Story By: ROB GOODMAN / KALITTA MOTORSPORTS – YPSILANTI, MI – Doug Kalitta and his Mac Tools Toyota team have an impressive streak underway, and they want nothing more than to keep it going. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes July 19-21, 2024 at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash.
In the last four races, Kalitta has two wins in four final rounds, and on the strength of that recent streak, the reigning Top Fuel champion is back where he was when the 2023 season ended: atop the point standings.
“The guys are all working away – staying with everything that needs to happen to keep what they’re doing going,” Kalitta said. “We did a little testing in the off week so we’re staying active with what we’re doing and trying to stay in the groove with what we need to do.”
One year ago, Kalitta entered this event mired in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He was enduring a long winless streak and was in search of his 50th-career win – as he had been for multiple seasons. He would get that 50th win in Reading, Pa., last September and go on to win the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel title on the strength of three wins in the six Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoff races. Fast forward to today, and Kalitta has three wins in six final rounds in the first 10 races of the season.
“It’s definitely a hell of a team effort after everything we’ve gone through to get where we are now,” Kalitta added. “Obviously, our leader, (Crew Chief) Alan Johnson, has been in this position a number of times with different drivers over the years, and it’s cool to see it happen on my car. It’s pretty cool, really, but again, he leads the charge, and all these guys are working on this Mac Tools car making sure it’s put together correctly, consistently; it’s one of those things that takes everybody to make it happen. It’s been fun going rounds and collecting these points trying to get to the end of the regular season. Running really, really well after Indy (U.S. Nationals, final race of the regular season) is definitely our goal to put ourselves in position to have a shot at winning another one of these things. You have to stay in your routine and don’t overthink it. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
New at Pacific Raceways this weekend is a schedule change on Friday to accommodate for the sun shining directly in the drivers’ eyes on the race track that’s oriented east-to-west. Because of the sun, Friday-night qualifying has never been an option at Pacific Raceways, but this year, the track will have a long break between the first and second qualifying sessions. After the first session at 4:15, the schedule takes a nearly five-hour break to allow the sun to set. After a concert, nitro qualifying will resume at 9:15 under the lights.
“It sounds like a really long day because we typically fly in from Detroit that morning, but actually, to be able to run at night at any of these tracks is worth the wait; it’ll be good,” Kalitta said. “They’re doing a heck of a job at that facility. Pacific Raceways is one of the smaller places we go, but with the sweat equity that goes into that place, you can just tell it’s a special place for the people who own it and their fans. They’re definitely working to improve it every year. It’s tough racing towards the sunset so it’s good they’re going to wait it out this year.”