Team Kalitta Battles 'Tricky Track' in Chicago Return (1 Viewer)

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Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
Route 66 Raceway; Joliet, Ill.
Post-Event Wrap-Up


Shawn Langdon, Autodesk Top Fuel Dragster
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Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals which matched his lowest qualifying position of the season. His best qualifying attempt came in the final session Saturday afternoon when the Autodesk Toyota dragster reached the finish line in just 3.721 seconds at 331.77 mph.
Eliminations: With Langdon’s excellent reaction time, the Autodesk dragster launched brilliantly but lost traction with the race track at about half track allowing Millican to get the win light. Millican would go on to win the race.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Chicago in eighth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails seventh-place Josh Hart by 46 points and leads his teammate, ninth-place Doug Kalitta, by three points.
Langdon on Chicago: “That’s definitely not how we saw this day playing out, but it happens. We lost in the first round, but we had a really positive test last week and liked our chances for this race. This Autodesk Toyota team made two good qualifying runs so we know we can do it – we just need to be able to do it every time. We’ll get there – we can definitely take some positives from this weekend, and we’ll just keep working.”



Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
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Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals – it was his best qualifying effort since qualifying No. 1 at Phoenix in March. Like Langdon, Kalitta’s strongest qualifying effort came in the third round of qualifying Saturday afternoon when the Mac Tools Toyota dragster needed just 3.702 seconds to reach the finish line at 329.75 mph.
Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Kyle Wurtzel before losing to Clay Millican in the second round when the Mac Tools Toyota dragster smoked the tires during the run.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Chicago in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails his teammate, eighth-place Shawn Langdon, by 3 points and leads today’s race winner, 10th place Clay Millican, by 20 points.
Kalitta on Chicago: “It was a little tricky out there for sure. We were in that right lane, and the three pairs ahead of us all smoked ‘em in the right lane. Alan (Co-Crew Chief Alan Johnson) tried to back it down as much as he could, and I think we got to about the same spot the others had problems. It’s just unfortunate. I feel our luck will come around, and my team is really jelling. I’m definitely trying to keep everybody moving forward, and we have a lot of positive energy going on, but we just have to prove it on Sunday. We definitely felt like we could have gotten the win today, but we’ll wait for the next one.”



J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car
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Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase
DHL Funny Car crew member Matt Mays assists as driver J.R. Todd backs up the DHL Toyota during the just-completed Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals.

Qualifying: J.R. Todd posted his best qualifying result of the season when he drove the DHL Toyota Funny Car to the No. 3 qualifying position at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals. Todd’s best qualifying attempt came in the opening session Friday evening when he posted a 3.906-second pass at 333.00 mph.
Eliminations: Todd raced Bob Tasca in the opening round of eliminations. Almost immediately after the green light, the tires on the DHL Toyota Funny Car lost traction, and Todd was eliminated.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Chicago in 10th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails ninth-place Cruz Pedregon by 69 points and leads 11th place Blake Alexander by six points.
Todd on Chicago: “The DHL Toyota team felt really good about this race, but it wasn’t our day. The good news is we leave here with some positives – qualifying third was our best of the season, and we know our car is capable of making the kind of runs we want it to make. We just have to stay positive and keep working until we get there, and like I’ve been saying, it’s still really early in the season. There’s a lot of racing left. Really appreciate all the hard work this DHL Toyota team does on our car; one of these days, it’ll pay off.”



Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m., Tuesday, May 22 on FS2
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action June 2-4, 2023 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.


 
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