TOP FUEL WINNER: Shawn Langdon, SealMaster Dragster
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA U.S. Nationals. During the first of five qualifying rounds Friday night, Langdon made a 3.727-second pass at 334.88 mph to take the provisional No. 1 position. He held onto the top spot through the remaining four qualifying sessions to take his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 28th of his career.
Eliminations: Langdon defeated Clay Millican, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett and Tony Stewart to win his fourth U.S. Nationals title including Top Fuel wins in 2020 and 2013 and his 2010 Super Gas win. It is the 27thprofessional win of his career, his fifth win of the season and his first since winning Budds Creek, Md., in May. With today’s win and Doug Kalitta’s four wins, Team Kalitta won the last four races and nine of the 14 races in the regular season. In addition, the Team Kalitta Top Fuel drivers competed in 53 of the 55 rounds of racing that comprised the regular season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon completes the regular season and leaves Indianapolis in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He will open the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
Langdon on Indianapolis: “These wins are hard to come by, and the competition’s so good. Doug’s been on a pretty good tear lately so it’s nice to get back in the winner’s circle for all my boys, for Brian, Justin, Aaron (Crew Chief Brian Husen, Co-Crew Chiefs Aaron Cave and Justin Groat), all my guys. They’ve been working so hard. We had that great Friday night run, but with the heat on the weekend, we had to back the car up a little bit because the track wasn’t quite there.
“Brian had to really do his homework, and he did a great job; today proved that. My whole team did a fantastic job all day long. After that second round, what we thought was a rear end (failure) was not the rear end. It ended up being the clutch that kinda came apart. The DHL boys came over, and dang near changed everything on it with plenty of time to spare. That goes to show that if you surround yourself with good people, good things can happen. We finally got a win with the SealMaster colors on the car so thanks to Duke from SealMaster, everybody at Kalitta Air, Gerber, Revchem, Mobil 1, Applied and PJH. For everybody at Kalitta Motorsports, it’s great to win Indy.
“Brian, with the career he’s had working under AJ (Kalitta Crew Chief Alan Johnson) for so many years, for him to step in and really make his mark in the first couple seasons, that was his first Indy win as a crew chief. It makes me happy that I’m his driver and that I get the opportunity to be a small piece of his success. On top of that, it was the first win for a few of the other guys so it was special for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. A lot of people also had family here so winning Indy is exciting for sure.
“Brian is the man. I don’t want to give him too much credit because I don’t want people getting bright ideas with their pocketbook. For the rest of my career, I’d love to have Brian as my crew chief. Certain people just get it, and Brian gets it; he’s awesome. He’s a great leader who sets the tone for the team, and it shows with how the car runs. The guys have done such a great job the last couple of years. We’ve come close, in a lot of ways; we finished second in the regular season last year and again this year, and we finished second in points last year. I want nothing more than to get Brian his first championship, along with Connie Kalitta and the whole team. It’s just awesome to be a part of this team.”
Langdon Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the NHRA U.S. Nationals; his best qualifying attempt came during the first session Sunday afternoon, the fourth of five qualifying sessions, when he made a 3.746-second pass at 335.82 mph.
When he won the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge two weeks ago in Brainerd, Minn., Kalitta clinched the season championship in the special Saturday event. During Saturday’s Indianapolis qualifying sessions, Kalitta reached the final round of the last Mission Foods Challenge of the season but did not win. Following the final round, he received the trophy for his second-straight Mission Foods Challenge season title.
Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Will Smith and Trip Tatum before losing to Tony Stewart in the semifinals. With his semifinal berth, Kalitta clinched the regular season championship and its $150,000 bonus. With Kalitta’s four wins and Langdon’s five wins including today’s U.S. Nationals, Team Kalitta won the last four races and nine of the 14 races in the regular season. In addition, the Team Kalitta Top Fuel drivers competed in 53 of the 55 rounds of racing that comprised the regular season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta completed the regular season and leaves Indianapolis in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He will start the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs as the top seed.
Kalitta on Indianapolis: “Alan (Crew Chief Alan Johnson) has proven himself year after year – I’m just real fortunate to be in that car. We’ll take this check back to Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta). Thanks to Mac Tools, DHL, Kalitta Air, Applied, Gerber and Corrigan for making it happen for us. All the guys will get a little bonus from that (regular season) championship, and we’re all looking forward to getting the Countdown going. I’m just real proud of everybody on my team – that’s pretty good.”
Doug Kalitta Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
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 two-time 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 six World Championships and more than 130 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.