Chandler, AZ – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 15 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. He recorded his best qualifying time during the inaugural Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge when the DHL Toyota Supra ran a 5.332-second pass which ended up being good enough to advance to the final round of this new NHRA event where he lost to Alexis DeJoria.

Eliminations: Todd and the DHL Toyota made their best run of the weekend in the first round of eliminations when they raced DeJoria again. Todd posted a 3.923-second pass at 328.38 mph, but it wasn’t enough. DeJoria ran a 3.906-second pass and defeated Todd by .002 seconds.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Phoenix seventh place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails sixth-place Bob Tasca by two points and leads eighth-place John Force by 24 points.

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Chandler, AZ – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. During the Friday evening qualifying session, Kalitta made a 3.679-second run at 330.23 mph to earn his 52nd-career No. 1 qualifier.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Rob Passey in the first round of eliminations with a 3.760-second effort at 327.54 mph and advanced to the second round where he faced his teammate, Shawn Langdon. Langdon won the round and advanced to the final round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Phoenix in fifth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails fourth-place Justin Ashley by five points and leads sixth-place Langdon by 12 points.

Kalitta on Phoenix: “Losing in the second round is definitely not what the Mac Tools Toyota team had in mind for today. It’s always good to be the No. 1 qualifier, but it’s disappointing to follow that with an early loss. We’d much rather face Shawn and the DHL team in the final round, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Really appreciate all the hard work my guys put in this weekend – our team is definitely moving in the right direction, and we’re really looking forward to what’s next!

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Chandler, AZ – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 8 qualifier at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. During the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, Landon posted a 3.729-second effort at 330.07 mph for his best of three qualifying attempts.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Antron Brown, his teammate, No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett before losing to Justin Ashley in the final round – Langdon’s 38th-career final round. The DHL dragster showed excellent consistency Sunday. Langdon’s four elapsed times during eliminations were 3.716, 3.725, 3.719 and 3.732 seconds – all within .016 seconds. With teammate J.R. Todd’s final-round in Gainesville two weeks ago, Langdon’s final round is the second for Team Kalitta in this season’s first two races.

When Langdon advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race in Pomona, Calif., next weekend. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions in Pomona, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Phoenix will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points.

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YPSILANTI, MI – One run definitely doesn’t make a season, but when one run is a career best and a track record, it could be a harbinger of things to come – that’s exactly what Doug Kalitta and his Mac Tools team hope it was. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Season resumes March 24-26, 2023 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals set for Chandler, Ariz., just outside Phoenix.

It was the first round of eliminations Sunday morning, March 12, and Kalitta was paired with Spencer Massey. The Mac Tools car blistered the Gainesville Raceway track with a 3.646-second pass at 333.82 mph. The career best time also set the track record getting the day that would end in the semifinals off to a brilliant start.

“We are super excited about our performance at the first race,” Kalitta said. “It really showed how hard all my guys have been working to get things ready for this season, and it makes us eager to see how good our team can be. We are very optimistic and really excited to get to Phoenix to see what we can do there! My entire team is really hungry to run well and go rounds so it should be a very interesting year.”

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YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd didn’t win the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals – he made it to the final round, and that’s an extremely solid way for the DHL Funny Car team to start the season. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Season resumes March 24-26, 2023 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals set for Chandler, Ariz., just outside Phoenix.

Todd was the No. 6 qualifier, but on race day, the DHL Toyota Supra was a model of consistency with Todd recording elapsed times of 3.891, 3.913 and 3.903 to reach the final round – all within three hundredths of a second. In the final round, Todd was ahead of race winner Matt Hagan until late in the round when the DHL Funny Car spun the tires causing the engine to backfire allowing Hagan to surge ahead and win the race.

“Considering how last year went, it was a really good way to start off the season,” the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion said. “It’s always a bummer going to the final round but not winning, but I’ll take that for sure heading into Phoenix. It would have been really cool to celebrate a win with all the guests we had with us from DHL, CMR, Toyota, Clean Harbor, Revchem, Fifth Third and Mac Tools, but it definitely felt good to give them a reason to cheer.”

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Gainesville, FL – Langdon raced three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown in the first round. The two drivers had nearly identical reaction times and nearly identical elapsed times, but Brown reached the finish line first. His margin of victory was .0002 seconds – or two 10 thousandths of a second.

Shawn Langdon was the No. 11 qualifier at the season-opening NHRA Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals. During the first of two Saturday qualifying rounds, Langdon reached the finish line in 3.776 secs. at 326.16 mph. Inclement weather caused cancelation of Friday’s second qualifying round.

