Doug Kalitta Brings Championship Focus and New Look to Midwest Nationals 

Madison, IL – Heading into the third NHRA Countdown race with a semifinal finish from the Carolina Nationals Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel team can feel the momentum building. Four races remain in the NHRA playoffs and the Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway would not come at a better time for the 49-time Top Fuel National event winner. Kalitta has won the Midwest Nationals four times most recently the 2020 title. The perennial championship contender has the second most Top Fuel wins at the popular track located just outside of the St. Louis. The Mac Tools team will also get an added boost this weekend from Ferguson Facilities Supply, a division of Ferguson Enterprises, along with WypAll towels and wipes which will join Mac Tools on his dragster as they move in the right direction at the right time heading to a track they have had a long history of success.

“I am ready to get to St. Louis for sure,” said Kalitta. “We had a solid race in Charlotte and we made some big steps forward. We were provisional No. 1 qualifiers and raced to the semifinals. This is the time of year you need to start getting round wins and our Mac Tools team is starting to get that done.”

Kalitta took the Midwest Nationals title three times in a four year stretch winning in 2011, 2003 and 2004. He has also added two more runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2017 so the six final round appearances have the driver who recently started his impressive 555th NHRA national event eager to continue that success. There will be added benefits for every win light this weekend thanks to a program between Kalitta Motorsports, DHL and Feeding America. For every win light a Kalitta Motorsports driver lights on Sunday 20,000 meals will be donated to Feeding America. Kalitta’s semifinal finish in Charlotte translated to 40,000 meals thanks to DHL and Kalitta Motorsports.

“This is a really neat program with Feeding America,” said Kalitta. “You always want to see win lights but when every win light means 20,000 meals for Feeding America that is pretty cool.”

On Friday of the Carolina Nationals Kalitta and the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster came out of the trailer with a strong run in the 3.60s and grabbed three qualifying bonus points and the provisional No. 1 spot. Earlier this season Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the Arizona Nationals. He has secured two No. 1s at the Midwest Nationals starting race day from the top spot in 2005 and 2014. The confidence a team experiences from going low on the first day in critical in Kalitta’s opinion.

“We have been running well in qualifying all season and that definitely gives the Mac Tools team a boost,” said Kalitta, who has 51 No. 1 qualifiers in his career. “You get better positioning on Saturday on the run sheet and you just feel better knowing you are making good runs on Friday and Saturday. Last weekend we made a lot of quick runs and we will be looking to duplicate that this weekend in St. Louis.”

Qualifying will begin on Friday with a night session followed by two runs on Saturday. Final eliminations featuring the 16 quickest Top Fuel dragster will begin on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

2021 Midwest Nationals Highlights: Qual. No. 9; Lost to Tripp Tatum

Last Event Recap 2022 Carolina Nationals:  Qual. 5; Beat Shawn Langdon, Mike Salinas; Lost to Justin Ashley

Career Stats: 562 events, 555 starts, 737 round wins, 49 wins, 107 finals, 51 No. 1 qualifiers

2022 Results
Winternationals: Qual. 5; Lost to Tony Schumacher
Arizona Nationals: Qual. 1; Lost to Rob Passey
Gatornationals: Qual 5; Beat Alex Laughlin; Lost to Mike Salinas
Las Vegas1: Qual 6; Lost to Leah Pruett and Shawn Langdon
Houston: Qual 3; Lost to Billy Torrence
Charlotte1: Qual 4; Beat Alex Laughlin, Doug Foley; Lost to Mike Salinas, Cameron Ferre
Richmond: Qual 6; Beat Leah Pruett; Lost to Austin Prock
Epping: Qual 4; Beat Cameron Ferre; Lost to Shawn Langdon
Bristol: Qual 12; Lost to Brittany Force
Norwalk: Qual. No. 6; Beat Antron Brown; Lost to Mike Salinas
Denver: Qual. No. 8; Lost to Josh Hart
Sonoma: Qual. 2; Beat Ron August, Josh Hart; Lost to Mike Salinas
Seattle: Qual. 4; Beat Alex Laughlin; Lost to Leah Pruett
Topeka: Qual. 5; Lost to Tony Schumacher
Brainerd: Qual. 10; Lost to Tony Schumacher
Indianapolis: Qual. 12; Beat Clay Millican, Mike Salinas; Lost to Brittany Force
Reading: Qual. 7; Beat Leah Pruett; Lost to Justin Ashley
Charlotte2: Qual. 5; Beat Shawn Langdon, Mike Salinas; Lost to Justin Ashley