LAS VEGAS – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 8 qualifier at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. He recorded his quickest qualifying attempt in the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon when he ran a 3.798-second pass at 305.56 mph.

Eliminations: After winning two of the season’s first three races, Langdon lost to his teammate, Doug Kalitta, and Steve Torrence in the first round of eliminations. The first-round loss was his first of the season.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Las Vegas in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails first-place Justin Ashley by 23 points and leads third-place Steve Torrence by 28 points.

Langdon on Las Vegas: “We were in a tough quad in the first round, and we smoked the tires down the track; it happens. When you run (Steve) Torrence and Doug (Kalitta), you have to make a good run to advance, and we smoked the tires down there. I’m not really worried about it; it’s just one race. All in all, everything still looks good. Everyone on our Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team is still excited about this season. Sometimes things don’t go your way, but we still have a great team and a great car. We’ll move on and be ready to go at Charlotte for Revchem, Safety-Kleen and everyone else that supports us.” Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 3 qualifier at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came in the final session Saturday afternoon when he made a 3.930-second run at 322.19 mph.

Eliminations: Todd and the DHL Toyota team defeated Dan Wilkerson and Doug Richards before losing to Ron Capps and Matt Hagan in the semifinals.

When Todd advanced to the quarterfinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte in two weeks. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the quarterfinals in Las Vegas will re-run the quarterfinals in the 4-Wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Las Vegas in second place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails first-place Austin Prock by 48 points and leads third-place Bob Tasca by 42 points. Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. It was his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 54th of his career. His best qualifying attempt was during the first session Saturday afternoon when he made a 3.738-second pass at 336.82 mph.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated his teammate, Shawn Langdon, and Steve Torrence in the first four-wide round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the semifinals followed by Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Tony Stewart in the final round of 4-Wide eliminations. Kalitta had the low elapsed time in each of the three eliminations rounds. His 3.715-second final round run was low elapsed time of the weekend, and his semifinal speed, 336.65 mph, was the fastest speed of race day.

It was Kalitta’s 53rd-career victory, and with Kalitta’s win, and Langdon’s wins in Gainesville and Phoenix, Kalitta Motorsports now has three Top Fuel wins in the season’s first four races. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta’s title defense is underway, but it hasn’t gone as well as hoped…yet. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 12-14, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals on the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kalitta has two Las Vegas wins in seven final-round appearances, and while the Mac Tools team hasn’t won a race yet this season, recent changes have the team liking its chances this weekend.

“We switched to a different car before Phoenix, and it was pretty happy actually,” Kalitta said. “Alan (crew chief Alan Johnson) and the guys like what they’re seeing with this new chassis so we’re all looking forward to seeing what we can do in Las Vegas. What I know for sure is how hard Mac (assistant crew chief Mac Savage) and all my guys are working to get this Mac Tools car running the way we all want it to run. We’re hungry and want to get a race win under our belts as soon as we can.”

Kalitta has three quarterfinal finishes in three races so far this season and enters the fourth race sixth in points. That’s a solid start for some, but the defending Top Fuel champion is ready to move deeper into elimination rounds going forward, and this weekend’s four-wide race in Las Vegas would be the perfect time to do it. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – As the old song said, “two outa three aint bad.” Shawn Langdon, Crew Chief Brian Husen and the Kalitta Air Careers team are on a tear entering the season’s fourth race with two wins in the first three. After a flawless season debut in Florida, Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team will roll into Las Vegas as the points leader hoping to keep rolling. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 12-14, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals on the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After last week’s win in the Arizona desert, Langdon and first-time crew chief Brian Husen enter the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas on quite a tear. The team won 10 of the available 12 rounds of racing to start the season, and although the competition is incredibly intense in Top Fuel, the current points-leading team shows no signs of slowing down. After struggling a bit over the last few years, running consistently well is a welcome change.

“It feels great; I’m just really proud of everybody with all the hard work that went on in the off season,” Langdon said. “It was hard to struggle for the last couple of years. You have to bite your tongue a little bit, keep your head down and keep working, and eventually, the tide is gonna roll the other way. You don’t know how long that’s gonna take, but it’s paying dividends right now. Internally, we feel very confident with the team we put together, and we feel very confident in ourselves. Now we have to keep working hard and hope the results show it.”

Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Ten years ago this race, J.R. Todd was a part-time Top Fuel driver sitting in Indianapolis watching college basketball on television. Then on Friday evening of the spring Las Vegas race, his life would change forever. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes April 12-14, 2024 at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals on the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Todd received a call to join Kalitta Motorsports in Las Vegas following the first two rounds of qualifying. Unusual, yes, but definitely doable – especially if you’re a part-time driver looking for a fulltime ride.

“It’s crazy that it’s already been 10 years; it’s definitely flown by, and a lot of good things happened,” Todd said. “We won a lot of races since then, won a championship, and I’m very thankful for that call from Connie Kalitta 10 years ago. At the time, I was racing part time for Bob Vandergriff, and we weren’t scheduled to race that weekend. I had been out used car shopping with my Mom and Dad, and it was March Madness. Continue reading →

Phoenix, AZ – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals; it was his best qualifying position of the season. Late Friday afternoon, Kalitta made a 3.697-second pass at 323.66 mph to claim the No. 3 position.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Terry Totten before losing to Justin Ashley in the quarterfinals.

When Kalitta advanced to the quarterfinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at next week’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the quarterfinals in Phoenix will re-run the quarterfinals in the 4-Wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Phoenix in sixth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Antron Brown by one point and leads seventh-place Tony Schumacher by one point.

Continue reading →

Phoenix, AZ – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 5 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. During the first round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Todd made his best qualifying run – a 3.923-second effort at 320.58 mph. It was his best qualifying effort of the season.

Eliminations: Todd defeated Cruz Pedregon and John Force before losing to Austin Prock in the semifinals – it was a rematch of the Gainesville final round Todd won. In the Phoenix semifinal, Todd left the starting line first, but Prock won the race by two thousandths of a second. Todd now has a win and two semifinals in the season’s first three races.

When Todd advanced to the quarterfinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at next week’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the quarterfinals in Phoenix will re-run the quarterfinals in the 4-Wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Continue reading →

Phoenix, AZ – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 5 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came during the final qualifying round Saturday afternoon when he posted a 3.750-second elapsed time at 327.74 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Josh Hart, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Justin Ashley on the way to his second winner’s circle celebration in the season’s first three races. Langdon was off the starting line first in the final and never looked back racing to the win light with a 3.760-second run at 318.69 mph to Ashley’s 3.849-second effort. It was Langdon’s 19th-career victory in a rematch of the Phoenix final-round matchup, which Ashley won, last season.

When Langdon advanced to the quarterfinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at next week’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the quarterfinals in Phoenix will re-run the quarterfinals in the 4-Wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

Continue reading →

CHANDLER, AZ – J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra Funny Car team raced to the winner’s circle in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge featuring a rematch of the semifinals and finals from the season’s second race in Pomona, Calif., two weeks ago. On the day the NCAA is playing its men’s basketball Final Four not far from the race track, NHRA raced in front of a sellout crowd at Firebird Motorsports Park.

When Todd advanced to the Pomona semifinals, he earned a spot in today’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. During Friday’s first qualifying session, Todd defeated Matt Hagan in a rematch of the Pomona semifinal Hagan won. In the final round, which was also the second round of qualifying for tomorrow’s NHRA Arizona Nationals, Todd defeated Pomona race winner John Force. It was Todd’s second win in this special event – he won it at Sonoma Raceway last summer and went on to win the race the next day.

Continue reading →