NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Doug Kalitta’s long-overdue first NHRA Top Fuel world championship in 2023 was fraught with drama all the way to the final round at the season finale, where he emerged victorious in a winner-take-all battle with Leah Pruett to claim the championship.

This year’s visit to In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals was a far different feel, with no tense moments, no chance at heartbreak. Just a lot of rain.

Kalitta entered the season finale with just a formality of qualifying to lock down his second crown, and when rain washed out both qualifying days, it was over. Everyone knows that it wasn’t the Finals that earned him and his Alan Johnson-led Mac Tools crew the championship; that was decided on the strength of a strong surge at the end of the regular season and four final-round appearances in the truncated five-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

“Yeah, this is definitely a lot easier [than 2023],” said Kalitta. “It’s always seemed to come down to the last race, last day, but we had a nice string of runs throughout the Countdown. Alan and my whole team have had my car going down the track. It’s been really nice, and just not doing something stupid on the track and getting good, solid runs.

“Alan is always throwing down and always has something up his sleeve. So, I’m just really proud of him and my whole team; it’s a huge relief to be able to win the championship before the last round at the last race, and just super happy.”

Much as was the case in his 2023 championship season, Kalitta and his Alan Johnson-led Mac Tools team didn’t catch fire until well into the regular season. Despite qualifying No. 1 at six of the first 11 events, they were winless, with just one final-round appearance, a loss to teammate Shawn Langon at the season’s second event in Phoenix.

But that long slow simmer was about to boil over with performance. In Seattle, Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster made a run of 3.628 seconds at 341.34 mph, which was the second-quickest and third-fastest run in NHRA history at the time, then followed with back-to-back wins in Sonoma and Brainerd and entered the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in fourth place.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the secret sauce is with what we’ve done here, but Alan has spent hours building these parts, and he’s just got it figured out,” said Kalitta. “You also have to have guys putting that car together exactly the same each and every run to get the consistency for any of these guys to be able to tune the car, so it’s just huge.”

The Mac Tools team ratcheted up their game with four straight final-round appearances to begin the playoffs, with runner-ups in Reading and Charlotte followed by huge wins in St. Louis and Dallas.

The team’s moxie was tested at the Reading event, where, after taking a first-round win over Tony Stewart, Kalitta’s mount suffered an apparent front-tire issue just past the finish line. His car swerved across the centerline and collided with Stewart’s entry.

Neither driver was injured, and Kalitta’s team continued on with a backup car, reaching the final round, where he fell to Shawn Reed, but nonetheless took the points lead he would never relinquish.

“We had a lot of confidence in our backup car [in Reading], and we just hit the ground running once we switched,” he said. “I have to admit, Shawn Reed winning that race, that was pretty cool. To race against somebody to get their first win after everything that he had gone through with that wreck that he had [two months earlier in Seattle], I’m glad we didn’t need that particular round to win the championship, because it was definitely cool to see him win.”

After a runner-up at the four-wide event at zMAX Dragway, Kalitta defeated Ida Zetterström in the final round in St. Louis and four-time world champ Steve Torrence in the final round in Dallas.

A semifinal finish at the season’s penultimate event in Las Vegas gave Kalitta enough of a points lead to make it virtually impossible for any of his closest rivals, which included his own teammate, Shawn Langdon, and Justin Ashley, to catch him in Pomona.

The championship is the sixth for team owner Connie Kalitta and Kalitta Motorsports and its fourth in Top Fuel. Scott Kalitta won back-to-back Top Fuel crowns in 1994 and 1995 to precede his cousin Doug’s two titles. Del Worsham won Kalitta’s first Funny Car championship in 2015 and J.R. Todd won another in 2018.

“It’s a heck of an opportunity to drive for Connie,” he said. “It’s so competitive out here, and we all want to win. It’s gratifying – I always hoped I’d be able to tie my cousin [Scott] with the number of championships he has, and there’s plenty of people who have won this twice. To be one of the guys that’s won it twice with Alan as the crew chief is really special for sure, that’s pretty cool.”

In addition to thanking his uncle, Connie, Kalitta thanked his wife, Josie, son Mitch, who now works on the race team and is working on his pilot ratings, and daughter Avery, who is now a professional soccer player. He also thanked crew chief Alan Johnson, assistant crew chief Mac Savage, team general manager Chad Head, and the rest of the team, as well as Phil and Karen Cox, Rachel Delago, and Clint Anderson at Mac Tools. He also acknowledged the support of Toyota, TRD, Revchem Composites, DHL, SealMaster, Fifth Third Bank, and Mobil 1 in addition to Mission Foods, NHRA, the Safety Safari, and RFC.