YPSILANTI, MI – The evolution of J.R. Todd’s DHL GR Supra team is now officially underway with the addition of four-time NHRA championship Crew Chief Dickie Venables during the off season, but the message, at the moment, is patience. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues March 21-23, 2025 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.

The 2025 season started with a bit of a thud nearly two weeks ago when foul weather, a less-than-perfect race track and even a county-wide power outage played havoc with the NHRA Gatornationals weekend schedule. It was not how anyone wanted to start the season, but for the record, Todd qualified 11th in rain-shortened qualifying and lost in the first round. A brilliant season debut? No, but at this point, it’s all about runs down the race track.

“Gainesville was kind of throwaway race for a lot of people – just not the best weather or track conditions,” Todd said. “The Gainesville circumstances didn’t help our cause so I don’t know that we can really take anything away from there to apply to Phoenix, but each time we get on the track, we’re learning so that’s good. Hopefully we can hit the ground running for the first run in Phoenix, get qualified well and then go to work.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta has some good memories from racing in Phoenix, some of them with SealMaster on the side of his car. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues March 21-23, 2025 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.

Two years ago, Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier, and he won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge with the same SealMaster livery that will be on Kalitta’s car this weekend – it was his first winner’s circle celebration in a long time, and it was the first of several during the 2023 season including the biggest one of his career after he clinched the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel title.

SealMaster is a longtime Kalitta Motorsports corporate partner. In addition to the primary placement in Phoenix, SealMaster is a full-season associate partner on Kalitta’s dragster as well as J.R. Todd’s DHL GR Supra Funny Car. Should Kalitta put SealMaster in the winner’s circle this weekend, it would add to a very successful motorsports program. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon is the defending Top Fuel champion of the NHRA Arizona Nationals, and after a runner-up finish in the season-opening race, he’d like nothing more than to put the Kalitta Air Careers team in its second-straight Arizona winner’s circle. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues March 21-23, 2025 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.

Langdon was the No. 3 qualifier at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals and lost a great final-round race to Antron Brown missing the victory by just .0218 seconds. He enters this week’s race in Phoenix as its defending Top Fuel champion, and two years ago, Langdon was the Phoenix runner-up meaning he won seven of the last eight Phoenix rounds of Top Fuel racing.

“We’re looking forward to getting back to Phoenix,” Langdon said. “We had a great weekend in Gainesville; the Kalitta Air Careers car is running really well. We’ve had success in Phoenix the last couple years so obviously you’re looking to keep the trend going. It just seems like we get good results at some tracks, and fortunately, Phoenix has been one of those tracks lately so we’re just gonna keep trying to make good runs, and then hopefully we can get another win there.” Continue reading →

Gainesville, FL – J.R. Todd was the No. 11 qualifier at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. With qualifying shortened to only two rounds due to Saturday rain, Todd’s best qualifying attempt came late Friday when he made a 4.052-second pass at 265.17 mph.

Eliminations: Todd, new Crew Chief Dickie Venables and the rest of the DHL Toyota team endured a long wait to officially open the 2025 season making their first pass of the year some five hours after racing began due to rain showers followed by a power outage affecting all of Alachua County. When Todd’s time finally came, a battle of two tire-smoking cars ensued. Todd and Bob Bode both pedaled their respective cars multiple times before Bode’s regained traction allowing him to win the race.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Gainesville tied with Terry Haddock for 12th place in in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. The two trail 11th place Cruz Pedregon by one point following the season’s opening race. Continue reading →

Gainesville, FL – Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. During the opening round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Kalitta and his teammate, Shawn Langdon made nearly identical passes with both reaching the finish line in 3.690 seconds. Kalitta’s speed was 328.78 mph, seven miles per hour slower than Langdon, giving him the No. 4 qualifying position with Langdon third. Rain canceled Saturday’s qualifying sessions.

Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout: Due to persistent Saturday rain showers, the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout was postponed until Saturday, March 29 in Pomona, Calif. On Friday, Kalitta, who is the second seed for the event, “called out” his opponent for the first round of the event. He will race Clay Millican when the event begins.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Ida Zetterstrom in a tire-smoking first-round battle. The 2023 Top Fuel champ faced Steve Torrence in the second round. Kalitta left the starting line first and was leading Torrence when a fuel system malfunction caused engine failure allowing Torrence to drive around Kalitta for the win. Continue reading →

Gainesville, FL – Shawn Langdon was the No. 3 qualifier at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. During the opening round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Langdon and his teammate, Doug Kalitta made nearly identical passes with both reaching the finish line in 3.690 seconds. Langdon’s speed was 335.23 mph, seven miles per hour faster than Kalitta, giving him the No. 3 qualifying position with Kalitta fourth. Rain canceled Saturday’s qualifying sessions.

Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout: Due to persistent Saturday rain showers, the Right Trailers Top Fuel All-Star Callout was postponed until Saturday, March 29 in Pomona, Calif. On Friday, Langdon, who is the third seed for the event, “called out” his opponent for the first round of the event. He will race reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown when the event begins.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Justin Ashley, Tony Stewart and Jasmine Salinas before losing to Antron Brown in a brilliant all-Toyota final round. Brown’s 3.673-second run at 333.99 mph was good enough to beat Langdon’s 3.684 second-effort at 332.67 mph by .0218 seconds. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – For many, an off season can be a time of recovery, reflection and rejuvenation, but for 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon, it’s an opportunity to drive a race car, no matter where. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 7-9, 2025 at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Langdon spent the last eight weeks racing in Qatar’s Arabian Drag Racing League driving for his friend, Khalid AlBalooshi, who competes in NHRA’s Congruity Pro Mod Racing Series. Langdon’s happy place is in the seat of a race car so with the exception of a trip back to the States for pre-season testing last month, Langdon was in the middle east getting as much seat time as possible. He won two races and had two runner-up finishes.

“I just race in the off-season trying to stay sharp for the new NHRA season,” Langdon said. “I enjoyed Qatar, but I also went to Bahrain and Dubai. I was there for eight weeks and really enjoyed Qatar and exploring the region. I raced in the Arabian Drag Racing League and then ran some local track races before heading home to get ready for the season.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta is absolutely ready to start the new year, but as much as he enjoys all that comes with the beginning of a new season, the team owner might be even more excited than his nephew. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 7-9, 2025 at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

For more than a quarter century, Doug Kalitta has been driving Top Fuel cars, and the start of the new season is a new opportunity to win races and maybe even a championship. But no matter how fired up the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion is for the new season, he may be the runner-up to his uncle and team owner, Connie Kalitta.

“I’ve always said over the years that I certainly enjoy driving these things and doing what I’m doing,” Doug Kalitta said. “But to watch Connie – he just had his 87th birthday last week – he’s just as excited about getting started as any of us. I’ve always found that pretty motivating. Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – For J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team, it’s a fresh start, a new beginning, a reset, a clean slate. Insert cliché here, and say it how you will. In summary, there’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Dickie Venables. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 7-9, 2025 at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Venables is the new crew chief for Todd’s DHL team, and since starting with Team Kalitta in November, he’s been busy implementing his program. One doesn’t win four NHRA Funny Car championships without knowing how to get things done, and that means the DHL team is making a lot of changes in a healthy overhaul of race-team operations.

“It definitely seems like a bit of a new start,” Todd said. “We’re going into this season with a bunch of changes on the car with parts and pieces we never ran in the past, and we obviously have a new crew chief. I’m not expecting to light the world on fire right out of the gate, and I feel like it’s gonna take us some time to hit on our setup. I feel like once we do that, we’re gonna be contenders – it’s a different outlook compared to years past. I would definitely take a ‘getting laps and getting consistency under our belt’ approach compared to having a fast start and then not getting it done. I’d rather build towards the bigger picture, which is running better later in the season. I’m anxious to get started in Gainesville and see where we are.” Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Revchem Composites extended its partnership with Kalitta Motorsports for a sixth-consecutive season, the team announced today. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 7-9, 2025 at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Celebrating its 50th season in business in 2025, Revchem Composites is a leading provider of composite raw materials and supplies. Since 2020, Revchem branding has been prominently featured on the three Kalitta Motorsports entries driven by 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta, 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd and 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon.

Revchem Composites, a leader in supplying motorsports manufacturers- alongside their partners at Prototype Concepts- collaborated with Toyota Motorsports to create the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra Funny Car body now used in NHRA Drag Racing. Revchem is committed to increasing the productivity and profitability of composites fabricators with six strategically-located United States distribution centers that stock some 4,000 products from more than 200 suppliers. Continue reading →