Topeka, KS – Two-time Topeka Nationals winner Doug Kalitta will be racing to become the second winningest Top Fuel racer at the historic track. There is a log jam of two-time Top Fuel winners, but they all pale in comparison to Scott Kalitta, the six-time Heartland Motorsports Park winner, who captured four wins at the now discontinued fall national event and two victories at the spring race. The Kalitta legacy in Kansas is one that Doug Kalitta is looking forward to extending this weekend with a specialty design on his Top Fuel dragster highlighting KalittaAir.com/careers.

“We have a really cool looking race car this weekend promoting KalittaAir.com/careers,” said Kalitta, who took Topeka titles in 2006 and 2016. “We did a huge display for Kalitta Air employees before the Western Swing and this is just a continuation of that relationship.”

The perennial championship contender has four final round appearances at the Topeka Nationals capturing runner-up honors in 2003 and 2004 before picking up his two national event wins at the multi-use facility. Kalitta also secured the No. 1 qualifier in 2005 behind the wheel of his traditional Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster.

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YPSILANTI, MI – During this weekend’s Topeka NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park, 49-time Top Fuel national event winner Doug Kalitta will campaign a KalittaAir.com/careers themed Top Fuel dragster. The 11,000-horsepower land rocket was inspired by Kalitta Motorsports’ and Kalitta Air’s long-standing relationship from team owner and drag racing icon Connie Kalitta. Highlighting the need for qualified aviation mechanics and technicians the KalittaAir.com/careers Top Fuel dragster will draw attention all weekend as Kalitta pursues win number 50 in his Hall of Fame career and begins to focus on competing in the NHRA Countdown for the 2022 NHRA Top Fuel world championship.

“This is a great looking Top Fuel dragster promoting an amazing opportunity for anyone with aviation experience or anyone looking to get into the business,” said Kalitta, a licensed pilot and President of Kalitta Charters. “We have done a number of promotions and events with the Kalitta Air guys over the years, but we really wanted to draw attention to a need for our company and the aviation industry overall.”

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Kent, WA – The Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster and driver Doug Kalitta had a strong day at the NHRA Northwest Nationals racing to a quarterfinal finish. Through two days of qualifying Kalitta earned three qualifying bonus points after posting the second quickest pass of the second session and the third quickest pass of the final session. Heading into elimination Sunday Kalitta was facing a first round race against Alex Laughlin.

The veteran driver grabbed a starting line advantage with a .065 reaction time and never trailed in the race. His Mac Tools dragster made another quick run lighting up the scoreboard with a 3.837 second pass at 322.11 mph for the win.

In the second round Kalitta was once again first off the line with a strong 3.827 second pass, his quickest of the weekend, in a losing effort. The perennial championship contender took the positives from the weekend as he wrapped up another Western Swing.

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Kent, WA – The DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster and Shawn Langdon raced to the quarterfinals today at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. The No. 6 qualifier took out Mike Salinas in the opening round before losing a close race to eventual winner Tony Schumacher in round two. Through two races of the western swing Langdon and his DHL team have been making solid efforts racing to a runner-up finish in Denver and a semifinal finish last weekend in Sonoma. The success on the three-race stretch has moved Langdon up to seventh in points and essentially two rounds out of fifth place.

Today at Pacific Raceways Langdon took his opening round win on a single pass after Salinas was unable to stage his Top Fuel dragster.  Salinas and Langdon executed their burnouts, but Salinas was unable to shift his racecar into reverse and was pushed back to the starting line by his team. Langdon staged and Salinas could not take the tree giving Langdon a single which he powered to the finish line stripe in 3.796 seconds and major improvement over his qualifying time. He earned lane choice in the quarterfinals for his strong effort.

Facing the eight-time Top Fuel champion Schumacher in the quarterfinals Langdon and his DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster made another strong run on a hot race track. He tripped the beams with a 3.797 second pass, but it was not enough to advance him to his third consecutive semifinal round of the swing.

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Kent, WA – J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota GR Supra made the most out of the last stop on the Western Swing racing to a runner-up finish at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. Todd qualified No. 7 and defeated Blake Alexander, No. 1 qualifier Bob Tasca III, earned a competition bye in the semifinals before losing a near photo finish to Robert Hight in the final round. It was Todd’s second final round appearance and first in Funny Car at Pacific Raceways. He previously won the Northwest Nationals Top Fuel title in 2015. Today he was 10 feet from adding a Funny Car title to his resume.

In the opening round Todd was first off the line and never trailed in the race against Alexander. His DHL Toyota GR Supra improved over their best qualifying effort posting a strong 3.955 second pass at 325.14 mph to advance to the quarterfinals. His pass was the third quickest run of the opening session and set the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion up with a race against the No.1 qualifier in the next round.

“It seems like it came together there in Q3 and then again in first round,” said Todd. (Crew chiefs) Todd (Smith) and Jon (Oberhofer) just keep picking away at it and trying stuff. I also have to give a shout out to the track here at Pacific Raceways and NHRA for this track. They’re doing a hell of a job with the track temp and the track is hanging in there. The fans sitting in those aluminum seats, they’re the brave ones out here. Thanks for spending your hard-earned money to come out here and watch us try to put on a good show.”

