The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing series returned to Georgia this weekend with the Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, a fresh stop on a 2026 schedule that is still taking shape. The event is the fifth of the season and the first of four new venues on the calendar.
Friday’s Pro Stock Motorcycle session gave the track its first real marker. Charles Poskey made the first NHRA Pro run down the South Georgia Motorsports Park quarter-mile with a 7.005, then Marc Ingwersen went 6.806 and Geno Scali followed with a 6.842. Jianna Evaristo broke through next, turning the first 6.7-second pass and the first 200-mph run at the facility with a 6.778 at 200.29 mph. Matt Smith answered with a 6.699 at 203.03 mph aboard his Denso Buell, Angie Smith posted a 6.757 at over 200 mph, Chase Van Sant ran a 6.778 after last weekend’s semifinal in Charlotte and Clayton Howey opened with a 6.795 at 200.53 mph.
The return matters because South Georgia Motorsports Park is no novelty. The facility opened in April 2004 as a multi-purpose racing complex with a quarter-mile dragstrip and a 0.5-mile oval, and Raul and Jennifer Torres bought it in 2023. Since then, the track has been improved enough to land a national event during NHRA’s 75th anniversary season, a sign that the series is willing to put new venues under the pressure of championship competition.
That also made Friday’s progression more than a set of practice numbers. After Poskey’s opening pass, the session kept getting quicker, and the field quickly showed that the surface could support the kind of speed NHRA expects from its Pro classes. For a track making its first appearance on the tour, that sequence was the real test: not just whether cars could run, but whether they could keep finding time as conditions and confidence improved.
The Southern Nationals now shift from first impressions to the more difficult part of the weekend. Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, the JBS Pro Mod series and the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series all remain on the card, and the early times in Motorcycle suggest the track is already giving racers room to push. What comes next is whether the rest of the classes can match that pace and whether South Georgia Motorsports Park can turn a debut that started with a 7.005 into a national-event performance the series will want to revisit.
