YPSILANTI, MI – Coming off one of his best races of the 2023 season, J.R. Todd hopes his DHL team’s “new combination” will combine with healthy desire to finish the season on a high note. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Season resumes this weekend with the Nevada NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth of six races making up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

One race ago in Texas, Todd qualified No. 6 and reached the semifinals for his best Countdown showing to date. With three good qualifying runs and a strong performance on race day, Todd and team have high hopes for the season’s remaining races, in which it will compete with the DHL #AsOneAgainstCancer livery.

“Our Dallas race was definitely the best race we’ve had in a long time,” Todd said. “We qualified really well and made our best run there in Q4 (fourth qualifying session – 3.857 secs. at 330.32 mph) – it was the best run we’d made in a really long time. That’s definitely showing some promise going into the last two races of the year.”

Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta and his Mac Tools Toyota team are in the thick of the battle for the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel title – right where any competitor would want to be. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Season resumes this weekend with the Nevada NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth of six races making up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

The current top-three contenders for the 2023 Top Fuel title are separated by just 14 points. Kalitta trails points leader Leah Pruett by four points and leads third-place Steve Torrence by nine points with two races remaining in the season. Kalitta won the first two playoff races; Pruett won the last race. Torrence has two final rounds and a semifinal so each of the current top-three contenders is in good form.

Two weeks ago, Kalitta and his Mac Tools Toyota team set the Texas Motorplex track speed record reaching 336.73 mph during the opening qualifying session. That run eventually made the Michigan driver the No. 2 qualifier continuing the team’s excellent qualifying efforts this season; Kalitta has 13 top-four qualifying efforts this season including each of the last seven races. The Mac Tools team is running well, and Kalitta is enjoying being in the hunt for the 2023 Top Fuel title.

Continue reading →

ENNIS, TX – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 10 qualifier at the Texas NHRA FallNationals; Langdon made his best qualifying attempt during the first session on Saturday needing just 3.683 seconds to reach the finish line at 335.87 mph – it was the fastest speed of his career. Langdon’s final three qualifying times were 3.684, 3.683 and 3.686 seconds. The top-12 qualifiers all posted elapsed times in the 3.60s.

Eliminations: Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers car smoked the tires almost immediately after the run began allowing Leah Pruett to cruise to the win. Langdon tried to pedal the car, but Pruett was out of reach.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Dallas in 11th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails the drivers tied for ninth place, Austin Prock and Tony Schumacher, by 29 points and leads 12th-place Josh Hart by 37 points.

Continue reading →

ENNIS, TX – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 6 qualifier at the Texas NHRA FallNationals. Todd saved his best for the final round of qualifying late Saturday afternoon when he posted a 3.857-second effort at 330.82 mph.

Eliminations: Todd defeated Blake Alexander and Terry Haddock before racing John Force in the semifinals. Both cars smoked the tires early in the run, and both drivers pedaled. Force’s car hooked back up to the race track first, and he went onto win the race.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Dallas in sixth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fifth-place Ron Capps by 13 points and leads seventh-place Chad Green by nine points with two races remaining in the season.

Todd on Dallas: “It was a good day overall going rounds and getting to the later rounds – that’s always the key,” Todd said. “We were pretty tuned up there for the semifinals against Force because that car’s been really good all weekend. We figured we had to make a really strong run against them, and we both went up there and threw up. Continue reading →

ENNIS, TX – Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 2 qualifier at the Texas NHRA FallNationals. It was his 13th top-four qualifying effort of the season including each of the last seven races. Kalitta’s best qualifying attempt came during the Friday-evening session when he made a 3.642-second run at 334.70 mph. It was six thousandths of a second off the No. 1 qualifier’s time. In the first round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Kalitta set the Texas Motorplex Top Fuel speed record at 336.73 mph. The top-12 qualifiers all posted elapsed times in the 3.60s.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Josh Hart before losing to eventual race winner Leah Pruett in the second round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Dallas in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails first-place Leah Pruett by four points and leads third-place Steve Torrence by nine points. The top-three drivers are separated by just 13 points with two races remaining in the season.

Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon is confident. He and his Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team have just two round wins in the Countdown, but now, he has reason to be confident entering the season’s final three races. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA FallNationals in Ennis, Texas, the fourth of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

Langdon entered the last race near St. Louis after having made a modest move up the point standings, but a first-round loss, to eventual runner-up Leah Pruett, relegated him back to 11th in points – right where he was when the Countdown began. Having not had the Countdown they hoped they’d enjoy, the Kalitta Air Careers team tested in Indianapolis on the way back to Michigan from St. Louis, and now, the team is more confident than it’s been in some time.

“We were able to make some decent runs in testing so we’ll take what we learned there, apply it in Dallas and hopefully do well this weekend,” the 2013 Top Fuel champion said. “A lot is different when you get to a national event from testing, but you try to have a gameplan going into testing, try some things, hopefully make some good runs and go into the next race with some confidence. We have a lot of confidence.”

Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd will have a duel focus this weekend at Texas Motorplex: promoting breast cancer awareness with the DHL #AsOneAgainstCancer livery and logging some round wins to get his team headed back in the right direction. Todd and his DHL Toyota Team entered the NHRA Playoffs riding a solid wave of momentum after climbing to fifth in points and preparing to announce themselves as title contenders, but then, things changed. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA FallNationals in Ennis, Texas, the fourth of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

When things aren’t going as planned for any team, it’s time to practice. On its way back to its Michigan race shop, the DHL GR Supra team made a stop in Indianapolis to test and prepare for the second half of the Countdown. At the playoff midpoint, the team has one round win to show for its Countdown efforts – a far cry from the impressive performance of regular season’s final three months so this test session could not have come at a better time.

“We went down the track three out of four runs (in testing) so that was good,” Todd said. “We have something to work on for Dallas – that’s for sure. I just hope conditions are somewhat similar to what we had in testing in Indy, but either way, we were struggling to get down the track cleanly the last three races so that was something we needed to work on. I think doing that in testing should give us something to work with going into the next race.”

Continue reading →

YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta and his Mobil 1 Toyota team are feeling good about the progress they made in the first half of the playoffs but completely understand much more work lies between themselves and their ultimate goal. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA FallNationals in Ennis, Texas, the fourth of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

That ultimate goal is the season championship that has eluded the six-time season runner up for his entire career. Will Kalitta win the title this year? Only time will tell, but what is certain at the moment is that the Michigan driver is in position to challenge for the championship, which is all any driver can want with three races remaining in the season.

“It feels good – leading the points is definitely a good place to be – ahead of all the other guys and girls in the hunt for this thing,” Kalitta said. “It’s definitely more fun, absolutely. It’s where we want to be and where we want to stay, but the competition is coming for us. We’ll be up for it for sure. We’re looking forward to getting down to Dallas and getting this weekend started. Mainly, it’s just trying to stay there, really, so we have to figure out what we have to do to qualify well and go rounds.”

Continue reading →

Madison, IL – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 9 qualifier at the NHRA Midwest Nationals; Langdon made his best qualifying attempt in the opening session Friday evening when he made a 3.748-second pass at 328.86 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon made his second-best pass of the weekend in the first round of eliminations, but his 3.765-second effort wasn’t good enough. Leah Pruett ran 3.737 and won the opening-round matchup.

Unofficial Point Standings: With the first-round loss, Langdon dropped two spots in point; he leaves St. Louis in 11th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails 10th-place Austin Prock by 29 points and leads 12th-place Josh Hart by 35 points.

Langdon on St. Louis: “The Kalitta Air Careers car made some pretty good runs this weekend, but our run in the heat today just wasn’t quite good enough. That’s too bad because I know how hard everybody on our team is working trying to make good, consistent runs for Kalitta Air, Revchem, Future Energy Solutions and Toyota. We’re halfway through the Countdown now, and we have a week off before our next race. We can use that time to make sure we’re ready when we get to Texas.”

Note: Shawn Langdon image is courtesy Kalitta Motorsports.

Madison, IL – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No.11 qualifier at the NHRA Midwest Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came during the final round of qualifying late Saturday afternoon when he posted a 4.005-second effort at 321.04 mph.

Eliminations: Todd defeated Bob Bode before losing to Blake Alexander in the second round when both cars smoked the tires on the hot race track. Alexander pedaled to the win while the boost rev limiter on the DHL GR Supra shut off the engine making Todd unable to pedal the car and try to win the round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd jumped two spots and leaves St. Louis in sixth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fifth-place Chad Green by 31 points and leads seventh-place Tim Wilkerson by 11 points.

Continue reading →