TOYOTA’S KALITTA REPEATS AT NHRA WINTERNATIONALS IN POMONA
POMONA, CA – Toyota driver Doug Kalitta took the lead at the start, then fought off Steve Torrence after hazing the 
tires to win the Top Fuel finals at the rain-delayed Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals Monday.
With the victory, Kalitta becomes just the second Top Fuel driver ever to win back-to-back Winternationals. It marks his third overall Winternationals crown, having also won the event in 2009.
Kalitta drove his Mac Tools Toyota dragster to a first-round victory over Scott Palmer to set up a second-round match-up with Billy Torrence. Kalitta used an exceptional .048 reaction time to take an early lead and then held off the elder Torrence to win on a hole-shot by .002 seconds (approximately 13 inches). In the semi-finals, Kalitta registered his second consecutive holeshot round win as he edged Terry McMillen. Kalitta registered the best Top Fuel reaction time of the day with a .043-second light on the way to a margin of victory of .011 second to send the Mac Tools Toyota dragster driver to his 97th final round.
In the finals, Kalitta had the starting line advantage, but started to haze the tires after the 330’ mark, but he never came off the gas. Shortly afterward, Torrence started to haze his tires as the two fought toward the finish line. Kalitta would hold on and win with the official margin of victory was .019 seconds or approximately seven feet.
“My car started smoking out there and I thought for sure that Steve was going to drive away,” said Kalitta, who won three of his four rounds today on holeshots. “There was no lifting. I could see the finish line, so we just held on to it down there. It was either let it blow or get the win. There was nothing to gain by lifting. I was just expecting him to go by when we started smoking, but fortunately for us, he was having some type of problem over there. We hung in there and the win light came on for our Mac Tools Toyota dragster. He’s had a heck of a streak and there’s no better place to get by him at than the Winternationals. I’m really proud of all the guys working on my car.”
Both Antron Brown and Richie Crampton were eliminated in the first round in Top Fuel despite each registering a 3.73-second run. Brown fell to Leah Pritchett, while Crampton lost to Terry McMillen.
In Funny Car, Shawn Langdon drove his Toyota Camry to the second round. He defeated Jim Campbell in his opening run before falling to Tommy Johnson in round two. J.R. Todd was unable to make a clean pass down the track in his early first round run.
The 2019 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues with round two at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in suburban Phoenix, Feb. 22-24.
