Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Gainesville Post-Qualifying Report – 03.09.24

Langdon Earns Top Qualifying Position in Strong Toyota Showing at Gainesville
Antron Brown wins Pep Boys Top Fuel Callout

Gainesville, Fla. (March 9, 2024) – Team Toyota had a strong opening qualifying of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon captured his 20th career No. 1 qualifying position with a 3.682 elapsed time in his Toyota Top Fuel dragster Saturday evening in Gainesville. Steve Torrence missed out on the top qualifying spot by 0.008 seconds, earning the second spot in Top Fuel for Sunday’s elimination rounds.

After a tough Friday session, Antron Brown came back with a vengeance on Saturday, capturing the Pep Boys Top Fuel All-Star Callout title and earned the fourth spot for Sunday where he’ll face Tripp Tatum. By winning the All-Star Callout event, Brown earned an additional $80,000.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps led the three Toyota GR Supras with the third fastest time at 3.871. Capps is seeking his fifth career win at the Gatornationals (2006, 2007, 2015, 2020).

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
Gainesville Raceway
Race 1 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

*= Non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

SHAWN LANGDON, Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

Take us through your runs and the momentum this brings you to start the season.

“I haven’t done anything different, right? I mean, I just go out there, hit the gas, keep the thing straight and run it to 1,000 feet. That just shows you the changes we’ve made. We’ve had a good car a few times the past few years and, with Brian (Husen, crew chief) and Justin (Groat, assistant crew chief) coming in, and a couple guys coming in, the changes have worked so far. And yeah, Brian has a really good control of the race car right now. Like on that run, I go ‘what do you think?’ And he said, ‘well if it makes enough power, it should go 3.67.’ So, first race out, we’re within three thousands of a second of his prediction. It’s really cool to see and I’m really proud of Brian and have worked with him for many years. I’m really excited for him to get this opportunity because he’s a really smart guy and he’s a very hard worker. I’m really lucky to be his driver.”

ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, AB Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 4th

How special is it to win the Top Fuel All Star Callout?

“This win is very, very special. We didn’t start out with the best car this weekend, but we never quit. We’ve been working through some things, like a brand-new chassis but our Matco boys never stop. Our guys had a chance to keep picking at it, and keep picking at it, and we knew it was going to be a tough round against Brittany (Force), another world champion. Everyone we raced today was a fellow world champion. We knew we had to step it up against her, but we had the added pressure of qualifying because we went into that round in 15th, so to go out there and do what we did and run that 3.709 and move up to fourth on the ladder and get this Pep Boys All-Star Callout win is pretty special. It’s going to be tough competition tomorrow on race day. The field is tight, but hopefully we can parlay that and get better tomorrow. We’ve been getting better and better with each lap, and that’s when you get dangerous. I’m focused, and my boys are giving me a hot rod that can do the job, and that’s what it takes; it takes every piece of the puzzle to make something like this happen. We have an incredible team and we’re looking forward to this 2024 season. The boys have a lot of work tonight to get ready for tomorrow. The weather is going to be cooler, brisker. Everyone is going to make more power, and I think we’re going to see some monumental runs tomorrow. You’re going to have to run in the 3.60s to get past the first round.”

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

FC Qualifying Result: 3rd

How was your qualifying and what are you looking forward to tomorrow?

“In preseason testing, you sometimes learn things that will help you. But more often than not, when you learn things, things can be accidental sometimes. And that’s what testing is all about. We came in here and pulled last year’s car out. Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief) wasn’t quite confident in our brand-new car only having a few runs on it. And lone behold, we unloaded and this has been one of the most consistent cars going down the track. Obviously, we’re number three and our brand new Supra body is awesome. Ran 330+ mph on all three of our runs. And we’re getting data, which is the most important thing for crew chiefs. Man, it’s hard ball in Funny Car 2024. We say it every year, but we’re going to have our work cut out for us. Sunday is going to be overcast and fast. That’s when we think we have an advantage with this GR Supra. Having something to go through there downforce wise and aerodynamic wise, and we’re pumped about it.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands, and directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America (more than 49,000 in the U.S.).

Over the past 65 years, Toyota has assembled nearly 45 million cars and trucks in North America at the company’s 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, the company’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

Through our more than 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.), Toyota sold more than 2.4 million cars and trucks (more than 2.1 million in the U.S.) in 2022, of which, nearly one quarter were electrified vehicles (full battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell).