Kalitta Motorsports
J.R. Todd, DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, wins Inagural 4 Wide at ‘The Strip’
NHRA DENSO Four-Wide Nationals Winner at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1st win of the season, 3rd Funny Car win of his career and 12th Mello Yello Drag Racing Series win (9 in Top Fuel)
1st round: Defeated John Force, Shawn Langdon, Bob Tasca
2nd round: Second to Tommy Johnson, defeated Del Worsham, John Force
Final: Defeated Jack Beckman, Courtney Force and Tommy Johnson
On becoming the third different Kalitta Motorsports driver to win in the season’s first four races:
“All of our Kalitta Motorsports teams across the board have just come out swinging this year. Dougie (Kalitta) and Richie (Crampton) have wins under their belt and Shawn’s (Langdon) already been to two semi-finals. We’ve struggled somewhat up to this part of the year. We brought out a new car at Gainesville and had an issue in the first round with the chutes coming out on the burn out.”
BROWN, TODD TOP TOYOTAS IN NHRA LAS VEGAS FOUR-WIDE QUALIFYING
LAS VEGAS, NV – Antron Brown ran a 3.772-second pass to qualify second in Top Fuel, while J.R. Todd placed third 
in Funny Car with a 3.952 to lead Toyota in preparation for the inaugural DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Brown will square off with Leah Pritchett, Mike Salinas and Terry Totten in the first round of eliminations as he attempts to earn his 50th Top Fuel victory.
“I think everybody underestimated the track early, but this is top notch,” said Brown of the new four-wide dragstrip. “That Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota/Papa John’s car went right down the race track, just smooth, easy. There’s a big advantage in getting lane choice in four-wide racing and, hopefully, we can use that to our advantage Sunday. Vegas has always been a breakout race for us, and we’re hoping that it is again this weekend. If we can hit our stride and get to where we need to be, we’ll start plucking off some round wins. If you can get round wins, you know what happens after that, you get race wins.”
Rounding out the Toyota Top Fuel contingent, Doug Kalitta was sixth, while teammate Richie Crampton placed 11th. The two will open Sunday’s eliminations in the same quadrant along with Brittany Force and Terry Haddock with the top two finishers advancing.
CRAMPTON, TOYOTA WIN NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FL – Toyota driver Richie Crampton defeated Shawn Reed to win Sunday’s Amalie Oil NHRA 
Gatornationals at the Gainesville Raceway. The victory is the eighth career Top Fuel win for Crampton and his first with Kalitta Motorsports.
Crampton knocked off teammate Doug Kalitta on a hole-shot in round one and then eliminated Mike Salinas in round two to set up a semi-final match-up with fellow Toyota driver Antron Brown. Both cars would smoke the tires in changing conditions that saw track temperatures rise by almost 40 degrees during the day, but it was Crampton that would come away with the victory. He then won an anti-climactic final where he would run a solo after Reed’s car broke on the starting line as the Kalitta Air Toyota driver registered the top pass over the final two rounds with a 3.854-second run.
“It was a great day for Connie and everyone with this Kalitta Air team,” said the victorious Crampton. “We had a lot of great help from Slugger (Labbe) and the TRD team trying to figure out this hot race track. We had it dialed in for the final run. The 3.85 was a heck of a run, but it was unfortunate that Shawn wasn’t able to make a pass. You hate to take a win by default like that, but I’ll take it. It feels good to win again. It wasn’t all that long ago that I was sitting on the sidelines, reminiscing about when I used to drive a Top Fuel car. So to be back in a car for Connie, Kalitta Air, DHL, Toyota and everyone, I’m just really lucky. I’m just working hard to try to make sure I deserve to drive for this team. It’s going to be a good year.”
Richie Crampton, Kalitta Air Toyota Top Fuel Dragster from the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals Winner’s Circle
The win is Crampton’s first of the season and the eighth of his career. His most recent win was at the Texas 
Motorplex in Dallas in October, 2015.
Richie, tell us about your day: “It was a great day for Connie and everyone with this Kalitta Air team. We had a lot of great help from Slugger (Labbe) and the TRD team trying to figure out this hot race track. We had it dialed in for the final run. The 3.85 was a heck of a run, but it was unfortunate that Shawn wasn’t able to make a pass. You hate to take a win by default like that, but I’ll take it. It feels good to win again.”
How were the track conditions: “It was pretty interesting. As always we were able to make great power at Gainesville. The track temps were just up a bit and it made the crew chiefs just pull their hair out. It made it a little bit more of a drivers race and it evened the playing field a little bit. I thrived on it. I loved it. It was one of my most rewarding wins ever.”
BROWN, LANGDON LEAD TOYOTA IN GAINESVILLE NHRA QUALIFYING
GAINESVILLE, FL – Antron Brown qualified third in Top Fuel, while Shawn Langdon placed fourth in Funny Car to 
lead Toyota in qualifying in front of a sell-out crowd at the Gainesville Raceway in preparation for Sunday’s Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals.
Four different Toyota drivers earned bonus points for finishing in the top three of at least one of the four qualifying sessions during the weekend.
