YPSILANTI, MI – For 51 drivers competing in the four professional classes of NHRA Camping World Drag Racing, it’s playoff time. The top-10 finishers from each class and the drivers who competed at every regular-season event make the cut – Shawn Langdon and his Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team have a chance to turn around a challenging season. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with race one of the six-race Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals Sept. 15-17 in Reading, Pa.

Like Jim Carey said in the 1994 movie, “Dumb and Dumber,” “so you’re telling me there’s a chance.” While the regular season definitely did not go as planned, the Kalitta Air Careers team now has clean slate…and a chance. Following the points reset after the regular season, Langdon and team trail points leader Justin Ashley by 129 points, but the time for action is now.

“I love this part of the season – every reaction time means more, every run is more important, and a race win, especially this weekend and especially for us, can give you a huge jump in points,” Langdon said. “After all we’ve been through this season, the Countdown resets the points so even though we’re 11th, we’re only 129 points out of first place – that’s a lot, but it’s doable. We have to do our jobs this weekend and take advantage of the opportunity. This weekend isn’t a must-win race, but it’s pretty close. We need to go deep in eliminations to make a move up the ladder to put Kalitta Air, Revchem, Toyota and Future Energy Solutions in position for a run at the title.”

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YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta’s title hopes enjoyed a nice bump two weeks ago when the Mac Tools Toyota team jumped two spots to sixth place in the season standings putting Kalitta within striking distance of the points lead entering the first playoff race. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with race one of the six-race Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals Sept. 15-17 in Reading, Pa.

One year ago, Kalitta started the Countdown in ninth place in points – this year, he starts sixth. Two weeks ago, Kalitta’s up-and-down season continued with a semifinal showing at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. In his first-round win over Spencer Massey, Kalitta posted the quickest and fastest run of the entire event with a 3.692-second run at 336.49 mph. He qualified in the top four at nine races this season including six of the last seven. The momentum from some terrific performance, the Indianapolis semifinal and two West coast final-round appearances have this team poised for a strong start in the first of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship.

“It’s been pretty exciting for sure, and Alan’s super stoked, too,” Kalitta said. “All my guys and (co-crew chiefs Alan Johnson and Brian Husen) Alan and Brian, we all feel very positive that we can get this done if we keep doing what we’re doing. The timing is good with a lot of the positive energy and things that are hopefully coming to play here. We just gotta get out there on a Sunday and go rounds – that’s what we have to focus on, and hopefully a win or two will happen along the way – that’ll be great for Mac Tools, Toyota, Revchem, SealMaster and everyone else that helps us get it done.”

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YPSILANTI, MI – It was quite a ride. That’s one way to look at J.R. Todd’s regular season, but regardless of the twists and turns in the road, the destination was spot on: Todd and his DHL GR Supra team will start the 2023 NHRA Playoffs as the No. 5 seed. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with race one of the six-race Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals Sept. 15-17 in Reading, Pa.

The twists and turns did just that throughout the five-month regular season, but the overall body of work shows a strong start, a dip and then a summer return to form including a winner’s circle stop at Sonoma, Calif., in July. After reaching the 49th final round of his career at the recently-concluded U.S. Nationals, Todd jumped up to fifth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings and enters the Countdown as the fifth seed.

“That’s kinda the goal I set at the beginning of the year: be in the top five going into the Countdown,” Todd said. “Somehow, we made that happen – it’s definitely been a roller-coaster season up to this point, but I feel like the second half of the season, we turned corner and made some big gains. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re in the hunt now. For these last six races, you just let it all hang out and make it happen.”

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Indianapolis, IN – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 9 qualifier at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals; Langdon made his best qualifying attempt in the opening session Friday evening when he made a 3.750-second run at 321.73 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Josh Hart in the first round and faced No. 1 qualifier Steve Torrence in the second round. Langdon was first off the starting line; his Kalitta Air Careers dragster smoked the tires, but Torrence’s car had problems. Langdon pedaled and chased Torrence down but ran out of time and lost by .1533 seconds.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Indianapolis and finishes the regular season in 11th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails 10th-place Josh Hart by 35 and leads 12th-place Tony Schumacher by 131 points prior to the points reset for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

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Indianapolis, IN –  Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals – it was his ninth top-four qualifying effort of the season. During the Friday evening qualifying session, Kalitta reached the finish line in 3.717 seconds at 328.54 mph.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Spencer Massey and Mike Salinas before losing to Steve Torrence in the semifinals. Kalitta smoked the tires almost immediately while Torrence did the same at about half track, but Torrence was too far ahead for Kalitta to have caught him.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta moves up two spots and leaves Indianapolis in sixth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Brittany Force by 76 points and leads seventh-place Mike Salinas by 12 points prior to the points reset for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

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Indianapolis, IN – Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 10 qualifier at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals. Todd’s best run, a 3.964-second effort at 324.12 mph, came during the opening qualifying round Friday evening.

