9-23-2024 8:56am

Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Ypsilanti PressLLC Editor

J.R. Todd Photo Courtesy: NHRA

Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster

Finals Broadcast Replay: 7-10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 on FS1

Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Kalitta’s best qualifying attempt came during the Friday-night round when he made a 3.710-second run at 332.59 mph. It was his 11th top-four qualifying position in the season’s first 16 races.

Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Tony Stewart and his teammate, Shawn Langdon, before losing to Antron Brown in the semifinals. The cars were even until late in the race when the Mac Tools dragster slowed at the finish line. Brown won the round 3.873 to Kalitta’s 3.876-second pass.

Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Charlotte in fourth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series point standings. He trails his teammate, Shawn Langdon, by five points and leads fifth-place Clay Millican by 51 points. He trails points leader Antron Brown by 67 points with four races remaining in the season.

Kalitta on Charlotte: “It was nice to go a couple rounds today. We were right there in the semifinals - it was real close, but we came up a little bit short. We’re figuring out a hot-track tune-up, and I think the Mac Tools Toyota team is doing a good job with it for Revchem, SealMaster, Future Energy Solutions and all the great people who help us make all this happen.”

Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel Dragster

Finals Broadcast Replay: 7-10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 on FS1

Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier for the NHRA Carolina Nationals; Langdon’s best qualifying attempt came during the Friday-night session when he made a 3.725-second run at 334.15 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Josh Hart before losing to his teammate, Doug Kalitta, in the second round. Langdon was ahead early before the Kalitta Air Careers dragster smoked the tires. Langdon pedaled, but it was too late; Kalitta advanced to the semifinals.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Charlotte in third place in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series point standings. He trails second-place Justin Ashley by four points and leads the fifth-place driver, his teammate Doug Kalitta, by five points. He trails points leader Antron Brown by 62 points with four races remaining in the season.

Langdon on Charlotte: “The Kalitta Air Careers car was good this weekend, but we struggled with the heat a little bit. We lost a close race to Doug (Kalitta) in the second round so we’ll go to St. Louis and try again there.”

J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car

Finals Broadcast Replay: 7-10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 on FS1

Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 6 qualifier at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Todd’s quickest qualifying run came during the Friday-night session when he reached the finish line in 3.886 seconds at 334.15 mph.

Eliminations: Todd raced Dan Wilkerson in the first round; both cars made strong runs. Todd made a 3.945-second run – the second-quickest pass of the entire first round - but it was not enough. Wilkerson left the starting line first and was able to upset the 2018 Funny Car champion by .0105 seconds.

Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Charlotte in sixth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series point standings. He trails fifth-place Ron Capps by three points and leads seventh-place Alexis Dejoria by 47 points.

Todd on Charlotte: “You have to go out and execute. We put ourselves in a hole at the first race of the Countdown last week, and you can’t afford back-to-back early-round losses. That’s kind of the way our season’s gone – not consistently qualifying at the top and going to the later rounds. We have to put ourselves in a better position. The DHL GR Supra made a good run today, but when a guy goes .17 on the tree (Wilkerson’s .017 reaction time), you can’t do (anything) about that. We’ll just go to St. Louis, try to qualify near the top and win the race.”

Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action Sept. 27-29, 2024 at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill., the third of six races making up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.

Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports

J.R. Todd Photo Courtesy: NHRA

Contact: Rob Goodman, Kalitta Motorsports

E-mail: rob@3-gsports.com