DOUG KALITTA FOCUSED ON WINNING NHRA’S 1,000TH TOP FUEL RACE
YPSILANTI, Mich. (April 22, 2025) – This weekend’s historic 1,000th Top Fuel race winner will accept a special NHRA “Wally” trophy as the 1,000th Top Fuel winner in NHRA history, and the 2023 Top Fuel champion wants to hoist that trophy. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues April 25-27 at the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte.
A Top Fuel driver won in NHRA competition at 999 different races. Don Garlits won the inaugural Top Fuel race at the 1963 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. Four hundred, ninety-nine races later, Doug Kalitta won NHRA’s 500th Top Fuel title at the 2002 NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex near Dallas. The Kalitta family represents a significant portion of NHRA history, and Kalitta milestones are sprinkled throughout. A Kalitta win in the 1,000th Top Fuel race would be a fitting chapter in the rich history of both the Kalitta family and the NHRA.
“Winning the 1,000th Top Fuel race would be pretty exciting – especially with my family history,” Kalitta said. “With Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) being out here as long as he’s been doing this and all he’s done in this sport, that would be really cool. We’re all trying hard to win these things. We try not to have too many distractions on different things so we can stay focused and work as a team to get it done. We definitely have a good shot at it, too, so our Mac Tools team is definitely looking forward to the opportunity.”
Kalitta won his first four-wide event last spring in Las Vegas, and he had visions of two straight on The Strip. It was not to be, but not getting the win two weeks ago has the 2023 champion laser focused on this weekend’s race.
“We have a real good shot at winning these races; Charlotte’s facility is just beautiful – like all of Marcus and Bruton Smith’s tracks. It will be our last regular-season four-wide of the year so we’d like to win this one and then come back and win the Playoff four-wide in the fall. Getting the four-wide in Charlotte would be one more thing we can say we’ve managed to accomplish out here. I feel good about the weekend.”
When Kalitta advanced to the Las Vegas semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge this weekend. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Las Vegas will re-run the semifinals in the four-wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.
Race Information:
American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
zMAX Dragway; Concord, N.C.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
Qualifying Show 1: 10-11:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26 on FS1
Qualifying Show 2: 12:30-1:30 Sunday, April 27 on FS1
Finals: 7-10 p.m. Sunday, April 27 on FS1
2024 American Rebel Beer NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 1.; defeated Shawn Reed and Cody Krohn, defeated Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas, lost to Justin Ashley and Clay Millican.
Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 611 events, 55 wins, 65 runner-up, 806 round wins, 60 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 4; defeated Ida Zetterstrom; lost to Steve Torence.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 1; defeated Travis Shumake, Bye, and Jasmine Salinas; lost to Shawn Langdon.
Pomona: Qualified No. 2: defeated Scott Palmer before losing to Tony Stewart.
Las Vegas: Qualified No. 1: defeated Clay Millican, Bye, lost to Tony Stewart and Justin Ashley.
Doug Kalitta Image Courtesy: NHRA
LANGDON LOOKING FOR STRONG REBOUND IN 1,000TH TOP FUEL RACE
YPSILANTI, Mich. (April 22, 2025) – After an unexpected stumble one race ago, Shawn Langdon is looking for a strong rebound. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues April 25-27 at the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte.
Langdon and his Future Energy Solutions team enjoyed a win, a runner-up and a semifinal run in the season’s first three races. The points leader entered the four-wide race in Las Vegas two weeks ago looking to extend his ultra-hot season start. Instead, the team suffered its weakest showing of the season ending in a first-round loss. Opportunity knocks this weekend with a chance to win NHRA’s 1,000th Top Fuel race and claim the special race-winner trophy signifying the historic event.
“You don’t get historic opportunities like that all the time,” Langdon said. “To be able to win that race this weekend would be pretty cool, and it would feel good to put your name in alongside some of the greats of the sport.
“Last race was definitely a hiccup we didn’t expect, but these things happen. The race track was goofy, but it was the same for everyone. You’re gonna run into that sometimes, and we just didn’t make the proper adjustments to get the car where it needed to be for the track conditions. It is what it is – no big deal. We still left Las Vegas with the points lead so we’ll do our best to get back on track in Charlotte this weekend. Our Future Energy Solutions team puts a great car on the race track so we’ll just keep moving forward.”
