Kalitta Motorsports
KALITTA, TODD LEAD TOYOTA AT U.S. NATIONALS QUALIFYING
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Doug Kalitta placed fifth in Top Fuel, while teammate J.R. Todd was sixth in Funny Car as the 
top Toyota qualifiers for Monday’s Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at the Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
Kalitta registered a 3.689-second pass on Friday to earn the fifth starting position as the Mac Tools Toyota driver placed in the top four in each of the first three qualifying sessions of the weekend.
Right behind Kalitta was Antron Brown with the sixth seed. The three-time world champion heads into tomorrow’s eliminations number one in the points race and can clinch the top spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs by advancing to his sixth consecutive final round. He will begin that quest with a first-round match-up with Scott Palmer.
Top Fuel rookie Troy Coughlin Jr. resigns his position at Kalitta Motorsports
DELAWARE, OH – Troy Coughlin Jr. has removed himself from the seat of the SealMaster Top Fuel dragster, citing a 
desire to get more experience in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks. The third-generation driver has been racing the Kalitta Motorsports entry for the first 17 races of the 2017 season.
“I want to thank everyone at Kalitta Motorsports for such an incredible opportunity,” Coughlin said. “It was a dream come true to race for Connie Kalitta and Jim Oberhofer. My teammates, Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, Alexis DeJoria and JR Todd as well as everyone at SealMaster have been extremely supportive.
“Obviously, my rookie year hasn’t turned out like we wanted but everyone showed incredible faith in what we were doing and my development as a driver. I just want to take a step back and get some more seat time in an injected nitro dragster.”
Oberhofer, Coughlin’s crew chief and the vice president of motorsports for the Kalitta race team, understands his young driver’s decision.
DeJORIA PILOTS CAMRY TO BRAINERD FUNNY CAR WIN
BROWN ADVANCES TO FIFTH CONSECUTIVE TOP FUEL FINAL
Brainerd, MN – Alexis DeJoria drove her Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry to victory over Tommy Johnson Jr. in the 
Funny Car final to win the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota, Sunday. The victory is the second for a Camry Funny Car in the last three races.
DeJoria defeated Tim Wilkerson and Cruz Pedregon in her opening two runs of the day, setting up a semi-final match-up with John Force. She led the entire way in defeating Force, 3.892-3.909 to advance to her first final round of the season. In the final, Johnson held a lead of under one-hundredth of a second through the 660-foot mark before DeJoria powered past to win by .004 seconds.
KALITTA TOPS FINAL QUALIFYING, LEADS TOYOTA AT BRAINERD
PLANO, TX – Doug Kalitta ran the quickest time in the final qualifying session and placed third overall in Top Fuel 
to lead Toyota in preparation for Sunday’s Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at the Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Kalitta earned bonus points by running in the top three in three of the weekend’s four sessions. Today’s showing marks the fourth consecutive race and the 12th time in 16 events this season that he has qualified in the top three.
“What a great way to end qualifying for the Mac Tools Toyota team,” relayed Kalitta. “I could not be more excited about our chances tomorrow after the strong runs we made in qualifying. The goal is to come out tomorrow, go four rounds and get the first win of the season.”
TODD DRIVES CAMRY TO HISTORY-MAKING FUNNY CAR WIN AT TOYOTA NHRA SONOMA NATIONALS
SONOMA, CA – Camry driver J.R. Todd defeated Tim Wilkerson in the final round to win the Toyota NHRA Sonoma 
Nationals and become the first African-American driver in history to win an NHRA Funny Car event. The triumph gave Todd back-to-back victories at Sonoma Raceway after winning last year’s Top Fuel race before making the move to Funny Cars this season.
Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to wins over teammate Alexis DeJoria in round one and John Force in the second round to set up one of the most amazing comebacks in NHRA history in the semi-finals. After smoking the tires at the start, Todd proceeded to overcome a 1.27-second disadvantage in running down Jack Beckman in a pedal fest to advance to the finals against Wilkerson.
“I was able to win here at the Toyota Sonoma Nationals last year in Top Fuel and to be able to do it this year in a Funny Car is pretty special,” relayed Todd. “I love this track. This place is magical. I think we showed a lot of promise in Denver and it gave us a lot of hope coming back to sea level.
