If you didn’t know who she was by her loud and outgoing personality, her results on the race track will catch your eye.
Maddi Gordon began 2026 by testing and successfully earning her license in NHRA’s Top Fuel Dragster category. She was prepped to go for her rookie season with Ron Capps Motorsports, where she’d learn from one of the best to do it, Ron Capps himself. The expectation was to learn and adapt to the pinnacle of drag racing,
Four race weekends into the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, and the rookie has reached the semifinal round three times. Look deeper into her run, and you realize she took down the best of the best:
GATORNATIONALS
R1- Beat 2013 Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon at 334.48mph
R2- Beat eight-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher at 331.53mph
ARIZONA NATIONALS
R2- Beat Tony Stewart at 324.83mph
4-WIDE NATIONALS
R1- Beat six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion Clay Millican and four-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown at 332.51mph
Her resume so early on is extraordinary. While she’s off to a great start, she is quick to champion her team over herself. “I’m fortunate to be with these guys that are so passionate,” Gordon said. “They took so much time with me this offseason, it shows a lot about what a team is.
“You surround yourself with the right people, and these things happen.”
Gordon noted Capps, his crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli, her car chief Chuck Grospitch, and her crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Troy Fasching were on the front lines of her rapid education. “[They were] teaching me so much so that when I first got into the car, I’m a big questions person, I ran out of questions!” Gordon said.
Gordon was quickly becoming popular for her John Force-like personality that came out in her interviews, but her runs at Gatornationals exploded the fanbase. Now, wherever she goes, the Carlyle Tools pit is swarmed with intrigued fans wanting to meet the rookie.
“When we drove past the fans in Gainesville [at Gatornationals] and they were standing and applauding, I turned around and thought ‘is John Force passing me on a scooter?'” Gordon joked. “They have been so amazing and so supportive. I love signing autographs [for them], it’s an absolute pleasure.”
While the fans are treated to the smiling and happy-go-lucky Maddi, her opponents get the most serious form of her. Once Gordon zips up her firesuit and gets her helmet on, she turns into an ultra competitive race car driver.
“Maddi with the helmet on is definitely serious,” Gordon said. “I take my time in the tow car to zone in at the staging lanes. I like to know what’s going on around me, what the other cars are doing and listen to the guys.”
Gordon may be a rookie racing against the goliaths of drag racing, but like a true contender, she smiles in the wake of the pressure. “I think pressure is a privilege, and coming into this opportunity, I knew there was going to be a lot of pressure,” Gordon explained. “This is all I live for. While there’s more pressure, bigger stage, more fans, more eyes [on me], but I’ve raced with pressure since I was a kid.
“I actually love pressure, I think it’s great. That’s what makes [our] wins so exciting.”
Gordon is not just a great race car driver, she is a phenomenal mechanic. Gordon and her sister Macie, who currently competes in the Top Dragster category, learned every inch of drag race cars as engine builders for their father, Doug. Now with RCM at the top level, she allows her skilled crew to work on the car, but she enters her rookie year with an advantage on her side. “When Rob and Troy say they’ve added a gram to adjust the clutch flow, I know the mechanics of the car and I know what that should feel like,” Gordon explained. “I feel I almost have foreshadowing as to what is going to happen, but it’s a Top Fuel car and anything can happen.”
Gordon enters the Southern Nationals sixth in points fresh off her third semifinal appearance. While her boss leads Funny Car points with two wins, Gordon will lower the visor and chase her first career win, something that appears closer to happening than expected.
