Doug Kalitta is notoriously quiet.

But all his Top Fuel competitors can easily hear the veteran driver coming on strong.
 
In NHRA Northwest Nationals qualifying Friday, Kalitta blasted his Kalitta Air Dragster to a 3.884-second elapsed time -- the only one in the 3.8 range -- to swipe the early No. 1 qualifying position.
 
He said with cooler weather on its way, he didn't expect to keep the position. However, he said the Jim Oberhofer-tuned Kalitta Air Dragster still has enough left in it to regain the No. 1 even if he gives it up early Saturday.
 
That represents progress for his program, which took a bit of a detour from its strong path.
 
“Our Kalitta Air team has struggled at the last two events (with two first-round losses), but Jim and the guys think they have figured out what was giving us problems.”

Doug Kalitta is notoriously quiet.

But all his Top Fuel competitors can easily hear the veteran driver coming on strong.
 
In NHRA Northwest Nationals qualifying Friday, Kalitta blasted his Kalitta Air Dragster to a 3.884-second elapsed time -- the only one in the 3.8 range -- to swipe the early No. 1 qualifying position.
 
He said with cooler weather on its way, he didn't expect to keep the position. However, he said the Jim Oberhofer-tuned Kalitta Air Dragster still has enough left in it to regain the No. 1 even if he gives it up early Saturday.
 
That represents progress for his program, which took a bit of a detour from its strong path.
 
“Our Kalitta Air team has struggled at the last two events (with two first-round losses), but Jim and the guys think they have figured out what was giving us problems.”
 
That appeared to be the case Friday.
 
Although the field has just 14 cars entered, making it two shy of a full field, the dragsters are a close bunch in the standings, with just 355 points separating series leader Larry Dixon and No. 5 Kalitta with just four races (including this weekend's) before the Countdown to the Championship fields are set.
 
Simply by qualifying for eliminations here, Kalitta can secure a spot in the NHRA's Countdown to 1 playoff, joining Larry Dixon, Tony Schumacher, and Cory McClenathan.
 
Keeping up with Dixon is more imperative than qualifying No. 1 to Kalitta, but the bonus points will be invaluable. Friday's accomplishment put him directly ahead of Dixon in the Seattle lineup.
 
“We want to stay close to the front . . .  and move up in points,” Kalitta said.
 
It seems like a simple enough request, and Kalitta has qualified in the top half of the field at all but the previous two races. More impressively, he has recorded four runner-up finishes and four semifinal appearances in the first 13 events of the 2010 season.
 
Kalitta, seeking his first No. 1 spot since the 2006 NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif., has had notable performances at Seattle. He is a three-time runner-up finisher in Seattle with final round appearances in 2003, 2000, and 1999.