MADDI GORDON
Driver of the Carlyle Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Countdown to the Championship Ranking: 6th (-337)
Last Event (Las Vegas):
Qualified seventh; First round exit (defeated by Antron Brown in E1)
2026/Career Statistics:
- 19 races: one win, two runner-up finishes
- Career-best E.T.: 3.693 seconds (Las Vegas 2026)
- Career-best speed: 340.82 mph (Las Vegas 2026)
Noteworthy:
- The first-year Top Fuel driver will make one final push in her campaign for NHRA’s prestigious Rookie of the Year award, which will be announced Monday evening at the sport’s annual end-of-season banquet
- Both Gordon’s Carlyle Tools Top Fuel dragster and Ron Capps’ NAPA Auto Care Funny Car will feature increased OKUMA branding in Pomona as the final leg of a six-race collaboration with the global leader in machine tool design and manufacturing
- As a lifelong resident of Paso Robles in central Calif., Gordon considers In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip to be a home track
Fan Events:
- Friday, 11:00 – 11:30 a.m., Ron Capps Motorsports driver autograph session, Carlyle Tools Outlaw trailer
- Saturday, 9:30 – 10:00 a.m., Ron Capps Motorsports driver autograph session, Carlyle Tools Outlaw trailer
Quotable:
“It is pretty crazy to think we’re headed back to Pomona to compete in our final event of my rookie season. I have quite literally grown up at Pomona, watching my dad race his Alcohol Funny Car since I was eight days old. I raced Jr. Dragsters there, Alcohol Funny Car, and now Top Fuel dragster. There’s so much history for me at that track, and it’s beyond exciting to be able to close out my rookie season there. It’s incredible to look back at how far our team has come this year. We’ve all learned so much and grown as a team. I’m so impressed with what Rob (Flynn), Troy (Fasching), Chuck (Grospitch), and every one of our Carlyle Tools boys have built, and I couldn’t be prouder to go out there and race with this group every weekend. For Ron Capps Motorsports, it’s pretty awesome that we’ve been able to achieve so much in our first year together and it just makes us all extra pumped for next season knowing we’ve got a really solid foundation to build off of.
“We’re headed into the weekend tied for sixth place. We stayed behind in Vegas to test and we ended up making four hits. Rob was ecstatic with the results, so we’ve got a lot of confidence going into Pomona and we’re just going to take it one round at a time and try to collect some more win lights. After the Vegas race, I attended the SEMA show where we got to spend a lot of time with all our partners. Carlyle Tools had an amazing booth and we filmed some fun social content with them. They really knocked it out of the park with their demo stations. After the SEMA show, I actually headed back to the Vegas track with my family to race our family car. So, that’s how I spent my off weekend, back at the track, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I had a few days at home after to regroup, and now I’m ready to hit the gas again in Pomona. I can’t wait for one more great outing with our team before we head into the off-season and get to work on our 2027 program.”
Continue reading...