Joliet, IL – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the Gerber Collison & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals. Kalitta’s best qualifying attempt came in Saturday’s first round when he made a 3.661-second effort at 335.23 mph setting the Top Fuel track record for elapsed time. It was Kalitta’s third-straight No. 1 qualifier and his fourth in six races this season.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Lex Joon and Josh Hart before losing to Justin Ashley in the semifinals. The Mac Tools dragster was off to a good start but smoked the tires early in the run giving Ashley the win.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Joliet in fourth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails third-place Antron Brown by 29 points and leads fifth-place Justin Ashley by 33 points. Continue reading →

Joliet, IL – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 3 qualifier at the Gerber Collison & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Langdon’s best qualifying attempt came in the third round early Saturday afternoon when the Kalitta Air Careers dragster reached the finish line in 3.687 seconds at 335.65 mph. That run was also the first round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, and it put Langdon in the final round against Tony Stewart. Langdon’s 3.704-second effort at 332.10 mph in the final round gave the 2013 Top Fuel champion his third Mission Foods Challenge win of the season. With Doug Kalitta’s two wins in the Mission Foods Challenge, Team Kalitta maintains the season sweep in the event so far.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Kyle Wurtzel in the first round before Steve Torrence upset him in the second round. Langdon was off the starting line first but the Kalitta Air Careers car smoked the tires almost immediately ending Langdon’s day.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Joliet in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails points leader Tony Stewart by two points and leads third-place Antron Brown by 63 points. Continue reading →

JOLIET, IL – The Team Kalitta hits keep coming. Shawn Langdon won his third #2Fast2Tasty Mission Foods NHRA Challenge of the season, and Doug Kalitta took his fourth No. 1 in the six races this season. Both will race in tomorrow’s Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill.

Langdon kept Team Kalitta undefeated in this season’s Top Fuel Mission Foods Challenges. Langdon won the challenge in Phoenix, Pomona and today while Kalitta won it at both Las Vegas and Charlotte. The drivers who advanced to the semifinals in Charlotte two weeks ago raced in today’s Mission Foods Challenge in a rematch of the semifinals and finals.

Langdon was not qualified entering today’s third qualifying attempt, but the Kalitta Air Careers team did not disappoint. Langdon made a brilliant 3.687-second pass at 335.65 mph to beat Justin Ashley by .0033 seconds to advance to the Mission Challenge final and move into the No. 3 starting spot. Langdon raced Tony Stewart in the final and made another excellent pass, a 3.704-second effort at 332.10 mph, to win the Mission Foods challenge cash prize and three championship bonus points. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Five races into the 2025 season, J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team continue to make progress in their return to form; they’ve enjoyed some glimmers of hope but want more. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 16-18 at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals near Chicago.

Todd is now eighth in the NHRA Funny Car point standings on the strength of a No. 4 qualifying effort in Las Vegas and round wins in both Las Vegas and Charlotte. The DHL Funny Car is going down the track and making solid runs on most passes. That’s positive.

“To get better, you have to go down the track; it’s a process, and of course, we want instant results,” Todd said. “It’s a bit of a long process so every time we go down the track, it’s more data for Dickie and Jon-O (Crew Chief Dickie Venables and Assistant Crew Chief Jon Oberhofer) to look at and fine tune things. We’re definitely getting more consistent – we’re slowly picking away at it to get quicker and quicker.

“We’ll get a better sense of where we are now that we’re back to two-wide racing so we get two shots at each lane during qualifying instead of one in each lane – it takes away some of the guesswork of only having one shot at each lane at the four-wide races. We had some issues in qualifying in Charlotte but rebounded pretty well on Sunday. We made a couple of pretty good runs so I’m confident we can hit the ground running Friday in Chicago.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools Toyota team is one of the quickest and fastest in Top Fuel, and it seems it’s just a matter of time before this team takes its first title of the season. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 16-18 at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals near Chicago.

Kalitta and team have accomplished a great deal in the season’s first five races. Kalitta won the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout, he has three No. 1 qualifiers and he won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at both Las Vegas and Charlotte. Raceday, however, has not been as kind to the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion. Kalitta has one final round appearance in the season’s first five races, yet he’s fourth in points.

“This Mac Tools team is running strong, and we’re hoping for a good Sunday,” Kalitta said. “We’ve been doing quite well in qualifying and the Saturday races so hopefully we were kind of the ‘win waiting to happen.’ We’re looking forward to getting back to Chicago this weekend and just look to pick up where we left off and see what we can do.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon has a rare opportunity this weekend: a shot at winning his third-consecutive race. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 16-18 at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals near Chicago.

Langdon has two wins in five races this season including the most-recent race two weeks ago. Last weekend, he won the title at the TV Promotions Twin $50K at Worldwide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, and this weekend, he’ll look for wins in three straight starts. Langdon enters Route 66 Raceway as the Top Fuel points leader enjoying a 60-point advantage over second-place Tony Stewart.

“It’s definitely been a really good start to the season with two race wins and a runner up and then winning the bracket race last weekend,” Langdon said. “The Kalitta Air Careers car’s been running great; the guys are doing a really good job getting the car ready, and we’ve had some strong success in the early part of the season. We’re just hoping to continue that heading into the summer months.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Team Kalitta Nitro Funny Car driver J.R. Todd and representatives from AerCap and IAI joined Kalitta Air at the ISTAT Freighter Forum for a look at the cargo airline’s newest jet. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series resumes May 16-18 at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route Nationals near Chicago.

ISTAT, the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading, hosted its commercial jet freighter tour at Miami International Airport today. The event featured the Boeing 777-300ERSF, the newest plane in the Kalitta Air fleet, among others. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) converted the 777 aircraft from passenger layout to cargo. Also featured at the event was the Team Kalitta GR Supra Funny Car in its AERCAP, Center of Excellence for Aeronautical Engineers, 50 livery celebrating 50 years of flight.

“We’re proud to partner with AerCap and IAI on the 777-ERSF program, a transformative step for long-haul cargo,” Kalitta Air Deputy CEO Heath Nicholl said. “Debuting this aircraft at the ISTAT Freighter Forum—such a fantastic venue for industry collaboration—marks a major milestone in expanding our capabilities with next-generation converted freighters.” Continue reading →

Charlotte, NC – Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the American Rebel light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Kalitta set the track elapsed time record when he recorded a 3.664-second pass at 333.74 mph during the Friday-night qualifying session. One pairing prior to Kalitta, his teammate, Shawn Langdon, set the low qualifying time, but Kalitta was .001 seconds quicker than Langdon and took his third No. 1 qualifier in five races this season. Kalitta also won his second-straight Mission Foods Challenge Saturday afternoon making Team Kalitta 4-0 in the special event this season.

Eliminations: Kalitta’s opening quad included Tony Stewart, Steve Torrence and Lex June. The Mac Tools Toyota team made the second quickest pass of the pairing – a 3.755-second effort at 328.46 mph. Torrence won the quad, but Stewart joined him in the semifinals after leaving the starting line before Kalitta.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Charlotte in fourth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails third place Antron Brown by 59 points and leads fifth-place Brittany Force by 29 points. Continue reading →

Charlotte, NC – J.R. Todd was the No. 11 qualifier at the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. His best qualifying attempt was his first run of the weekend Friday afternoon when the DHL GR Supra needed just 3.924 seconds to reach the finish line at 325.37 mph.

Eliminations: Todd defeated Dan Wilkerson and Bob Tasca in the first round with a 3.942-second effort at 329.50 mph. He faced Austin Prock, Ron Capps and Hunter Green in the second round. The DHL GR Supra made another solid pass, but Todd left the starting line too early and was disqualified.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd moves up two spots and leaves Charlotte in eighth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails seventh-place Dan Wilkerson by 21 points and leads ninth-place Cruz Pedregon by seven points. Continue reading →

Charlotte, NC – Shawn Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at the American Rebel light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals; it was his best qualifying effort of the season. During the Friday night qualifying session, Langdon reached the finish line in 3.665 seconds at 333.33 mph. He was No. 1 until his teammate, Doug Kalitta, ran .001 seconds quicker in the next pairing.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Scott Farley in the first round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the second round. He advanced to the final round to face Antron Brown, Tony Stewart and Justin Ashley. In the final, Ashley was off the starting line first, but Langdon’s Future Energy Solutions dragster was not to be denied. Langdon drove around Ashley with a 3.714-second pass at 330.63 mph to win the 1,000th Top Fuel race in NHRA history. After the run, NHRA legend Don Garlits, the winner of the first Top Fuel race in 1963, presented the special 1,000th race trophy, a replica of the one Garlits won in 1963, to Langdon. It was Langdon’s second win of the season.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Charlotte in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He extended his points lead to 59 points over second-place Tony Stewart. Continue reading →