YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta has done just about everything in 2025 – except win on Sunday. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues June 6-8 at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Kalitta has quite a list of 2025 accomplishments:

Five No. 1 qualifiers in seven races; qualified second and fourth at the other two.
Three Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge wins: Las Vegas, Charlotte, Epping, N.H.
Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout win.
Runner-up finish in Phoenix.
This team has literally done everything except win a race, and one would think no team is more due for a race win than Kalitta’s Aflac Toyota team.

“I’ve had a great-running car all year but haven’t gotten the win yet so we’re real hungry for that,” Kalitta said. “Bristol would be a great place to do it. We’ve been good in qualifying and good on Saturdays so we’ll to keep our heads down, try to go rounds and hope like heck we can have a good Sunday. We’ll give it all we’ve got. We’re hopefully a win waiting to happen. People definitely realize we’re there every weekend. We just have to hopefully make it to the final to have a shot at it, and we’ll give it another try this weekend.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd and his DHL team won four rounds of racing in New England last weekend, but the race just might have been won Saturday night. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues June 6-8 at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Todd’s early-season struggles were no secret. With new crew chief, four-time NHRA Funny Car Championship crew chief Dickie Venables, joining the team in the off season, implementing his program was going to take time – a lot of it. Patience was required and perhaps tested. A flash of brilliance here or there showed the team was headed in the right direction, but then, a setback – two steps forward, one step back.

And then came the final round of qualifying at last weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals. Todd needed a good effort to move back into the top half of the field. He was on just that when the DHL Funny Car suffered an engine explosion that damaged the GR Supra body. After qualifying 11th, the car would need extensive repairs to compete on Sunday. While most of Team Kalitta and many others from across the pit area were enjoying Eddie’s Lobsterfest, an annual event in memory of the late Scott Kalitta, the “Yella Fellas” were hard at work in the DHL pit. Continue reading →

Epping, NH – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier at the NHRA New England Nationals. Langdon’s best qualifying effort came in the Friday evening session when he reached the finish line in 3.716 seconds at 331.69 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon raced Dan Mercier in the opening round. Langdon left the starting line first but went into tire smoke almost immediately. He pedaled the Kalitta Air Careers dragster, but the engine malfunctioned ending Langdon’s day.

Unofficial Point Standings: Despite the first-round loss, Langdon remains second in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails first place Tony Stewart by 71 points and leads third-place Antron Brown by 18 points.

Langdon on Epping: “We did our best but just lost traction there in the first round – definitely not how we wanted the weekend to go, but it happens. The Kalitta Air Careers team is a great group, and we have a great car. We’ll load everything up, drive down to Bristol and be ready to go on Friday.”

Langdon Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports

Epping, NH – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA New England Nationals. Kalitta’s best qualifying attempt was his final qualifying run Saturday afternoon when he made a 3.670-second pass at 337.24 mph and reset the New England Dragway Top Fuel speed record. It was Kalitta’s fifth No. 1 qualifier in seven races this season, his fourth straight, his 63rd career No. 1 qualifier and his third at New England Dragway. Kalitta also won his third Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season keeping Team Kalitta perfect in the Top Fuel portion of the Saturday event this season.

Eliminations: With only 15 cars in the field, Kalitta had a bye run in the opening round and made the most of the opportunity. Kalitta made a 3.646-second pass at 338.34 mph setting the track elapsed time record and resetting the track speed record he set in the final round of the Mission Foods Challenge on Saturday, but three pairs later, another driver made a faster pass and took the speed record. Kalitta went on to defeat Ida Zetterstrom before losing to Brittany Force in the semifinals when the Mac Tools Dragster overpowered the race track and smoked the tires. It was Kalitta’s second-straight semifinal. Continue reading →

Epping, NH – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 10 qualifier at the NHRA New England Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came in the Friday evening session when he needed only 3.922 seconds to reach the finish line at 329.75 mph.

Eliminations: Todd won the NHRA New England Nationals hoisting the trophy for the first time since Gainesville, Fla., last season, and it was his first victory with Crew Chief Dickie Venables. Todd’s DHL GR Supra was spectacular on race day with four excellent runs after the team suffered an engine malfunction in the final qualifying round Saturday afternoon and had to go to a backup body for race day. Todd defeated Cruz Pedregon, Phil Burkart, Alexis DeJoria and Spencer Hyde to win his 22nd-career race and his first of the season. Todd and Venables put the exclamation point on the win with a 3.888-second pass at 332.43 mph to win the race.

