Kalitta Makes History With Third Straight Top Fuel WIn At NHRA Winternationals
POMONA, CA – Doug Kalitta defeated Austin Prock in the final to become the first Top Fuel driver in history to win 
three consecutive Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in the 60th running of the event at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Sunday. Toyota Top Fuel drivers have now won eight of the last 11 Winternationals.
In the opening round of the day, Kalitta squared off with rookie Brandon Welch. Kalitta had a slight lead at the tree before rattling the tires and being forced to pedal it for the win. He would match-up with Justin Ashley in round two. Once again, he had an advantage at the light and never trailed in advancing to the semifinals. That set up an epic semifinal between the Mac Tools Toyota driver and pole-sitter Brittany Force. For the third straight race Kalitta had an advantage at the starting line and never trailed in nipping Force with a 3.675 to a 3.680 as both cars clocked in at more than 329 mph.
In the finals against Prock, Kalitta was once again out of the gate first with a stellar .038-second reaction time and then drove straight down the groove for the victory with a 3.698-second pass for his 48th career Top Fuel win. Kalitta closed out the event by running his two quickest passes of the weekend in his final two runs.
“It’s hard to believe,” said Kalitta afterward on winning his third straight Winternationals crown. “I love this place and it will probably sink in tomorrow. Anytime you can win here it’s just extra special. It’s great to start and end the season here. It’s going to be a tough year, but I’m really looking forward to it. My guys are all hungry and I’m just glad that we were able to get one of the Kalitta Motorsports cars into the Winner’s Circle today and get the season kicked off right. Winning the first race takes a lot of pressure off. Now that we’ve got that win behind us, we can just try to build on it.”
Fellow Toyota Top Fuel drivers Shawn Langdon and Antron Brown both were unable to make a clean pass In the opening round and were eliminated. Langdon fell to Ashley, while Brown was eliminated by Shawn Reed.
Alexis DeJoria had an impressive return to the seat of a Funny Car after a two-year retirement to spend more time with her teen daughter. The ROKiT Toyota Camry driver defeated Paul Lee in the first round with an outstanding 3.92-second pass. She followed it up with a victory over defending Funny Car champion Robert Hight to advance to the semifinals before eventually falling to race winner Jack Beckman. She will head to Phoenix fourth in Funny Car points.
Rounding out the Toyota Funny Car contingent, J.R. Todd lost his opening run against Tim Wilkerson, with Alex Miladinovich falling to pole-sitter Matt Hagan.
The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will head to Phoenix for the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Feb. 21-23.
