Courtesy of Rob Goodman
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Longtime NHRA Funny Car Crew chief Dickie Venables is the new crew chief for J.R. Todd’s DHL GR Supra Funny Car, the team announced today. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series begins March 7-9, 2025 at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Venables, 60, is a four-time NHRA Funny Car championship crew chief having won the title in 2007 with then driver Tony Pedregon at Tony Pedregon Racing; he was the assistant crew chief for Pedregon’s 2003 title at John Force Racing. After working with Del Worsham at Alan Johnson Racing, Venables joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2011 and led driver Matt Hagan to the NHRA Funny Car championship in 2014, ’20 and ’23.
Venables comes to Kalitta Motorsports from Tony Stewart Racing where he teamed with Hagan since the team’s inception. Longtime Kalitta Motorsports team member Jon Oberhofer will serve as Venables’ Assistant Crew Chief. Venables replaced Todd Smith who joined Kalitta Motorsports in 2016.
“I’m super excited about this next phase of my career – I’m really happy to be in Michigan getting comfortable with everybody and meeting people I didn’t know before,” Venables said. “Kalitta Motorsports obviously has a lot of resources and great teams so I’m really happy to be part of it.
“There is no magic wand you can wave over one of these cars. It’s something we have to take one step at a time – as long we make progress with the changes we’re thinking about making, I think we’ll eventually get to our goal. The biggest thing about that is you have to have good people, and the whole Kalitta organization is well represented out there.
“I’ve seen what they were able to accomplish with some of the mishaps and unfortunate things that happened to the race cars in both Funny Car and Top Fuel. Those guys never gave up. They got the chassis fixed and got the cars back on the race track – that’s the definition of team work. I’m excited and looking forward to getting the season started.”
“Dickie Venables is real pro, and he’s a major addition to a talented DHL GR Supra team,” Team Kalitta General Manager Chad Head said. “Dickie’s talents and experience will put the DHL team in a position to challenge for the 2025 Funny Car championship.”
The Team Kalitta Top Fuel teams finished second and fourth in 2024, and each team will have the same leadership in the new season. Doug Kalitta followed his 2023 NHRA Top Fuel championship with a second-place finish in 2024. Crew Chief Alan Johnson and Assistant Crew Chief Mac Savage return to the Mac Tools team for the 2025 season. Shawn Langdon finished fourth in the final season standings last year in Crew Chief Brian Husen’s first season at the helm of the Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel team, and the talented duo both return for the new season.
About Kalitta Motorsports:
Kalitta Motorsports is a three-car team competing in the 20-race NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Founded by team owner Conrad “Connie” Kalitta in 1959, Kalitta Motorsports fields two Top Fuel dragsters driven by 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta and 2013 NHRA Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon as well as a Funny Car driven by 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd. Located in Ypsilanti, Mich., the team owns five World Championships and more than 100 national event wins through multiple sanctioning bodies. For additional information, please visit www.teamkalitta.com and follow the team on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @TeamKalitta.
