Kalitta Motorsports
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series – Countdown to the Championship
Toyota Racing – Doug Kalitta
Countdown Position: 5th
Toyota Top Fuel Doug Kalitta talks about the upcoming six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, which kicks off this weekend at Maple Grove Raceway.
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools/Toyota dragster
What’s your outlook heading into the playoffs?
“Right now, we’re just looking for consistency. Getting to the finals in Indy was a huge momentum builder for us. Overall, I think we’ve been running pretty well with my car. So I’m really looking forward to the Countdown this year.”
How does the team’s approach change in the Countdown?
“We’ve done all the stuff that we’ve been trying to test and now we’re going to try to settle into what’s been working. Up to this point, we’ve tried a lot of different things. I’m looking forward to just staying with what we know and the things that have really been working for us and cut back on the experimenting. The entire Mac Tools Toyota team is ready to go.”
TODD, CAMRY WIN NHRA U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to victory over Matt Hagan in the Funny Car finals to 
win his second consecutive Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, while Doug Kalitta fell just .006 short in Top Fuel of making it a Kalitta Motorsports/Toyota sweep at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
Todd was the dominant driver throughout the weekend on the way to becoming just the sixth driver in history to win back-to-back Funny Car finals in the U.S. Nationals. After earning number one qualifying honors on Sunday, Todd defeated Jim Campbell, Robert Hight and Tommy Johnson Jr. to set up his final round match-up with Hagan. In the final, Todd had claimed the lead by the 60-foot mark and never trailed the rest of the way, winning by .072 seconds.
“I’m just happy to get a win here,” said Todd, who now has won three times in 2018. “The Funny Car division is so tough out here. We came out really strong this spring, but then really fell off in the summer. Before this race, we made some pretty big changes going into the Indy test – in some ways going back to the old ways of running the DHL Toyota Camry. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy throughout an entire weekend at a national event. From day one, I felt like we could come out here and win. I think we’ve got the ball rolling in the right direction. We’re definitely not peaking. I think we’re on the rise. This gives us a lot of confidence heading into the Countdown. We know we can run with these guys now.”
TODD’S CAMRY QUALIFIES NUMBER ONE AT U.S. NATIONALS
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to a 3.910-second pass at 325.45 mph to earn his first 
career Funny Car number one qualifier for Monday’s Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. Todd ran the quickest Funny Car qualifying pass on two of the three days, including in Sunday’s final session.
He becomes just the 19th driver in history to earn a pole position in both Top Fuel and Funny Car competition. The defending U.S. Nationals champion also is just one of 16 drivers to win races in both nitro categories.
“That run is a testament to the entire DHL Camry team,” said Todd, who earned bonus points in four of the weekend’s five qualifying sessions. “Three-second runs had been hard for us to come by till Brainerd where we were able to get it tuned up in the semi-finals for one. I was confident coming into the weekend after our test here last week. The car ran really well and we picked it right back up there in Friday night qualifying. We had a little hiccup in Q2 on Saturday and other than that we’ve been getting down the track and making some great runs. Now we’ve got some good notes for what we want to do tomorrow.”
KALITTA LEADS TOYOTA IN NHRA QUALIFYING AT NORTHWEST NATIONALS
SEATTLE, WA –Doug Kalitta ran a 3.730-second pass in his Mac Tools Toyota dragster to qualify second in Top Fuel 
for Sunday’s CatSpot NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in suburban Seattle.
The second marks Kalitta’s best qualifying effort of the season and continues a strong run that has seen him advance to the semi-finals and finals in the last two events. He will open up eliminations against Bill Litton on Sunday.
Antron Brown joins Kalitta as one of the top contenders in Top Fuel after a top-four pass or better in all of his four runs, including the quickest pass in Saturday’s final session on the way to qualifying fifth overall. It marks Brown’s fourth top-five qualifying effort in the last six races as the Matco Tools Toyota team continues to gel with the playoffs in sight. He faces Shawn Reed in the first round.
“I hope this is the weekend where we turn it around,” said Brown. “Tough competition out there, you have people like Scrapper (Mike Salinas) out there running a ‘77, Steve Torrence qualified number one, my teammates are out there. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but it feels really good to have four good qualifying laps and we’ll see what we can do on Sunday.”
KALITTA ADVANCES TO SEMIS AT TOYOTA NHRA SONOMA NATIONALS
SONOMA, CA – Toyota driver Doug Kalitta advanced to the Top Fuel semi-finals in front of a sell-out crowd at the 
Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at the Sonoma Raceway, Sunday. It is the second straight year that the event has featured a sell-out on race day.
Kalitta defeated point leader Steve Torrence in the opening round and then knocked off pole-sitter Clay Millican in round two to set up a semi-final showdown with Tony Schumacher. Kalitta appeared to have the race in hand, leading by almost three one-hundredths at the 660’ mark, only to have a clutch lever break at the top end, allowing Schumacher to run him down to win by approximately six feet.
“We were going good then evidently the clutch lever broke and we threw the rods out and threw the belt off not far from the finish line,” said Kalitta. “It’s just one of those deals. Our Mac Tools Toyota dragster was running well all day. We just got beat. I’m real proud of our guys. We came across something today that we’re pretty excited about in the motor. We’re carrying some good momentum into Seattle and we’re all excited to get up there.”