Langdon on Gainesville: “The CMR team made some great runs this weekend. I’m really proud of the awesome job the team did to get ready for this race and during race weekend. We made a really strong run in the first round, but it just wasn’t quite good enough. It’s tough to lose by two ten thousandths of a second, but that shows we were right there. We didn’t win the race, but this CMR team made some really good progress, and I know our team is headed for a great season. I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Gainesville, FL – Kalitta defeated Spencer Massey and Antron Brown before losing to Steve Torrence in the semifinals. It was Kalitta’s first semifinal appearance since St. Louis during last year’s Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. In the first round of eliminations against Massey, the Mac Tools dragster needed just 3.646 seconds to reach the finish line at 333.82 mph. That elapsed time is Kalitta’s career best and now the Gainesville Raceway track record.

During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, Kalitta competed in the Pep Boys All-Star Callout. Opening pairings were determined Friday when the four higher-seeded drivers “called out” their opponents. After the first round during Saturday’s first qualifying round, the driver with the lowest elapsed time of the four remaining drivers “called out” his or her semifinal opponent with the two remaining drivers racing for the title and its $80,000 prize in a special pairing late Saturday afternoon. Kalitta defeated Steve Torrence in the first round of the Pep Boys All-Star Callout but lost to Mike Salinas in the semifinals.

Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the season-opening NHRA Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals. Kalitta’s best of the three qualifying attempts was a 3.723-second effort at 327.82 mph. Inclement weather caused cancelation of Friday’s second qualifying round.

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Gainesville, FL – Todd and the DHL Toyota team had an excellent day reaching the final round of eliminations for the first time since Seattle last summer. Todd defeated Blake Alexander, Robert Hight and Chad Green before losing to Matt Hagan in the final. Todd was ahead for most of the final run, but the DHL Funny Car spun the tires causing the engine to backfire allowing Hagan to surge ahead and win the race.

When Todd advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race in Phoenix. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions in Phoenix, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Gainesville will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and bonus points. Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 6 qualifier at the NHRA season-opening Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals. Todd needed just 3.900 seconds to reach the finish line at 329.99 mph in the weekend’s first round of qualifying Friday afternoon. In Saturday’s third and final qualifying session, the DHL Toyota Supra got too far inside and hit a timing block ending what appeared to be a stellar final qualifying attempt. Inclement weather caused cancelation of Friday’s second qualifying round.

Todd on Gainesville: “The DHL Toyota was running really well, and I thought it was our day. We had some misfortune in the last qualifying run hitting the cones that caused another late night and early morning for the DHL team; the guys were here really early this morning to get the car ready to race. It looked like things were kind of breaking in our favor with the problems Robert (John Force Racing driver Robert Hight) had in the second round, but we had our own issues with the first two runs not making it to the finish line fully under power.

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YPSILANTI, MI – A new season in any sport brings widespread optimism – everyone is equal with the same opportunity ahead: earn more points than any other team, and when the 21-race season ends in November, stand atop the rest as the champion. The 2023 Camping World Drag Racing season begins at the Amalie Oil Gatornationals set for March 10-12, 2023 at historic Gainesville Raceway in Florida.

J.R. Todd wasn’t a huge 2022 fan after recording one runner up, four semifinal appearances and an eighth-place points finish for the DHL Funny Car team’s efforts. Driver and team enter the new season eager to return the DHL Toyota Supra to the winner’s circle.

“With the way our season went last year, the start of a new season definitely gets you fired up and ready to go,” Todd said. “The offseason always seems like it drags on forever. November wasn’t that long ago, but I’m just anxious to get going. We have new helmets from the painter and a new fire suit; things like that just increase the excitement level for me. And then once you get to test and kind of knock that rust off, that just makes it even more exciting and gets you more ready to go.”

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YPSILANTI, MI – When 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon starts the 2023 NHRA season for Kalitta Motorsports, speed will matter – just as it does when CMR Construction & Roofing is helping communities recover from a natural disaster like Hurricane Ian last year. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season begins with the Amalie Oil Gatornationals set for historic Gainesville Raceway March 10-12, 2023 in Gainesville, Fla.

While the monster storm only grazed the Gainesville area, Hurricane Ian made landfall just west of Fort Myers, Fla., as a 150 mph category four storm on Sept. 28, 2022. The storm cut a path of destruction across Florida causing more than $113 Billion in damage making it the third-costliest weather disaster on record and the deadliest hurricane to strike Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, Pine Island and Captiva Island sustained the worst damage – every structure in those areas sustained at least some damage.

Since that time, CMR has been working non-stop to help families, businesses and communities recover as quickly as possible. After more than two decades of storm recovery work, CMR has seen firsthand that when the news cycle fades away, the recovery work is only just beginning.

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