Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Seattle Post-Qualifying Report – 07.22.23

TOYOTA SWEEP CHALLENGE VICTORIES
Doug Kalitta, Ron Capps lead Toyota in qualifying heading into race day in Seattle

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2023) – Team Toyota’s excellence in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenges continued at Pacific Raceways, just outside of Seattle, on Saturday with Toyota drivers Steve Torrence and Ron Capps picking up the challenge wins. It was an all-Toyota final round in both Top Fuel and Funny Car as Torrence was able to get past Shawn Langdon and Capps defeated J.R. Todd in a close duel.

In qualifying action, Doug Kalitta continued his strong performance in Denver with a second place starting position, followed by Justin Ashley in third and Torrence in fourth. In Funny Car, both Capps and Todd had their best runs of the weekend in their Challenge final. Capps is seeded in third, with Todd in close pursuit in fifth. Alexis DeJoria had a couple of strong runs and is seeded eighth overall in her Toyota GR Supra Funny Car.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
Pacific Raceways
Race 11 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

How do you feel about race day tomorrow after a solid qualifying effort?

“I’m super excited. It’s been a fun day. We smoked the tires in the last one there, but I think we’ll be in good shape for tomorrow. Seattle is a cool place to run with all of the trees. I got to run the Toyota Supra today in the Supra Showdown which is always fun. I’m definitely looking forward to having a good race day on Sunday.”

STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 4th

Mission Challenge Top Fuel Winner

What does it mean to get a victory in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenges for tomorrow’s race?

“We had a really good race car in Denver. That thing actually shut off about 100 to 150 feet early against Doug (Kalitta) – we should’ve won that round. It definitely gives me a boost of confidence in my race car and in myself just driving my car. I went there with a completely different mindset to start the Western Swing – to go out and get that Steve Torrence swagger back. You can overthink the situation, you can overanalyze it, you can do a lot of different things and back yourself into a corner and you either fight your way out or you don’t. And, I’m a fighter. I re-evaluated my situation, I trusted my guys and my guys and my car. We didn’t win four world championships by me doing something stupid and not trusting in them. That was the mindset I went to Denver with. Left there with a lot of confidence in the car and came here. You may be able to go up there and run a little bit quicker, but you still want to win that shootout. We did what we needed to do. Like I was saying, it’s hot. It’s hot for here, but you’re sitting in the car and it’s high stress and you’re ready to race, you’re wanting to win, the sun is dead behind the tree and you’re blinking. I knew I missed the tree. Not many times do you get away with that against Shawn Langdon, but we had a good car. My guys were consistent, and we went out and did what it was supposed to do. To sum that up, a lot of confidence going into race day tomorrow. First win we’ve had in a while. We openly and admittedly kicked ourselves last year in trying to re-create the wheel and I think that it’s finally coming around the way that we wanted to. It’s more mentally taxing than anything because when you have that momentum and that confidence and that swagger and just that consistency that we had for four years and then to have a season like we had last year, you kind of have to dig deep to get back where you’re at. I’m not one of the guys that looks back at what we’ve accomplished, I’m look back and think you’re only as good as your last past and it hadn’t been that good. We’re thankful for all of the partners that have stood behind us and that Capco Contractors Toyota Dragster with MAC Tools and Red Line in it. It’s the baddest thing here. I’ve got the best thing. I’ll put my team toe to toe with any team in the history of this sport. We’ve done more and accomplished more in a shorter timeframe than anybody and you’ve got to remember that and stand with the guys. You’ve got to stand with the girl you brought to the dance and that’s what we’re doing.”

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 3rd

Mission Challenge Funny Car Winner

How exciting is it to pick up another specialty win today?

“Once again, I want to just say it over and over, thank you to Mission Foods for putting this up. They really created something cool. We all ran it. We all saw the points is the thing that stood out for most. It’s great money, we appreciate that, too. As you know we won the world championship last year by less than a handful of points. I completely understand. I’ve lost championships in year’s past by less than a handful of points several times. I understand that, but what they did to be able to do this and to be able to get your confidence back – it does help. They created a whole new Saturday. It was cool to have two Toyotas up there. Obviously, Alexis (DeJoria) or J.R. (Todd) they were both so key in inviting me to the Toyota family this year and I’ve bragged and bragged about that. So, anytime I race them in a final or something like that it’s fun to go and throw down because we knew a Toyota was going to win. We’ll take the points, we’re very excited about that. I’m happy for Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief), he’s got some good data for tomorrow. We lost the number one spot to (John) Force and the number two spot to (Bob) Tasca and I think Guido was trying to run a little quicker but he didn’t have time to make a big change at the end.”

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