2025 NHRA Gatornationals Recap: Qualified No. 4.; defeated Ida Zetterstrom; lost to Steve Torrence.
Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 626 events, 59 wins, 67 runners-up, 839 round wins, 66 No. 1 qualifiers.
Current Points Position: N/A
Pre-Race Notes:
Pre-Race Quotes:
“It’s really nice to go to the first race and have the No. 1 on your car, for sure. The first race kind of resets everything, and it’s off we go again. I’m real proud of what our Mac Tools team accomplished last year; it’s nice to have that number one back on the car for the year, and seeing it there on the car never gets old. It’s taken a while – we had a long time of trying to accomplish this goal, and it looks good on there, I think.
“Testing went very well. The car performed well; all the things you hope to find at a test session – we were able to work through a lot of issues, and I think we’re hopefully in good shape. The car ran really well, but we always win testing. It’s good to get everybody working again and doing our thing. We’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
“To pick our callout opponent, I think it’s just see how everybody does on Friday and then pick from there. Everybody will have a couple of runs before you have to make a decision, but they’re all tough. I can tell you the one guy we’re not gonna pick is Shawn (teammate Shawn Langdon). That car of his was really running in testing so hopefully we’ll save running Shawn for the final round – that’ll be our goal for the call out this year.
“It was a good event (Call Out) last year, and we ended up winning it so definitely hoping we can pull it off again this year. Anytime you get an opportunity to have those specialty races, they usually are just a lot of fun. It’s the first race of the year, too, and Gainesville really packs in the people. It’s always good to have an extra race on Saturday and just kinda have some fun with it. Our Mac Tools team is definitely looking forward to another opportunity this year; we hope to have some fun with it for sure and pick up right where we left off last season.
Kalitta Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase/Kalitta Motorsports
The post Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
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Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 626 events, 59 wins, 67 runners-up, 839 round wins, 66 No. 1 qualifiers.
Current Points Position: N/A
Pre-Race Notes:
- Doug Kalitta enters the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing season as the defending champion having won his second title in three years last season. Kalitta won four races in seven final rounds and captured eight No. 1 qualifiers last season.
- Kalitta’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, finished second in points giving Team Kalitta its first one-two finish in Top Fuel. It was just the second time drivers from the same team finished first and second in the Top Fuel final season standing.
- Kalitta has three wins and two No. 1 qualifiers at Gainesville Raceway.
- Kalitta is the defending champion and top seed for this weekend’s Right Trailers NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, a special event among eight drivers who accrued the most qualifying bonus points last season. Kalitta will “call out” his first-round opponent.
- Kalitta’s 59 race wins place him fourth all-time in Top Fuel wins and 12th overall. His 66 career No. 1 qualifiers place him tied with Kenny Bernstein for seventh all-time. He is seventh all-time in round 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 really nice to go to the first race and have the No. 1 on your car, for sure. The first race kind of resets everything, and it’s off we go again. I’m real proud of what our Mac Tools team accomplished last year; it’s nice to have that number one back on the car for the year, and seeing it there on the car never gets old. It’s taken a while – we had a long time of trying to accomplish this goal, and it looks good on there, I think.
“Testing went very well. The car performed well; all the things you hope to find at a test session – we were able to work through a lot of issues, and I think we’re hopefully in good shape. The car ran really well, but we always win testing. It’s good to get everybody working again and doing our thing. We’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
“To pick our callout opponent, I think it’s just see how everybody does on Friday and then pick from there. Everybody will have a couple of runs before you have to make a decision, but they’re all tough. I can tell you the one guy we’re not gonna pick is Shawn (teammate Shawn Langdon). That car of his was really running in testing so hopefully we’ll save running Shawn for the final round – that’ll be our goal for the call out this year.
“It was a good event (Call Out) last year, and we ended up winning it so definitely hoping we can pull it off again this year. Anytime you get an opportunity to have those specialty races, they usually are just a lot of fun. It’s the first race of the year, too, and Gainesville really packs in the people. It’s always good to have an extra race on Saturday and just kinda have some fun with it. Our Mac Tools team is definitely looking forward to another opportunity this year; we hope to have some fun with it for sure and pick up right where we left off last season.
Kalitta Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase/Kalitta Motorsports
The post Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.
Continue reading...
