KALITTA’S RECORD RUN TAKES TOYOTA TO WINTERNATIONALS FINALS
POMONA, CA – Doug Kalitta made a record six consecutive 3.6-second passes in his Mac Tools Toyota dragster on 
the way to the Top Fuel finals of today’s Circle K NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Prior to this weekend, no Top Fuel driver had ever run more than two 3.6-second passes in any weekend only to see Kalitta register six in a row before finally smoking the tires against Leah Pritchett in the finals. He had previously defeated Steve Faria and Terry McMillen in the opening two rounds, setting up a match-up with fellow Toyota driver Antron Brown in the semi-finals. Kalitta got the jump at the start and then pulled away from the two-time defending world champion to reach his third consecutive Pomona final round.
“It was a tough finish to an outstanding weekend for the Mac Tools team,” relayed Kalitta. “I am so proud of Jim Oberhofer and the whole Mac Tools Toyota group. We had stellar pass after stellar pass. I am already ready for Phoenix and, hopefully, a little bit of redemption.”
Brown began his hunt for a third consecutive Top Fuel title by reaching his 17th semi-final round in the last 22 races. He defeated Steve Chrisman and Kalitta’s rookie teammate Troy Coughlin Jr. in his first two runs of the day before being eliminated by Kalitta.
Despite the second round loss, it was a memorable day for Coughlin who was making his Nitro debut in Pomona. After qualifying an impressive sixth, he set a new personal-best time with a 3.728 in a first-round victory over Shawn Reed. He then bettered that time in the second round with a 3.727, only to lose to Brown on a hole-shot.
It was also a day of firsts in Funny Car as both Del Worsham and J.R. Todd were debuting new rides. Worsham made the move to his family-owned Worsham-Fink Racing team in the off-season and despite a lack of preparation time, he advanced to the second round today in his Lucas Oil Camry with a victory over Robert Hight.
Todd made the move from a Kalitta dragster into the team’s DHL Camry Funny Car in the off-season and made his first career Funny Car start, opening up with a victory over Tim Wilkerson before falling to Courtney Force in round two. Worsham and Todd leave Pomona in a tie for sixth place.
Both Alexis DeJoria and Cruz Pedregon were eliminated in the opening round. DeJoria had registered a 3.87-second run to qualify seventh, while Pedregon ran a career-best 3.90 – good for the number nine seed. Unfortunately, neither was able to make a clean pass in round one.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Phoenix, Ariz., in two weeks for the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Feb. 24-26.