KALITTA, TOYOTA ADVANCE TO TOP FUEL FINALS AT NHRA MILE HIGH NATIONALS
DENVER, CO – Doug Kalitta drove his Mac Tools Toyota dragster to the Top Fuel finals before falling to Leah 
Pritchett by just two one-thousandths of a second at the NHRA Mile High Nationals at the Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Sunday. Today’s showing marked the fourth final round appearance of the season for Kalitta.
He opened up a thrilling day of racing by defeating Tony Schumacher by inches in the opening round with an official margin of victory of .0001 second. After knocking off Jim Maroney in the second round, Kalitta then advanced to the finals with a hole-shot victory over Blake Alexander in the semifinals. In the finals, Kalitta had .019 lead at the tree and led early before Pritchett edged him at the finish line.
“Anytime you are on the mountain and in the final is a good day,” said Kalitta. “I was really impressed by the Mac Tools Toyota team today after the way we struggled in qualifying. They worked so hard. We accomplished a lot and came so close to winning. On the bright side, we have put ourselves into a position to gain a few positions in the Countdown if we continue to run well down the stretch. I am already excited for the Toyota Sonoma Nationals.”
TOYOTA’S KALITTA ADVANCES TO NHRA SEMI-FINALS IN CHICAGO
JOLIET, IL – Doug Kalitta advanced to the Top Fuel semi-finals as the top finishing Toyota at Sunday’s JEGS Route 
66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago.
After qualifying eighth, Kalitta defeated Terry McMillen and Luigi Novelli to advance to the semi-finals before falling to eventual race winner Clay Millican in a close contest with the margin of victory just 0.0053 seconds or approximately three feet.
“It was a solid day for the Mac Tools Toyota,” said Kalitta. “We’re always looking for wins, but this was a good points day on a tricky track. We will head to Richmond next weekend and try to get the win there.”
Fellow Toyota Top Fuel drivers, Antron Brown and Richie Crampton each lost in round one on Sunday. Brown fell to Leah Pritchett, while Crampton smoked the tires while leading after the 330’ mark and was eliminated by Blake Alexander.
PEDREGON TOP TOYOTA IN CHICAGO NHRA QUALIFYING
JOLIET, IL – Cruz Pedregon qualified fifth with a 3.969-second pass in his Snap-on Camry Funny Car to lead Toyota 
in qualifying for Sunday’s JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago.
Pedregon has now qualified in the top five in four of the last five events and in the top half of the field in six consecutive races. He will face a tough first-round match-up against 2017 Funny Car champion Robert Hight on Sunday.
“We’re happy to qualify in the top five again in our Snap-on Camry, but we’re going to have to be more consistent on race day to have a shot,” said Pedregon afterward.
Shawn Langdon qualified in the top three in both of Saturday’s sessions – earning bonus points for the first time since moving over to Funny Car after last season. Overall, the 2013 Top Fuel champion registered his best qualifying performance since Gainesville with a seventh. He will race Tommy Johnson Jr. in eliminations.
PEDREGON, TODD LEAD TOYOTA TOPEKA NHRA QUALIFYING
TOPEKA, KS – Cruz Pedregon qualified third, while J.R. Todd was fourth as the two Camry Funny Car drivers led 
Toyota in preparation for Sunday’s Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.
Pedregon placed in the top three in each of the first three qualifying sessions to earn six bonus points on the weekend. In addition, he stretched his streak of consecutive top-three qualifying runs to seven – three more than any other Funny Car driver this season. Pedregon’s Snap-on Camry has now qualified in the top three in 11 sessions this year, behind only Ron Capps (13) and Courtney Force (12). He faces a first-round match-up against reigning world champion Robert Hight.
Todd also had a strong weekend in his DHL Camry, placing in the top four of two of the four sessions, including earning one bonus point for placing third in his final run – his seventh time earning bonus points this season. He opens up eliminations on Sunday against Dale Creasy.
TODD, CAMRY GO BACK-TO-BACK WITH HOUSTON NHRA SPRING NATIONALS WIN
BAYTOWN, TX –J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to victory over Robert Hight in the Funny Car finals, 3.955-
3.993, to win Sunday’s NHRA Spring Nationals in suburban Houston. The win is the second in a row for Todd and his fourth in the last 15 races. It also marks Kalitta Motorsports’ fourth in the season’s first five events.
Todd, who began the day from the tenth starting position, defeated Tommy Johnson, Jeff Diehl and Tim Wilkerson to set up the final round match-up with defending series champion Hight. The two left the line together, but Todd’s Camry surged ahead by the 330-foot mark and led the rest of the way. With the win, he climbed up to third in the Funny Car championship race.
“I just want to keep riding the wave,” said Todd of the first back-to-back victories in his career. “I don’t think I’ve even been in back-to-back Funny Car final rounds before this. To come here and win, that just shows that winning the Four-Wide wasn’t a fluke and that we’re capable of winning races. I knew coming here that the track was going to be a factor and that could play into our hands. Our competitors got their stuff running well early, while we were struggling a bit, but I wasn’t doubting our DHL Toyota in the final by any means. I thought if I could leave on him, or even with him, that we could run with him and that if we just ran like we have been that we had a pretty good shot of winning.”