When Todd advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season next week in Bristol, Tenn. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in New England will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – In the season’s first six races, J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team have seen signs that their efforts to return to form are paying off, and the last race near Chicago was an excellent step. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 30-June 1 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Todd was the No. 4 qualifier on Route 66 Raceway equaling his best qualifying effort of the season, but he was the provisional No. 1 qualifier after Friday’s qualifying sessions for the first time in 2025. On Saturday, although he slipped to fourth, he set the track speed record reaching 336.40 mph in his final qualifying attempt. It was also his career-best speed, but that was qualifying. Race day was unkind to Todd and team when the DHL GR Supra smoked the tires in the opening round.

“We showed that we’re capable of running well, but we just have to put it all together on Sunday now,” Todd said. “We’re definitely going the right direction, but we have to work on our consistency on race day. So far, we’ve struggled to put runs together on Sunday when it matters, but we’re definitely trending in the right direction.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – One year ago, Doug Kalitta entered the New England Nationals looking to complete the career sweep with a win, and now he wants to do it again. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 30-June 1 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

It was an epic New England weekend for the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion last season. He was the No. 1 qualifier and marched through Sunday eliminations to win the race. With that win, Kalitta completed the career sweep winning at least once at every track NHRA’s premier series visits each year.

“It was definitely nice to check that one off the list last year, and this Mac Tools Toyota team is definitely looking forward to going there to see what we can do,” Kalitta said. “We’re hoping to get to the final to have a shot at winning it again. The Mac Tools car has really been great this season; we went to the semifinals in Chicago so close to the final; it’s been nice. Going to these races each weekend, it’s definitely nice knowing you have a good-running car and a shot at the win. It’s all a guy could hope for; it’s real exciting that our Mac Tools car is running like it is, and everybody’s doing their job really well so far.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon has race wins at many different race tracks to his credit, but New England Dragway isn’t one of them – yet. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 30-June 1 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Langdon’s career in NHRA’s premier series is now well into its second decade, yet he’s never hoisted the trophy in New Hampshire. This weekend’s race is the 12th Mission Foods Drag Racing Series event at New England Dragway, and while he knows winning at every track on the circuit would be great, he gets it; some tracks just suit some teams better than others.

“Every track is a little bit different in its characteristics,” Langdon said. “There are so many variables, and a lot depends on the power you make, the clutch application you apply and how your car runs. Certain tracks like your setup, but others don’t. I’ve driven for multiple teams at this point, 15-16 years into my career, I guess it’s just how the cookie crumbles.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Alpine Partners extended its Kalitta Motorsports partnership and will sponsor Doug Kalitta’s Top Fuel Dragster at the upcoming Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., the team announced today. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes May 30-June 1 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.

Alpine will deploy Aflac branding on Kalitta’s car for the race set for the Tennessee mountains June 6-8, 2025. Alpine Partners and Aflac, the leading provider of supplemental health insurance in the U.S.1, will host their clients and guests at the Kalitta Motorsports VIP hospitality area during the Thunder Valley Nationals as well as many of the remaining races on the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing schedule.

In addition, company executives from both Alpine and Aflac will join other Kalitta Motorsports partners at the team’s annual Business-to-Business Summit at the Kalitta Air headquarters in Ypsilanti, Mich., in late June.

“We joined Kalitta Motorsports last year because it is an iconic NHRA team led by a true legend in the sport, Connie Kalitta,” Alpine Partners President Neil Browder said. “We extended that partnership this year because of this team’s strong business-to business focus. Continue reading →

Joliet, IL – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 4 qualifier at the Gerber Collison & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals equaling his best qualifying effort of the season. His best qualifying attempt came in the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon; he made a 3.884-second pass at 336.40 mph, the fastest speed of his career and fastest Funny Car run ever at Route 66 Raceway. Todd made excellent runs in three of the four qualifying sessions; he was the provisional No. 1 qualifier after Friday’s qualifying sessions but slipped to fourth on Saturday.

Eliminations: Todd raced Cruz Pedregon in the first round, but despite the DHL GR Supra’s strong performance in qualifying, the car smoked the tires almost immediately, and Pedregon won the round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Joliet in 10th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails ninth-place Bob Tasca by four points and leads 11th-place Alexis Dejoria by 19 points. Continue reading →