Brown registered a 3.751-second pass on Friday night to capture the third spot, which held up throughout the remainder of the weekend. The three-time world champion will race Audrey Worm in the first round on Sunday.
Doug Kalitta was the most impressive Top Fuel driver on Saturday, earning five out of a potential six points as he topped the final qualifying session and placed second in the day’s first run. Kalitta will be looking for his fourth Gatornationals crown tomorrow.
LANGDON LEADS TOYOTA INTO SEMIS AT NHRA ARIZONA NATIONALS
PLANO, TX – Shawn Langdon defeated a pair of past world champions to advance to the semi-finals in just his 
second-ever Funny Car race to lead Toyota before a sell-out crowd at Sunday’s NHRA Arizona Nationals at the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix. Langdon ran three of the top eight Funny Car passes overall on the day.
He ran the third-quickest pass in the opening round as he defeated fellow Camry driver Cruz Pedregon. Langdon then matched up with Ron Capps in the second round, taking a .027 advantage at the light and never trailed as he advanced to the semi-finals. Langdon’s second round time was.038 seconds quicker than any other driver in the round. Langdon had another strong run in the semi-finals, but was eliminated by Tommy Johnson Jr.
“We tried to play it smart and we ended up getting lane choice in the semis,” said Langdon, the 2013 Top Fuel world champion. “We moved the Global Electronic Technology Camry to the right lane. We had run in the left lane all day and had the tune-up for that, but we thought the right lane was better and it was. It was just even better than we expected and we lost in the semis. We are making gains and I am growing as a driver. We are learning as a group. It was a good weekend. We can’t complain about it much, just lost a good race.”
KALITTA TAKES TOYOTA TO WINTERNATIONALS TITLE
POMONA, CA – Toyota Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta defeated Tony Schumacher with a 3.779-second pass in the 
final round to win the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Sunday. It’s the second Winternationals title for Kalitta, who also captured the top spot in 2009.
He defeated teammate Richie Crampton, Scott Palmer and number one qualifier Clay Millican on the way to his final round match-up with Schumacher on a day that was dominated by accidents, oil downs and delays.
“To get the first win of the season and get that monkey off your back is huge,” said Kalitta, who advanced to his third consecutive Winternationals final round today. “It was kind of a lucky day. Our Mac Tools Toyota dragster coasted across the finish line twice, but we were still getting the win light. It was one of those crazy days and we went through a lot of parts, but we got it done.
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster 58th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Doug Kalitta tells us about his win at the Winternationals.
Tell us about your win today: “To get the first win of the season and get that monkey off your back is huge. It was kind of a lucky day. Our Mac Tools Toyota dragster coasted across the finish line twice, but we were still getting the win light. It was one of those crazy days and we went through a lot of parts, but we got it done. We don’t care how we win, as soon as the win light comes on, we’re moving on to the next round. It was a great victory for us.”
What was the key in winning with the long delays and short turnarounds? “I can’t give enough credit to the entire team. Not only my guys, but the Kalitta Air guys all pitched in and we needed them. It was a thrash to make to at least three of the four rounds. It was just a great team effort. We have the team and the people to get it done.”
KALITTA, TODD LEAD TOYOTA IN WINTERNATIONALS QUALIFYING
POMONA, CA – Doug Kalitta placed fifth in Top Fuel, while J.R. Todd qualified seventh in Funny Car to lead Toyota 
in qualifying for Sunday’s Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Kalitta’s 3.703-second pass in Saturday’s first session pushed him up into the top five, one spot ahead of fellow Toyota driver Antron Brown. Richie Crampton placed tenth and will square off with his teammate Kalitta in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations, while Brown will race Mike Salinas.
Todd, who debuted in a Funny Car in Pomona a year ago, registered a 3.908-second run in his DHL Toyota Camry to earn one bonus point for finishing in the top three in the final qualifying session on his way to the seventh position overall. He will match up with John Force in tomorrow’s first round.
BROWN, KALITTA LEAD TOYOTA IN NHRA TEXAS QUALIFYING
ENNIS, TX – Antron Brown qualified third in Top Fuel and Doug Kalitta was fourth to lead Toyota into Sunday’s 
AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.
Brown, the two-time defending world champion, registered a 3.696-second pass at 329.91 mph to secure the third spot, with Kalitta just behind him with a 3.704 at 330.07 mph. After two consecutive days of temperatures in the low 90s, Sunday’s forecast calls for much cooler temperatures expected to be in the 60s for the first round of tomorrow’s eliminations.
“We ran right where we wanted to, even though we dropped a hole and I shut off a little early,” said Brown, who will be looking to repeat his 2016 FallNationals title on Sunday. “Besides that, we ran right where we wanted to, but we lost that one (bonus) point. I could’ve legged it out and actually outrun our teammate and get two points instead of one. It is what it is. Tomorrow’s where all the big points are made, so we have to be poised and get after it. We’ve got our work cut out for us the way these other cars are running, but I feel confident in our Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota team to go out there and do what we do. We’re in the middle of a fight and we’ve got to fight hard. It’s going to be big differences out there (with Sunday’s weather) where the cars are going to run hard, run fast, run quick, and we’ve got to be ready for that change. The first round is going to be crucial for everybody to run hard and run good.”
