Kalitta Motorsports
Doug Kalitta, Applied Innovation Top Fuel Dragster
Norwalk, OH – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. Kalitta’s best effort came 
in Saturday’s first qualifying session when he posted a 3.707-second run at 330.07 mph. It was seven thousandths of a second off his Friday-night elapsed time of 3.700 seconds. Qualifying was shortened to three sessions due to Friday’s persistent rain showers.
Kalitta raced in his second Mission Foods#2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the season which paired the semifinalists from the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals two weeks ago. Kalitta defeated Antron Brown in the semifinal rematch but lost to Justin Ashley in the special-event final.
Eliminations: Kalitta raced Canadian driver Dan Mercier in the first round. The tires on the Applied Innovation dragster lost traction immediately, and Mercier got the win with a 3.892-second run,
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Norwalk in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails 8th-place Josh Hart by 45 points and leads his teammate, Shawn Langdon, by nine points.
J.R. Todd, DHL Toyota Funny Car
Norwalk, OH – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 7 qualifier at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. His quickest qualifying 
attempt came during the first session Saturday afternoon when the DHL driver reached the finish line in 3.918 seconds at 333.07 mph. Qualifying was shortened to three sessions due to Friday’s persistent rain showers.
Eliminations: Todd advanced to his second semifinal in the last three races. He defeated John Force and Ron Capps before losing to Matt Hagan by five thousandths of a second in the semifinals putting the DHL GR Supra team on the wrong end of a great drag race.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd moves up one spot to ninth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails eighth-place John Force by 65 points and leads 10th-place Cruz Pedregon by four points.
LANGDON, KALITTA AIR BOUNTY HUNTER TEAM HUNT PROGRESS AT NORWALK
YPSILANTI, MI – Veteran Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon knows how it feels to run well like he did when he won at Norwalk in 2016, and 
he also knows how it feels when things aren’t going as planned. Unfortunately for the Kalitta Air Bounty Hunter team, the latter is teh prevalent trend at the moment, but it’s a trend that could change directions at any time. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals June 23-25, 2023 in Norwalk, Ohio.
Despite the team’s constant, resilient effort, progress is not coming easily, but a bounty hunter only eats what it kills. This team will continue hunting its prey regardless of its current trend.
“It’s been a few races now that we’ve been out in the first round,” the Kalitta Air driver said. “We have a really good group of guys and a great team – we’re just kind of in a rut right now. We have to keep working at it. It’s the highs and lows of drag racing. Sometimes you’re on top, sometimes you’re not. We just have to keep working at it, and eventually, we’ll get the car back. We’ll keep at it until we get there.”
J.R. TODD, DHL TOYOTA TEAM FIND CONSISTENCY, LOOK FOR MORE AT “HOME” RACE TRACK
YPSILANTI, MI – Consistency. It’s the main ingredient in the recipe of drag racing success, and two weeks ago during a double race weekend 
in Tennessee, J.R. Todd and his DHL Toyota GR Supra team found a bit of what has largely been a missing ingredient this season. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals June 23-25, 2023 in Norwalk, Ohio.
Entering that double-dip weekend, the team had visions of capitalizing on a weekend of opportunity. While it didn’t earn either of the trophies, it did find some missing consistency and post four qualifying efforts within .107 seconds reaching the semifinals of the weather-delayed NHRA New England Nationals.
“It was nice to go some rounds,” Todd said following his semifinal effort in Bristol qualifying which doubled as New England Nationals eliminations. “We’ve definitely been struggling on that end. The car has gone down the track every run, just need to be a tick quicker. We didn’t qualify like we had hoped, but at the end of the day, we’ve gone down the track every run so far. That is something to build off of. You learn every time you go down the track.”
DOUG KALITTA HOPES FOR MORE “GOOD PROGRESS” IN NORWALK WITH APPLIED INNOVATION LONG FOR THE RIDE
YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta reached his second semifinal of the season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals two weeks ago – it was 
just part of the “good progress” Team Kalitta made in Bristol with two semifinal appearances. With an energized team and Applied Innovation on the car this weekend, Kalitta’s Toyota team is poised to make more progress at one of the most fan-friendly stops on the tour. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals June 23-25, 2023 in Norwalk, Ohio.
The other part of that positive from the double-race weekend featuring the Thunder Valley Nationals and rain-delayed eliminations for the New England Nationals was six runs down the race track resulting in a solid speed and elapsed time showing the Applied Innovations car is becoming a consistently quick race car. Consistent runs lead to round wins which lead to race wins. In addition, the Team Kalitta DHL Toyota Funny Car driven by J.R. Todd made the New England Nationals semifinals on Saturday.
“We made a lot of good runs down the track reached the Bristol semifinals – it feels good to see our guys starting to have a little success after all the hard work they’ve been putting into this team. I think we’re making some good progress. It’s all about going rounds on Sunday so we just have to keep our heads down and keep working.”
Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Bounty Hunter Top Fuel Dragster
Bristol, TN – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 14 qualifier at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came 
in the first attempt Saturday afternoon when he posted a 3.842-second effort at 323.97 mph.
Bristol Eliminations: Langdon had a brilliant .029 reaction time, and the Kalitta Air Toyota team made its best run of the weekend – a 3.779-second effort at 325.85 mph, but it wasn’t enough. Steve Torrence won the round with a 3.691-second pass.
NHRA New England Nationals Eliminations: Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at last week’s New England Nationals which was run during Bristol qualifying. Langdon raced No. 15 qualifier Tony Schumacher who defeated the Kalitta Air driver 3.797 second-pass to Langdon’s 3.846.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Bristol in 10th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails
J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car
Bristol, TN – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 7 qualifier at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The DHL Toyota made four solid 
qualifying attempts with elapsed times all within .092 seconds. He recorded his quickest time Friday night when he needed just 4.025 seconds to reach the finish line.
Bristol Eliminations: Todd was in a great race with John Force when the engine in the DHL Toyota began having problems causing the engine to automatically shut off. Force went on to advance to the second round.
NHRA New England Nationals Eliminations: Todd was the No. 8 qualifier at last week’s New England Nationals which was run during Bristol qualifying. The 2018 champion defeated Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan before losing to John Force in the semifinals. It was Todd’s second semifinal of the season.
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Bristol, TN – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 6 qualifier at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster made four 
qualifying attempts all within .107 seconds showing excellent consistency. Kalitta’s quickest elapsed time was recorded in the Friday night session when he reached the finish line in 3.764 seconds.
Bristol Eliminations: Kalitta advanced to the semifinals on the strength of two excellent runs posting elapsed times of 3.724 and 3.773 seconds. Including the four qualifying attempts, the Mac Tools Toyota team made six strong runs in a row expanding on the consistency it showed in qualifying. Kalitta defeated Clay Millican and Steve Torrence before losing to Antron Brown in the semifinals. The two were side-by-side late in the run when the Mac Tools car began dropping cylinders allowing Brown to win the round.
NHRA New England Nationals Eliminations: Kalitta was the No. 12 qualifier at last week’s New England Nationals which was run during Bristol qualifying. Kalitta posted a strong 3.764-second effort but lost to Leah Pruett’s 3.745-second run by eight thousandths of a second.
THREE-TIME BRISTOL WINNER WANTS FOUR OF A KIND AT THUNDER VALLEY
YPSILANTI, MI – After an incredibly frustrating weekend trying to wait out the New England weather, 49-time race winner Doug Kalitta 
turns his attention to grabbing not only his fourth Thunder Valley win but also his 50th-career win, and while he’s at it, why not go for 51 in the same weekend? The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with the NHRA New England Nationals and the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals June 9-11, 2023 at Thunder Valley Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.
After a weekend of horrendous weather in Epping, N.H., rain forced eliminations for that race to move to this weekend during Bristol qualifying. With three wins in six Bristol final rounds, Kalitta knows his way around Thunder Valley quite well. Throw in his 2019 No. 1 qualifier, and he’s done everything he can do at Bristol, but a win, or two, this weekend would be a special way to get the Mac Tools Toyota team moving up the point standings.
“We’d definitely like to get two wins this weekend, but we don’t want to be greedy,” Kalitta said in jest. “With the way this season’s gone, I’m know we’d all be super excited to get that 50th win no matter where it happens, but after what everyone went through in Epping this past weekend, it sure would be nice to have a great weekend in Bristol and get us headed back in the right direction.”
LANGDON EXCITED FOR “AWESOME” TWO-RACE WEEKEND AT THUNDER VALLEY
YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon has two wins at Thunder Valley, and due to last weekend’s rainout in Epping, N.H., the Kalitta Air Toyota 
driver has a chance to double his win total this weekend. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with the NHRA New England Nationals and the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals June 9-11 at Thunder Valley Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.
With Epping eliminations happening during Bristol qualifying, this weekend is literally two races in one:
Qualifying Session No. 1 Friday: Bristol Qualifying Session One.
Qualifying Session No. 2 Friday: Bristol Qualifying Session Two and Epping Eliminations Round 1.
Qualifying Session No. 3 Saturday: Bristol Qualifying Session Three and Epping Eliminations Round 2.
Between Qualifying Sessions 3 and 4: Epping Semifinals (does not count for Bristol qualifying).
Qualifying Session No. 4 Saturday: Bristol Qualifying Session 4 and Epping Finals.
“I like it,” Langdon said. “It’s gonna put a lot more at stake. Every qualifying run will matter, and every eliminations run will matter. How they intertwined the (Mission Foods) #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge which will also be intertwined with the Epping race and the Bristol race qualifying – I think it’s awesome, and I’m excited to be a part of it.
