NHRA: McGaha family has high hopes for U.S. Nationals Pro Stock upset

Dad Chris and son Mason are both shooting for "a Wally" in the biggest drag race of the year, this weekend in suburban Indianapolis

Drag racing is all about family.

Go to any NHRA event and you’ll likely see fathers competing against their sons and daughters, as well as brothers and sisters competing against each other.

The NHRA has plenty of famous families: the surnames of Force, Pedregon, Torrence, and Schumacher are a small sampling of the many legendary familial names associated with the sport.

Add the last name McGaha to the mix. During this weekend’s U.S. Nationals in suburban Indianapolis, father Chris and son Mason McGaha are both chasing the Wally (the winner's trophy) for a potential victory in the Pro Stock class.

After a successful tenure in sportsman racing, the elder McGaha made his Pro Stock debut at Indy in 2011 and won for the first time in 2015.

Son Mason made his debut at the 2020 edition of the event - making a splash by advancing to the semi-finals at age 18.

Mason, a third-generation drag racer after grandfather Lester and father Chris, has yet to win on the NHRA’s biggest stage, but to win at Indy would mean everything.

“I don’t even know how you could describe it,” Mason said. “Indy, that’s like our Super Bowl.

“Just to win period for me is going to mean more than anything, but if you could do it at Indy - I don’t know if there is a word to describe how cool that’d be.”

The NHRA has literally been all that Mason has known his whole life. He went to his first race when he was just a few months old and grew up going to drag strips with his father.

“I thought at the time that everybody had a race car,” Mason said. “As a kid at school, when I was little I’d ask, ‘what kind of race car does your dad have?’”

While he has not won a race yet, Mason has put together a respectable 2022 campaign. He is currently ranked seventh in the Pro Stock standings and looks to make his first appearance in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs, which begin September 15-18 in Reading, Pa.

For Chris, the main objective he’d still like to see is Mason finally win that elusive first race. As for himself, he’d just like to make the Countdown.

Chris is currently ranked 14th in the Pro Stock standings. He will need a miracle to make it into the Countdown.

“Once you get to Indy and start hearing the word ‘championship’, for me, it’s do or die,” Chris said. “You've got to get your act together now. It’s either over with or you’re going to need to figure out what you’re doing.”

Chris also said he’d like to see more opportunities for drivers further down the standings to make it into the Countdown.

“One thing I think that the Countdown has always missed is a Wild Card,” Chris said. “There needs to be a Wild Card and a way to get one.

“(But) I guess there’s really no creative way of doing it. Yeah, you’re allowing guys that have done really crappy - like myself - to have a chance. But, at the same time, what’s more cooler than when a Wild Card team wins the Super Bowl?

"Or when the team that didn’t stand a chance in the Final Four goes all the way and wins it all? I know it would be good for the sport. Clearly, people wouldn’t be as pumped up as me, but still, I think it would be cool to see some guy come from the back and win it all.”

And what better way to kick off the playoffs than to win the last race before the Countdown begins with this Monday's final eliminations.