Four races into the season, Langdon leads Tony Stewart by 16 points in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. As Langdon and the rest of the Top Fuel drivers chase history this weekend, Langdon has his own zMAX Dragway history. He captured his first-career Top Fuel win there in 2012 and has two wins in four final rounds. His position at the moment feels familiar.
“Having the points lead early and running well is kind of where we were last year before we got into our streak of runner-up finishes. Now, we want to turn that corner and hopefully win more races. It’s a tough class; you have to be picture-perfect on race day, and you have to have luck. We have to be spectacular when we need to be spectacular, and if we can do that this weekend, maybe we can make some history.”
Race Information:
American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
zMAX Dragway; Concord, N.C.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
Qualifying Show 1: 10-11:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26 on FS1
Qualifying Show 2: 12:30-1:30 Sunday, April 27 on FS1
Finals: 7-10 p.m. Sunday, April 27 on FS1
2024 American Rebel Beer NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 7; Lost to Antron Brown and Brittany Force.
Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 354 events, 20 wins, 27 runner-up, 387 round wins, 21 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date (Wins in Italics):
Gainesville: Qualified No. 11; defeated Justin Ashley, Tony Stewart and Jasmine Salinas; lost to Antron Brown.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 3; defeated Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley, Brittany Force and Doug Kalitta.
Pomona: Qualified No. 3; defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Josh Hart; lost to Tony Stewart.
Las Vegas: Qualified No. 11: lost to Antron Brown, Mike Salinas.
Shawn Langdon Image Courtesy: NHRA
J.R. TODD, DHL GR SUPRA TEAM SEEK CONSISTENCY
YPSILANTI, Mich. (April 22, 2025) – J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team qualified well in Las Vegas and advanced to the semifinals, but only time will tell if more race-day success is near. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues April 25-27 at the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte.
Todd made good qualifying runs in very hot conditions and qualified fourth in Las Vegas two weeks ago. It was his best qualifying effort in the four races comprising the season so far. In fact, the DHL team’s qualifying results have improved with each race. Qualifying consistency appears within reach, but the task at hand is continuing that consistency on race day.
“Any drag racer has a short attention span; patience is tough,” Todd said. “I told myself, before the season even started, that once we brought Dickie (Crew Chief Dickie Venables) on, and I learned about all the changes that we made, I knew it’s gonna take some time so just be patient and don’t get frustrated. My job is to go out there and do the best I can, and when things click, hopefully the driver and the car are in sync and then we can go out there and start clicking off wins.”
Todd has two four-wide wins in Las Vegas but has yet to turn on a four-wide win light in Charlotte. He was the runner-up in 2021 but still searches for that elusive Charlotte four-wide win.
“We get to race four wide again this weekend, and hopefully we can have a good race – I’ve never really done that well in this event so it would be cool to turn that around this weekend,” Todd added. “It seems like, for whatever reason, we haven’t done as well in this four-wide event as we’ve done in Vegas so hopefully, this one is our year.”
When Todd advanced to the Las Vegas semifinals, he earned a spot in his first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season this weekend. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Las Vegas will re-run the semifinals in the four-wide format with the four winners advancing to the “finals” earning additional purse and championship bonus points.
Race Information:
American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
zMAX Dragway; Concord, N.C.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
Qualifying Show 1: 10-11:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26 on FS1
Qualifying Show 2: 12:30-1:30 Sunday, April 27 on FS1
Finals: 7-10 p.m. Sunday, April 27 on FS1
2024 American Rebel Beer NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 12; defeated Buddy Hull and Ron Capps, defeated Cruz Pedregon and Alexis DeJoria, lost to Matt Hagan and Daniel Wilkerson.
Funny Car Career Stats: 322 events, 21 wins, 26 runner-up, 351 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers.
2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results to Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 11; lost to Bobby Bode.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 9; defeated Daniel Wilkerson before losing to Bob Tasca in the second round.
Pomona: Qualified No. 7; lost to Daniel Wilkerson.
Las Vegas: Qualified No. 4: defeated Bobby Bode, Jack Beckman, lost to Matt Hagan, Paul Lee.
