Early Exit at Gatornationals Tough on Doug Kalitta and Mac Tools Team 

Gainesville, FL – Since the beginning of the season Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Top Fuel team have been the Top Fuel point leader. Coming into the 51st annual NHRA Gatornationals Kalitta was looking to extend that streak and pick up his fourth Top Fuel win at Gainesville Raceway. The past two seasons Kalitta Motorsports has taken home the trophy at the historic event and today Kalitta was looking to make it three in a row.

During the two qualifying sessions yesterday in some of the hottest and unforgiving conditions of the season the Mac Tools team was running near the top of the class. At the end of Saturday Kalitta was positioned as the No. 6 qualifier and first round match-up with veteran Terry McMillen. It was a tough race because conditions cooled slightly and the threat of inclement weather covered the track with an overcast sky and cooler track temperatures.

When the dragsters pulled up Kalitta was ready for action jumping to a starting line advantage on reaction time with a .057 second to .066 second head start. That lead unfortunately disappeared as McMillen was on a dramatically improved run from his qualifying effort. He blasted to the finish line with a 4.747 second pass, the quickest of the session, to get the first round win.

“We will have to wait and see what happens with the points,” said Kalitta, after the first round. “You can’t have too many first round loses but we have four more races. The points will tighten up but this Mac Tools team is pretty tough. I am not getting discouraged. We will be back at it in St. Louis next weekend and I have three wins there. We can get right back on top with a couple wins. No matter what this championship will most likely come down to the last couple of races and I know this Mac Tools Toyota team will be right in the battle.”

Kalitta will head to the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis in second place just 22 points out of the Top Fuel point lead.

Quotable:
Doug Kalitta on heading to St. Louis: “We have three wins in St. Louis and we will be going for number four this coming weekend. Getting another win will get us back in the points lead hopefully. We aren’t going to fall too far behind with four races left. We made some good runs this weekend and I know we have a tune up that can win races.”

Statistics:
Qualified: No. 6 (3.869 sec., 300.13 mph)
Bonus points: 0

Race Details:

First Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH
Doug Kalitta               6          .057     3.877   310.91
Terry McMillen           11        .066     3.747   321.27 (W)