By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio
ENNIS, Texas – A late-season surge has put veteran NHRA Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta in the lead in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series championship standings.
With three races remaining in the season’s Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, Kalitta, driver of the Mobil 1 Toyota dragster, is in the perfect position to battle for the championship as he returns to the Texas this weekend for the 38th annual Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex.
I’m super excited to get down there and get started at the Texas Motorplex with all of what they’re doing,” Kalitta said. “The Stampede of Speed is pretty exciting stuff. I love all this stuff and I just have a passion for it, I guess. The passion to win obviously is high on the list when you are in the seat.”
Kalitta leads Leah Pruett by 47 points. Steve Torrence is 51 points back in third followed by Justin Ashley (77) and Antron Brown (96). Mike Salinas, Brittany Force, Clay Millican, Tony Schumacher and Austin Prock round out the top 10 in the standings.
“We’ll be up for it for sure,” Kalitta said. “We’re looking forward to getting down to Dallas and getting this weekend started. Mainly, it’s just trying to stay there, really, so we have to figure out what we have to do to qualify well and go rounds.”
Kalitta said that he credits much of his success this season to his team and co-crew chiefs Alan Johnson and Brian Husen. The duo helped Kalitta score victories at the first two Countdown races at Maple Grove and Charlotte.
“If you look at the history of Alan and Brian that’s tuning my car, I think that probably will say it all,” Kalitta said. “For whatever reason it took us a little bit of time to really start clicking with I guess consistency more than anything with those two Countdown races.”
Two weeks ago at the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier, after he posted an opening qualifying round best on Friday night with a 3.709-second, 331.85 mph run. It was his second No. 1 qualifier of the season and 53rd of his career. In addition, it was his 12th top-four qualifying effort of the season and the sixth-consecutive race where he has qualified in the top-four spots.
“Whatever it is, obviously, I’m happy that it’s been going well for the first two weeks,” Kalitta said. “In St. Louis we ended up getting beat in the second round. So we are excited about this weekend and we’ll see what happens.”
Kalitta defeated Lex Joon in the first round before losing to Leah Pruett in the second round. It was his first round loss of the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, which makes him 9-1 for the three Playoff races.
“We have to just keep our eye on the target and keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Kalitta said. “I am excited about these next three races. It’s a great opportunity and we are trying to take advantage of it. I definitely feel real comfortable with everyone that is on my team doing what they are doing. Obviously, we have Connie Kalitta, the owner with us and he’s been in this position winning championships with his other drivers. So we are trying to make the best of it.”
Kalitta, who is a two-time winner at the Texas Motorplex, said his ultimate goal is to win the season championship, something that has eluded him during his entire career. Six times he has finished as the runner up in the championship standings.
“A lot of those years I was racing against Alan Johnson, so certainly having him in my trailer doing his thing and working with the team is pretty exciting,” Kalitta said. “It’s really taking everybody getting in sync with their jobs and just trying to make sure that everybody is double checking one another and going to the starting line with the best car we can put together and the consistency of Alan and Brian tuning the thing. So hopefully we can go from A to B and have a good run.”
Kalitta is one of eight different drivers that have won on the Top Fuel circuit this season. After 18 races, Salinas, Ashley, Brown, Prock, Pruett, Millican and Torrence have also scored victories this season. Any one of these drivers could be an obstacle for Kalitta this weekend.
Kalitta also said he is looking forward to qualifying and racing under ideal weather conditions this weekend at the Texas Motorplex. Cooler temperatures, along with low humidity and light wind, could result in record runs during the two rounds of qualifying on Friday, especially during the night session.
“Everybody’s running in the same conditions,” said Kalitta, who is hoping to rebound after an early exit at last year’s race when he lost to Ashley in the first round. “I’m real confident in my guys under any conditions – I’m just real fortunate to have the brain power we have on this Mobil 1 Toyota team right now. These guys have won a lot of championships so you just want to continue to be part of that with Alan and Brian and the rest of the guys that have won championships – we’re hoping to pull it off.”
