Last year, at the urging of former Funny Car world champion and veteran nitro driver, tuner, and team owner Del Worsham, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) incorporated a supercharged nitromethane engine combination into its 2026 rules package for Top Alcohol Funny Car (as well as Top Alcohol Dragster). Viewed as a means of giving cars and parts from the Mission Foods Series a second life, and perhaps serving as a viable stepping stone into the same, the concept called for a single magneto, reduced supercharger overdrive, and 85-percent nitromethane. They would otherwise be similar to their 340 mph counterparts, from the body and chassis to the physical supercharger atop the 500 cubic inch Hemi.
“We’ve pulled it back in certain areas to make it competitive for the ETs in Top Alcohol Funny Car,” Worsham says. “We limited the blower from 50-over in the Mission Foods Series to 16.7-over. It has a four-disc clutch instead of six, no lock-up, one magneto, and 85 percent nitro.”
Both to prove the mechanical viability of the combination and test and hone it, the Worsham-owned Toyota Supra entry was put through its paces on four outings with Ray Martin and Worsham crewman Jake Slater at the wheel over the last year. With an open slot in their race schedules, Worsham and company circled the NHRA Brainerd Nationals for the car’s official debut in the class.
Off the trailer Friday at Brainerd, Slater put himself seventh in the provisional qualifying order with a run of 5.589 seconds. But it wasn’t the elapsed time that got everyone’s attention. Rather, it was the booming 282.54 mph speed — a new national record that well eclipsed Annie Whiteley’s previous mark of 276.18 mph.
The second session brought a slightly quicker and faster 5.563 at 286.68 mph, before Slater and Worsham lowered the boom on the class with a number-one-qualifying effort of 5.458 seconds at just 279.96 mph on Saturday. It was not a runaway kind of number, and that was Worsham’s goal from the outset.
Slater earned an opening-round bye as a result of the odd number of entries in Top Alcohol Funny Car, using the freebie to card a 5.581 at 273.72 mph and gather valuable data. If, however, there was any question as to the horsepower the blown nitromethane combination was producing, Slater answered in Sunday’s second round of eliminations, superseding his qualifying effort with a 5.452 at a stunning 291.01 mph. In the semifinals, engine woes slowed Slater early, and he could only watch opponent Christine Foster drive away, but the statement had already been made.
“I thought, based off some of my old data going back as far as 1995, that it should be about a competitive Top Alcohol Funny Car time,” Worsham said on Friday. “It ran 5.56 and was right in the middle of the pack, so all of that seems to be working.”
“It’s fun to watch a new kid drive,” Worsham said of Slater. “He’s doing a good job. He wants to do this really bad. He’s an old soul.”
For Worsham, however, the exercise is intended to restore a ladder between Top Alcohol Funny Car and the Mission Foods Series that has long since disappeared.
“When we switched from Top Alcohol Funny Car to Nitro Funny Car in 1988, the body, chassis, block, heads, supercharger, and injector all transferred into the big show,” Worsham says. “Today, I don’t think there’s one part you could use to make that move. Maybe the trailer.
“If you don’t ever plan on being a big-show racer, this probably isn’t the car for you. It’s still extremely expensive, and it burns nitromethane. But if you want to be a Mission Foods racer someday and don’t want to buy things twice, every part you buy here can transfer over. There’s a way to gateway yourself into that category without wasting a lot of dollars.”
Visually, the missing magneto is the lone obvious giveaway. The blower pulleys and clutch internals are easily changed, Worsham says: “Within an hour, I could race the Mission Foods Series and possibly win the race with this car.”
While the speed certainly raised eyebrows, the car’s best elapsed time was just 0.017 seconds quicker than the 5.469 weekend-best by Doug Gordon’s supercharged, alcohol-burning entry. It is perhaps too soon to discuss the concept’s ultimate potential — the team is only 15 runs into its development — and Worsham and the NHRA are expected to continue their collaboration.
“Del developed the combination, so he’s already got his ideas on what should be done or put in place to make it competitive, and he’s going to present his thoughts to the NHRA,” Slater says. “I’m not sure if we’ll run it again this year. We’ve got a schedule planned for the big-show car, and I’m hoping to run my altered in October.”
Fans may therefore have to wait until next season to see what else is in store, but neither runaway performance nor an uncompetitive package is the goal.
“It’s a work in progress,” Worsham said. “We’re not going to let it go 300 miles per hour. We’ll keep it in check, make sure it’s in balance, and make sure it doesn’t put anybody out of business. But it needs to be competitive. If it doesn’t run on the bottom, it has to run on the top. It’s got to run somewhere.”
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