Out of 65 runs made on the opening day of the Professional Racers Organization test session at Gainesville Raceway, Doug Kalitta set the early standard.
Kalitta drove his Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster to a 3.691-second pass at 315.56 mph on mid-day Tuesday, the quickest elapsed time of the session.
Shawn Langdon joined his Kalitta Motorsports teammate in the 3.60s with a 3.699-second run in the late afternoon.
They were the only two dragsters to dip into the 3.60-second range during the first day of testing.
The performance came as one of the longest-running partnerships in sports marketing prepares to mark a milestone season.
Mac Tools and Kalitta Motorsports will celebrate their 25th anniversary together in 2026 when the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing season opens March 6-8 at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Kalitta will once again pilot the red-and-white Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, which will feature a 25th anniversary logo and additional silver anniversary details.
Team officials describe the relationship as one that functions more like a friendship than a traditional sponsorship, crediting Mac Tools as a significant contributor to the team’s long-term success.
While Kalitta’s elapsed time led the charts, Josh Hart delivered the fastest speed of the day.
Hart opened the session with the first full run of testing, blasting to a 3.701 at 340.47 mph to set the tone for Tuesday’s action.
Hart backed it up with a second run at 340.22 mph, showing consistency on the top end.
The early session reflected measured tuning as teams worked through baseline combinations ahead of the season opener.
Billy Torrence recorded a 3.750 on an early shutoff run, while Leah Pruett made her first laps since last season and posted a 3.802, also on an early shutoff pass.
Tony Stewart, in his first test with Elite Motorsports, ran a 3.814, followed by Antron Brown’s 3.821 on an early shutoff pass. Tony Schumacher ran 3.910, and Keith Murt closed the day at 3.913 and 299.93 mph in Todd Paton’s Top Fuel dragster.
In Funny Car, J.R. Todd delivered the strongest performance of the session.
Beginning his second season with tuner Dickie Venables and assistant crew chief Todd Smith, Todd clocked a 3.861 at 338.00 mph in his DHL GR Supra.
Todd’s run came on the same day Kalitta Motorsports announced a multi-year contract extension with DHL.
The agreement continues a partnership that began two decades ago and has grown beyond race car sponsorship into a multi-faceted business relationship.
Alexis DeJoria posted a 3.994 on an early shutoff pass, Matt Hagan led early Funny Car efforts with a 3.958 on an early shutoff run, and Ron Capps recorded a 4.000 while Dan Wilkerson followed with a 4.062, both on shutoff passes.
The majority of Funny Car runs focused on controlled passes as teams evaluated early-season setups.
Elite Motorsports brought its Pro Stock teams to Gainesville for testing, but all runs were limited to the eighth mile.
Those abbreviated laps allowed teams to focus on incremental gains before stretching the cars to full distance.
Testing resumes Wednesday with the first runs expected to begin at 10 a.m.