Eliminations: Todd defeated Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca and Cruz Pedregon to advance to the final round. After the semifinal win, the brake pressure sensor on the master cylinder failed, and Todd had no brakes. With Top Fuel cars at the top end of the race track in front of him, he veered right to avoid them and ended up almost in the grass. The car came back to the pit on a roll back and was unloaded to be repaired for the finals. All three Kalitta Motorsports teams assisted with the repairs and servicing the car for the final. Unfortunately, it was not to be in the final round, and Ron Capps won the U.S. Nationals.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd jumps three spots and leaves Indianapolis in fifth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fourth-place Bob Tasca by 55 points and leads sixth-place Alexis Dejoria by four points prior to the points reset for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

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Six-race stretch will feature $3,000 donation for every win light on race day

YPSILANTI, MI – After a successful endeavor in four races one year ago, Kalitta Motorsports, long-time partner DHL Express and Kalitta Air are partnering again to accelerate the fight against food insecurity by helping those who need it most — working families, children and senior citizens – through a six-race program in 2023: The “Race to End Hunger.”

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in the household to live an active, healthy life.” Partnering with Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States, DHL, Kalitta Motorsports and Kalitta Air will support the race to end food insecurity.

During the next six NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series events, every time Team Kalitta drivers Doug Kalitta, J.R. Todd or Shawn Langdon turn on a race day win light, Kalitta Motorsports will donate $1,000, and both DHL and Kalitta Air will match it with their own $1,000 donations making each race day win light worth $3,000, or more importantly, some 30,000 meals.

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YPSILANTI, MI – The number is three. That’s how many times Shawn Langdon has hoisted the U.S. Nationals “Wally” after winning the most prestigious race in all of drag racing. A team looking for the right combination, like the Kalitta Air Careers team, winning the season’s biggest race would definitely become one of the season’s biggest surprises, but that’s why they run the race. It’s the U.S. Nationals – anything can happen. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series closes its regular season with this weekend’s Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals Sept. 1-4 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind.

Langdon’s three wins all came with very different circumstances. He won the 2010 Super Gas title. Three years later, he took the Top Fuel title at the U.S. Nationals and went on to win the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series championship while driving for Alan Johnson Racing. His most-recent win came in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – a race in which nothing was normal.

“The prestige of winning the U.S. Nationals and being able to put your name alongside some of the biggest names in the sport is very rewarding,” Langdon said. “In 2013, it was pretty special because we had a career year and were able to double up after winning the Traxxas Shootout. In 2020, it was a little bit odd because we were racing in a pandemic. It was my first win driving (team owner Connie Kalitta) Connie’s dragster so it was pretty special to be able to share the winner’s circle with him even though, at that time, we didn’t get to do winner’s circle. It was ‘pull the car out of your pit and stand with it for a picture.’”

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YPSILANTI, MI – J.R. Todd remembers watching the U.S. Nationals as a child from the top end of the race track and waving at the teams and drivers as they went by. The first time he went to the U.S. Nationals, at age 10, he drove a Junior Dragster in an exhibition race, and the Lawrenceburg, Ind., native was hooked. He knew, one day, he’d race at the U.S. Nationals. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series closes its regular season with this weekend’s Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals Sept. 1-4 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind.

The 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion comes home this weekend for the 2023 edition of the largest and most-prestigious drag race in the world – a race he won in 2017 and ’18. His DHL Funny Car enters the race having won three races ago in Sonoma, Calif., and having advanced to at least the semifinals at six of the last eight races. The DHL Toyota team had a good summer, but finishing the regular season with a U.S. Nationals win would give Todd a U.S. Nationals hat trick.

“It’s my home race, and I’ve been going to the U.S. Nationals since I was a kid,” Todd said. “I’ve seen a lot happen there; I got to win it twice and understand how important it is. It’s the one race, all year long, that everybody’s geared up to try to win so it definitely holds more importance than any other race during the season.

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YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta’s grandmother, Evelyn, had a bottle of champagne she was saving to drink when her son, Kalitta Motorsports team owner Connie Kalitta, won the U.S. Nationals. Year after year, she’d get the bottle ready to drink, but year after year, she’d put it back. The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series closes its regular season with this weekend’s Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals Sept. 1-4 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind.

“It was always fun to listen to Connie tell the story of his mother, who watched Connie’s career and knew how badly he wanted to win Indy,” Doug Kalitta said. “Apparently, she had this bottle of champagne she was saving to drink whenever he won this thing. Every year, she’d put it back where she got it after he didn’t win. Finally, one year, she decided the hell with it; she just opened it and drank it. To listen to Connie tell that story about his Mom and him trying to win it, and then she drinks it one night after he didn’t win it, was just a story that always stuck with me. After Connie won the race (in 1994) is probably when he started telling that story.

“I was racing my Silver Crown car over in Springfield, Ill., and the U.S. Nationals was delayed because of rain. So we ended up flying into a little airport right next to the race track – I think it was called Speedway Airport; I don’t think it’s there anymore. We bopped in there, raced over to the track and made it just in time to watch Connie win the U.S. Nationals. It was pretty cool. We just knew, following him over the years, how badly he wanted to win that thing, and to pull it off was super exciting. It was cool.”

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