Doug Kalitta’s storied Top Fuel career consists of NHRA championships
in 2023 and 2025 – and now he has 60 career national-event wins.
The latter came true Sunday when he captured the title at the 4-Wide
Nationals on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C.
In his final-round quad, Kalitta clocked a 3.692-second elapsed time
at 342.98 mph to defeat his teammate Shawn Langdon (3.727 seconds),
Leah Pruett (3.724 seconds), and Tony Stewart (10.663 seconds) at zMAX Dragway.
Crew chief “Alan [Johnson] thought it was going to run over 340, so
that was good,” Kalitta said. “I don’t know how he predicts these things, but the guy’s a wizard tuning these cars, and I’m just very fortunate, grateful, whatever. I know it’s a hell of an opportunity, and obviously Connie [Kalitta] has given us everything we need with all three of our cars. He didn’t make it out this weekend, but, yeah,
he, I’m sure, he is pretty proud of what we accomplished with Shawn’s car too, making it to the final and having a quick time.”
‘All in all, a good day. The zMAX is the nicest facility that we run at, so to be able to win here is a big deal.”
The win was Kalitta’s first win of the season. He came to Charlotte as
the series leader and strengthened his hold at zMAX. In addition to
the Charlotte victory, Kalitta was runner-up in Gainesville, Fla., and
advanced to the semifinals in Phoenix and in Pomona, Calif.
Kalitta’s race win trophy is the special silver NHRA 75th Anniversary “Wally,” in recognition of the sanctioning body’s 75th season.
“This trophy is cool. I saw this thing at the beginning of the year, and we’re at the fourth race now. I was hoping to pull this off and get one of these trophies. It is a good-looking trophy, and it’s a little heavier than the other one – it’s pretty cool,” Kalitta said.
Kalitta was certainly happy to win a stacked final round Sunday.
“I’ve been actually hitting the tree pretty good all weekend and, for whatever reason, that was my worst light of the weekend,” Kalitta said. “But the guys pulled through for me, and I was really happy to see that win light come on. We had a lot of support here with Mac Tools and Revchem and Dayco, and just a lot of our partners were here. This is the kind of race you want to win. Every round counts.”
Kalitta’s victory was his second at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte,
and he knows nothing comes easy at this event.
“The lineup we had in the final, it was an incredibly close race all the way across,” Kalitta said. “They don’t come easy, that’s one thing for sure. I guess I’m a little proof of that. You just gotta keep digging. You just gotta want it. It’s pretty cool that [late zMAX founder/owner] Bruton [Smith] has put together what he did for all of us, and back in the day, just trying to help grow the sport. When people ask me about the 4-Wide, I’m like, ‘Anybody that would step up, spend the money at a facility like this, I am 100% on board with it.’ It’s pretty special. It was a good day for us.”
Kalitta’s mph in the final round was the third quickest in NHRA history, behind Brittany Force’s 343.51 and 343.16 in Reading, Pa., and Sonoma, Calif., last year.
“You could tell that the car’s really running fast and you’re hoping for the best,” Kalitta said. “So, Shawn’s car, too, with Brian Husen tuning that car, same thing. Having Alan and Brian working together just doubles our opportunity and chances because they are working
together closely. When you talk about two cars that are running similar, our two cars are definitely that.”
Kalitta acknowledged the entire Kalitta Motorsports team, which also includes nitro Funny Car driver J.R. Todd is riding plenty of momentum these days.
“Chad Head runs our effort. He’s working with Connie real close. Chad,
he has worked this thing relentlessly, passionately,” Kalitta said. “He’s got a ton of experience with all this stuff. He’s driven the
car. He’s definitely watching out for what we’re doing and trying to
make sure that anything that we think we need. He’s on top of trying
to make it happen.
“Connie, he’s 88 now and still coming to these races, still loving what we’re doing. That’s, I have to admit, the thing that we all work really hard at out here, because he’s out here still doing what he’s doing and we’re all just trying to make him proud of what this effort’s doing. That’s a little extra motivation for all of us.”
Being a veteran driver and in the sport for decades, Kalitta takes nothing for granted.
“It’s quite a privilege. I’ve been watching Connie for years back when I was growing up, and just the NHRA, this and that,” Kalitta said. “Having the opportunity to start driving years ago and obviously being included with the list of guys that I’ve idolized over for years.”
