Ryan Blaney in the race finish.

Hamlin’s big playoff points lead is now 12 over Bell, 16 over Blaney and 24 over Reddick. Larson closed to 49 points behind playoff leader Hamlin. It was surprising to see how fast these standings change depending on each contender’s results.

William Byron is now 16th and last, 114 points behind Hamlin. With nine races to go, starting Sept. 12-13 in Madison, Illinois, Hamlin is at risk. Any one of the top 10 drivers could pull off a miracle and win the Cup Series championship. Stay tuned.

The same would be true in the NASCAR O’Reilly series, where Justin Allgaier finished 17th on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Darlington and saw his big points lead drop to seven over Sheldon Creed, who happened to win the race.

Carson Kvapil is third in the series points championship, 19 points in arrears, with Austin Hill and Corey Day completing the top five. The Darlington O’Reilly race results were Creed, Day, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, Hill and Anthony Alfredo. The O’Reilly series will also be at World Wide Technology Raceway near Madison, Illinois.

Formula One had a mamma mia day in Italy when Italian-born Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won the race from his 19th starting position. He was the first Italian to win an F1 race in Italy since 1966. It does not get any better for the Monza, Italy, crowd.

He passed 26 competitors in the process because of pit-stop repositioning that placed him behind his teammate and second-place finisher George Russell in the closing laps. Max Verstappen took third for Red Bull, followed by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both in McLarens.

Lewis Hamilton was next in the home-team Ferrari, with pole-sitter Pierre Gasly next for underdog team Alpine.

The F1 cadre skips over to Spain on Sept. 13 to race at the all-new Madring venue in Madrid. There are 10 F1 races left if the Middle East races are not canceled due to conflict there. Monza is listed as a backup, which suggests that there may only be nine races left.

Again, stay tuned. Kimi Antonelli will be the 2026 F1 champion at the young age of 20. Amazing!

There was lots of sprint car racing over Labor Day weekend, with Calistoga running its one and only event over two nights, Saturday and Sunday. J.J. Yeley won Saturday and R.J. Johnson won Sunday. Justin Cox won the companion 360-winged sprint event Saturday.

Thunderhill Raceway Park reopened Thursday, Sept. 10. The upcoming schedule includes a 12-hour NASA endurance race Saturday, Sept. 12, on the newly paved three-mile track. The American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) is on tap the following weekend, Sept. 19-20, and the Sports Car Club season finale is set for Oct. 16-18, also on the new three-mile track.

IndyCar racing ended at Laguna Seca over Labor Day weekend, with Scott McLaughlin winning for the first time this year driving for Roger Penske. He beat Kyle Kirkwood, local boy Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas in the race.

Alex Palou won his fifth IndyCar championship over Kirkwood by 86 points. Palou drives for Chip Ganassi. The series was 17 races long and now awaits 2027 and the development of a completely new IndyCar to debut in 2028.