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Kent, WA – Throughout the 2022 season Shawn Langdon and the DHL Toyota Top Fuel team have been making steady progress. Last weekend in Sonoma Langdon scored another semifinal finish, this one coming from the No. 9 qualifier position to move up to a tie for sixth place in the Top Fuel points just 35 points out of fifth place, which is less than two rounds of racing. Since the beginning of the summer Langdon and his DHL team have scored two semifinals and two runner-up finishes over five races and he collected a win at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Super Comp narrowly missing a rare double up with a Top Fuel runner-up finish at that same event.

“We have definitely been running really well with this DHL Toyota dragster,” said Langdon. “We have just lost some close races down the stretch. I am having a lot of fun driving because we are going rounds and that is just making the whole DHL team better. We are up to sixth in the points and we can make a move up the standings with every race.”

The last time Langdon races at the Northwest Nationals he was piloting a Toyota Funny Car to a quarterfinal finish as the No. 6 qualifier. The long layoff combined with the return to Top Fuel does not bother Langdon. The 2013 Top Fuel world champion is looking forward to getting back to Pacific Raceway where he has two final round appearances in Top Fuel from 2012 and 2015.

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Kent, WA – Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel team will be heading to the NHRA Northwest Nationals after a two year hiatus looking to build on their Sonoma Nationals momentum. The perennial championship contender qualified No. 2 and raced to the semifinals at a track he has dominated throughout his career. Kalitta has had good luck at Pacific Raceway racing to four final rounds and picking up a Top Fuel title in 2014. A second win at the track located outside of Seattle, Washington, would take his career total to an impressive 50 Top Fuel titles and solidify his position in the Top Fuel top ten.

“I am looking forward to getting to Seattle,” said Kalitta. “We ran really well in Sonoma and I think we can build on that this weekend. It will be hot, but I know (crew chiefs) Alan (Johnson) and Brian (Husen) will have this Mac Tools dragster tuned up.”

Kalitta and his Mac Tools team made a major overhaul in the off-season bringing on veteran and world champion crew chiefs Johnson and Husen to an already strong team. The new crew chief additions have built up success over the season and as the regular season ends, Countdown success looms in the future. The Mac Tools team has been one of the quickest race cars in qualifying only heading into race day on the outside of the top eight on one occasion. They scored a No. 1 qualifier, the 51st of Kalitta’s storied career, at the Arizona Nationals and they have tallied seven top five starts this season.

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Kent, WA – As the Western Swing wraps up this weekend with the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota GR Supra team would like to close it out with a momentum building win. The team has been consistently quick in Denver and Sonoma qualifying well and racing to the quarterfinals. Todd is in seventh place in the Funny Car point standings and just 32 points out of sixth place which is less than two rounds of racing. Another strong weekend at Pacific Raceway could keep the pressure on the rest of the Funny Car class.

“This weekend could be a great momentum starter for the DHL Toyota Supra team,” said Todd, a 10-time Funny Car national event winner. “I have had some success her in Top Fuel and I would love to carry that over with a Funny Car win. This team has been grinding and I think that first win for us in the new GR Supra body is right around the corner.”

In 2015 Todd won the Northwest Nationals in Top Fuel over now teammate Shawn Langdon. If Todd can collect a Funny Car win this weekend he would become just the fourth pro driver to have wins in each of the nitro categories at the Northwest Nationals. Todd would join Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr and Del Worsham on that exclusive list.

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Sonoma, CA – The DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car and J.R. Todd used the Sonoma Nationals to continue to build a program that will compete for the 2022 Funny Car world championship. Through two days of qualifying Todd entered race day as the No. 10 Funny Car but the 2017 Sonoma Nationals Funny Car champion knew his racecar was moving in the right direction.

In a tough first round race against veteran Tim Wilkerson Todd’s DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car was up to the task. Todd left the starting line first and held the lead the entire 1.000 feet for the win. Wilkerson began to haze the tires at about 700 feet, but Todd was a on a picture-perfect run to advance to the quarterfinals. Todd once again posted a solid 3.999 second pass just a tick off his best qualifying run to get the win.

The first round win moved Todd into the quarterfinals against No. 2 qualifier John Force. This was the fourth time the pair of world champions have squared off this season. Todd was looking to even his head-to-head record against the winningest driver in NHRA history. Todd and Force left the starting line together and Todd’s DHL Toyota stepped up with his quickest run of the weekend 3.958 second but it was not enough to get in front of Force’s 3.932 second pass. Continue reading →

Sonoma, CA – Today the CMR Construction and Roofing Toyota Top Fuel dragster and Shawn Langdon continued their hot streak as the second race of the Western Swing wrapped up from Sonoma Raceway. The 2013 Top Fuel world champion raced to the semifinal round of the Sonoma Nationals from the No. 9 spot after outrunning Antron Brown and Leah Pruett in the first two rounds.

Racing Toyota teammate Brown in the first round Langdon jumped off the starting line first with the CMR Construction and Roofing dragster. Langdon’s blue and white land rocket accelerated down track and was pulling away. As the finish line closed in Brown’s motor expired and Langdon powered across the finish line stripe with a winning time of 3.743 seconds, his quickest pass of the weekend, at 326.63 mph.

The quarterfinals matched Langdon up with the No. 1 qualifier, Pruett. It was a rematch of the Mile-High Nationals final round that did not go Langdon’s way. Today Langdon took a sizeable reaction time advantage .049 to .079 and the CMR dragster stayed hooked up the entire length of the track for the win. His winning elapsed time was 3.734 seconds at 330.96 mph. Langdon’s team stepped up with another monster run to move him to the semifinals.

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