Each and every year our team here at DRAGZINE makes its predictions for the coming season’s NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series champions, and we do so if, for no reason other than the fun of it and to see just how well we evaluated and analyzed the capability of each and every team in the five pro categories. We’ve never gotten them all correct — even in categories with 10-15 full-time regulars who could contend for a title, that’s still a statistical unlikelihood — but we’ve had some good picks, and some miles off the mark.

With the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals cued up this week, it’s time for us to clock in with those picks, let ’em ride, and then watch how the next 21 races unfold and see how we did.

Top Fuel: Doug Kalitta

The class of 2024 in Top Fuel is going to be, arguably, one of the strongest in the history of the sport, with as many as 14 full-time teams lined up, Billy Torrence making a go at a full pull, Clay Millican’s performance on the rise, Brittany Force seeking redemption, Tony Stewart making his debut, and several strong part-time runners making moves and positioning themselves to come in and wreck the whole thing.

But right now, it’s hard to choose against Doug Kalitta. In last year’s Countdown, Kalitta and renowned tuner Alan Johnson finally gelled and powered fan-favorite Kalitta to his long-awaited first championship. They then rolled into the PRO Superstar Shootout last month and won the whole deal, assuring the Top Fuel contingent their chemistry hadn’t waned in the offseason.

Predicting a Top Fuel champion in 2024 is without a doubt the toughest of the five categories; with so many great cars, no one team is going to dominate, and in the final six races you’ll likely be able to throw five names in a bucket and draw one out, as one mistake might prove to be all the the difference.

Top 5

1. Doug Kalitta
2. Steve Torrence
3. Billy Torrence
4. Mike Salinas
5. Tony Stewart

Funny Car: Austin Prock

You could argue we’re going out on a limb choosing a rookie to the class, but this one’s really not out-there at all. Austin Prock has proven himself a hell of a driver, and he’s plenty hungry. The only thing that stood between him and championship frontrunner status in Top Fuel was not having a consistently dominant car during a period where a consistently dominant car was needed. But now, he’s stepping into a car that is proven to be a top-three performer every single weekend.

Austin will be teamed with his father, Jimmy, and brother Thomas, in what is undoubtedly the most aligned battery in professional drag racing. Austin in an elite car is dangerous, and he proved that out of the gate by winning the PRO Superstar Shootout in his Funny Car debut.

Top 5

1. Austin Prock
2. Bob Tasca
3. Matt Hagan
4. Ron Capps
5. J.R. Todd

Pro Stock: Erica Enders

Let’s be real on this one: unless Erica’s Elite Motorsports Camaro is, for whatever reason, a couple of hundredths behind the frontrunner(s) in the class for the duration of the season (which is highly unlikely), she’s going to win the championship. If her car is quicker, she wins. If it’s equal in performance, she still wins. Why? In our opinion, Erica’s legacy is defined not by the number of races and championships she’s won — yes, those matter — but it’s her consistency and her ability to perform under pressure that make her a legend. She doesn’t make any mistakes, and has never allowed the pressure of any moment get to her. She and her team are so locked in these days, that it’s going to take superior horsepower under the hood of someone else’s car to get us to choose another champion.

Top 5

1. Erica Enders
2. Aaron Stanfield
3. Dallas Glenn
4. Jeg Coughlin
5. Troy Coughlin, Jr.

Pro Stock Motorcycle: Gaige Herrera

The Pro Stock Motorcycle sophomore has a long way to go before he can be compared to Erica Enders, but he showed similar poise in his rookie season during which he more or less toyed with the field, winning 11 races in 12 final rounds on his way to the championship. True, Gaige’s bike was dominant, but he was consistent and made no glaring mistakes. Even if the performance gap were closed — and we certainly hope it does, for the sake of the category — Gaige still displayed an ability to rise to the occasion and compete with the best of them.

Taking into account the dominance of Gaige’s bike a year ago, and without the luxury of a few races to analyze how the performance of the field takes shape, he goes into the year the clear favorite.

Top 5

1. Gaige Herrera
2. Matt Smith
3. Richard Gadsen
4. Hector Arana, Jr.
5. Joey Gladstone

Pro Modified: Kris Thorne

Pro Modified has been a notoriously difficult category to predict, in large part because the class is highly competitive, rules deviate throughout the season, and, because sh-t happens.

Case in point, no one could have possibly predicted Kris Thorne crashing at the season finale in Las Vegas last fall, and thus allowing Mike Castellana to slip in for a come-from-behind championship. These are difficult cars to drive and tune, and even the best car on the property is susceptible to tire-shake or drifting out of the groove at any moment in a key matchup that can easily derail a championship push.

Add to that that Pro Modified is in a growth phase, with several new strong-running contenders joining the fray, and a prediction becomes all the more challenging.

Top 5

1. Kris Thorne
2. Lyle Barnett
3. Justin Bond
4. Jason Lee
5. Mike Castellana