Toyota NHRA Denver Preview
DENVER HAS PROVIDED A HOST OF FIRSTS FOR TODD – Bandimere Speedway has already provided J.R. Todd 
with a few major ‘firsts’ in his career and this weekend he will looking to add on to that total. Todd won his first career NHRA Top Fuel race at Denver in 2006. In the process, Todd became the first black driver ever to win in Top Fuel. Three years ago, Bandimere provided another milestone for Todd when he won his first race for Kalitta Motorsports.
Now Todd is hoping that the Mile High Nationals provide two more firsts – his initial Funny Car victory, which would also mark the first-ever Funny Car win by a black driver. After placing fourth overall in Top Fuel last season, the Indiana native made a major career change in moving over to drive the team’s DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car. After making his debut Funny Car run at Pomona, Todd has gone through the expected growing pains of a rookie season, yet, still is on pace to make the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
KALITTA TAKES TOYOTA TO FINALS AT NORWALK NHRA
NORWALK, OH – Doug Kalitta advanced to the Top Fuel final round to lead Toyota at today’s Summit Racing 
Equipment NHRA Nationals at the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
Kalitta, who earned his third consecutive number one qualifier at the track on Saturday, defeated Troy Buff, Tony Schumacher and Leah Pritchett before losing in the finals by two one-thousandths of a second to Steve Torrence on a hole-shot.
“It’s definitely disappointing to come up that close and not get the win for Mac Tools, Toyota and all of our great supporters,” said Kalitta. “It felt great to run that strong all weekend. We were the number one qualifier and ran the overall quick time in three of the four passes today. We’re headed in the right direction and I am confident the win is coming soon.”
KALITTA PUTS TOYOTA ON POLE IN NHRA NORWALK QUALIFYING
NORWALK, OH – Doug Kalitta ran a 3.709-second pass to set a new track E.T. record and earn number one 
qualifier honors in Top Fuel to lead Toyota in preparation for Sunday’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
It is Kalitta’s first pole of the season and his third consecutive at Summit Motorsports Park and fourth overall in Norwalk. It marks his 48th career Top Fuel number one qualifier.
“Fortunately, Jim (Oberhofer) and the Mac Tools Toyota guys had a great tune-up for the track,” said Kalitta, who won at the Ohio track in 2015. “We got to about half track and it was really pulling. I knew it was on a good run. This is our home track and we’ll be ready tomorrow.”
Toyota NHRA Summernationals Preview
HOME SWEET HOME – Three-time Top Fuel World Champion Antron Brown will be returning to his home track this weekend for the NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown. Brown, a third-generation drag racer, was still in a stroller when he first went to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park as a toddler. He began racing motocross at the track just a few years later and learned the inside-outs of the sport growing up watching his father and uncle race. He learned well, winning three championships and currently has the fourth most Top Fuel wins of all time – including a mile-stone 50th Mello Yello Series win at Englishtown in 2015.
WORSHAM TEAM STARTING TO GEL – When Del Worsham moved from Kalitta Motorsports to his family run Worsham-Fink Racing Funny Car team in November, it was inevitable that the rebuilding team would go through some growing pains. Approximately one-third of the way through the season, Worsham and his Lucas Oil Toyota Camry are making progress. After introducing a new Camry at Topeka, he has earned round wins at each of the last two events and has now moved into tenth place, currently occupying the final spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Toyota NHRA New England Nationals Preview
BROWN LOOKS TO REPEAT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE – Antron Brown will be looking for his second consecutive win at the New England Nationals this week and his third victory of the 2017 season. Fresh off a win at Topeka, Brown has now registered 32 wins over the last five-plus seasons – double the total of the next highest Top Fuel driver – to go along with three world championships.
LAST YEAR AT EPPING – Antron Brown took the lead at the light and led the entire way to beat Steve Torrence (3.769-3.778) in the Top Fuel final at the 2016 NHRA New England Nationals. The win capped a bizarre day for Brown as he received a bye in the first round after qualifying on the pole. He then saw his opponents in both the second-round, Shawn Langdon, and semi-finals, Tony Schumacher, red light on the Christmas tree before matching up with number two qualifier Torrence.
