For decades, the Gordon family garage has been the starting line for champions. Maddi Gordon’s grandfather built the legacy. Her father, Doug, carried it forward with three national championships. Now Maddi is about to take it where no Gordon has gone before, into the fastest and most powerful category in drag racing.
In just two weeks, Maddi will make her professional NHRA debut in Top Fuel, a division where the 12,000-horsepower machines rocket to over 330 miles per hour in less than four seconds.
“Insane; that’s my word for it,” Maddi says with a grin.
It’s a place she feels completely at home. She’s spent nearly every Saturday of her life inside the same shop behind her Templeton home, learning the mechanics, and chasing the tire tracks laid by generations before her.
Ron Capps, a San Luis Obispo native and one of the sport’s legends, remembers spotting Maddi and her sister in the pits years ago, turning wrenches and racing. After decades behind the wheel and now owning a racing team, Capps offered Maddi the opportunity to step into the Top Fuel ranks. For Capps, it's a full circle moment with the legendary Don " The Snake" Prudhomme having given Capps a shot in the mid 1990s.
"This is my way to pass the baton,” Capps says. “Not many can say they’ve owned a team, let alone adding one, and I couldn’t be happier to have Maddi as our next generation.”
Driving a Top Fuel dragster is more than just speed; it’s a physical test. Maddi will face almost seven G’s of force, comparable to what fighter pilots endure.
“At about 300–400 feet, it literally feels like your arms get three miles long,” Maddi explains.
That challenge is part of what makes her debut historic.
“I’m the first in my family to go pro in any division of drag racing,” she says. “That’s something I hold near and dear to my heart, and I take a lot of pride in it.”
Maddi’s first professional race takes place March 6–8 in Gainesville, Florida.
