Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster​


2025 NHRA U.S. Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 4; defeated Tony Schumacher; lost to Justin Ashley.

Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 639 events, 63 wins, 70 runners-up, 873 round wins, 70 No. 1 qualifiers.

Current Points Position: 1

Pre-Race Notes:

  • Doug Kalitta enters the NHRA U.S. Nationals in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings; he leads his teammate, Shawn Langdon, by 67 points with one race remaining in the regular season. Team Kalitta has been one-two in points since the second race of the season, but Kalitta last led following the first race of the season. With wins in the last three races, Kalitta moved from 150 points out of first place to 67 points ahead of Langdon.
  • With his 67-point lead over Langdon, Kalitta is in excellent position to win the NHRA Top Fuel regular season championship and its $150,000 bonus; Langdon and Kalitta are the only drivers who are mathematically eligible to win the regular season title. The U.S. Nationals awards points and a half making each round win worth 30 points instead of 20. Title clinching scenarios will be determined after qualifying is complete.
  • Kalitta enters the U.S. Nationals riding a three-race win streak with wins in Sonoma, Calif., Seattle and Brainerd, Minn., two weeks ago. He has four wins and four No. 1 qualifiers this season. With Kalitta’s wins and Langdon’s four wins, the Team Kalitta dragsters won eight of the season’s first 13 races and competed in 49 of the 51 rounds of racing.
  • Kalitta has one win in four U.S. Nationals final rounds as well as two No. 1 qualifiers at the historic event. His crew chief, Alan Johnson, has eight Indianapolis Top Fuel wins with four different drivers: Gary Scelzi, Tony Schumacher, Larry Dixon and Langdon.
  • Kalitta won his fifth Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge of the season two weeks ago in Brainerd, Minn., and clinched his second-straight season championship despite the event running one more time this weekend. With Langdon’s four wins in the event, Team Kalitta won nine of the 12 Top Fuel titles this season.
  • Kalitta’s Brainerd, Minn., win was the 63rd of his career; he is now alone in third place on NHRA’s all-time Top Fuel wins list and trails second-place Antron Brown by two wins. He is 11th in overall Mission Foods Drag Racing Series wins and trails 10th-place Robert Hight by two wins.
  • Kalitta is a two-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion (2023, ’25) and a member of the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Pre-Race Quotes: “It’s cool that, one way or the other, we’re gonna bring that regular season title back to Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) and Chad (General Manager Chad Head) who’s done a hell of a job putting everything together that we’ve been trying to build here for years. It’s cool to see both our cars running like they are. You know Shawn; he’s tough so we have to go to Indy with the intent of winning the U.S. Nationals and see how it all unfolds.

“Indy is points and a half so we still have to at least go some rounds to stay ahead of Shawn to get that regular season championship. I was fortunate enough to win that thing years ago, and it would be nice to do it again. One thing about Indy, too, is it’s a place where Alan’s been really good over the years; he’s won a lot of races there so it would be good to win Indy with him for sure.

“It (regular season title) pays well so that’s good! Everybody out there works real hard trying to win each round, each race, those types of accomplishments. They’re all just momentum builders; the main goal is the end of the year prize so it’s staying focused on trying to accomplish that. Everything about what the NHRA puts together to try to help these teams afford what we’re doing is appreciated.

“This whole thing is just a hell of a team effort, but Alan is just the best out there as far as I’m concerned. I’m just very fortunate this guy is in my corner, and it’s a good place to be for sure. When we won the first race (of Kalitta’s three-straight wins), Alan was like, ‘Well, we’ve got nine more to go so let’s get it done,’ and we’ve been on a tear ever since he said that so we’ll see what we can accomplish. Winning four straight would be good – those 75th anniversary trophies look good so we’re happy to collect as many of those babies as we can.”

Kalitta Photo Courtesy: NHRA

For Doug Kalitta’s 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.

TV Schedule (All times eastern):

  • Qualifying Show 1: 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6 on FS1
  • Funny Car All-Star Callout: 7-8:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6 on FS1
  • Qualifying Show 2: 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 6 on FS1
  • Finals No. 1: Noon-2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7 on FS1
  • Finals No. 2: 2-5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7 on FOX

The post Doug Kalitta In Position to Win NHRA Top Fuel Regular Season Title first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.

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