Doug Kalitta isn’t ready to surrender his Top Fuel championship, and Friday at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, he made certain everyone knew it. The reigning champion grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at Pomona, Calif., while teammate and championship leader Shawn Langdon struggled to 14th in the only session completed before weather shut down nitro qualifying.
Kalitta joined Ron Capps (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) atop their respective qualifying sheets at the 20th and final race of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. With four championships still to be decided, Friday offered a reminder that Pomona has a habit of keeping things interesting until the last possible moment.
Kalitta covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.677 seconds at 340.39 mph in his Mac Tools dragster, putting himself in position for his seventh No. 1 qualifier of the season. His pursuit of a third championship in four years remains a long shot, but Kalitta has been around long enough to know better than to concede anything before Sunday.
“I’m glad we got one round of qualifying in today because at this last race, you never know,” Kalitta said. “Alan [Johnson], Mac [Savage],and all of my guys were real hungry to have a good qualifying effort, and we went out there and did good today. I’m still hoping we can pull off a championship. I’ve been part of a bunch of close ones, and we’re just looking to go out there, throw down on every run and we’re going to try to get every point we can every round.”
Maddi Gordon made her own statement with a 3.679 at a track-record 342.11 mph, good for second, while Leah Pruett was third at 3.698, 334.65. Langdon, meanwhile, will have some work to do Saturday after landing 14th.
Capps had no interest in easing into the weekend, either, driving his NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra to a 3.894 at 331.53 mph. The three-time Funny Car champion was the only driver to break into the 3.80s, although he suspects Friday’s best won’t survive Saturday.
“You see a lot of teams every year that have been so-so or having issues, come alive at this race because you could pretty much throw everything at this track when the conditions are right there,” Capps said. “However, they were almost too good. Guido [crew chief Dean Antonelli] did a good job of pulling it back just a little bit, about 300 feet, and then letting it go. We saw a few of those really fast Funny Cars get sideways and lose traction out there. So it was a tricky Pomona, but still fast.
“Tomorrow, it’s going to be clearer, a little warmer, which will be faster. It’ll still be cold enough, and the atmospheric conditions are going to be stout, so it’s going to be great. That .89 will probably end up being the bottom half of the field. We’re No. 1 right now, but we have to run better for sure tomorrow to stay top half.”
J.R. Todd followed at 3.911 and 327.90, with Cruz Pedregon third at 3.931 and 318.02. Championship leader Matt Hagan was 11th, while Jordan Vandergriff, the driver chasing him, sat outside the field in 21st.
Glenn took a sizable step toward a second consecutive Pro Stock championship, running 6.512 at 208.42 mph in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro. More importantly, his Friday bonus points stretched his advantage over Matt Hartford to three rounds, putting a potential championship-clinching first-round bye within reach thanks to a field one entry short of being full.
“We made two really nice runs and so far we’ve done exactly what we wanted to do,” Glenn said. “We’ve gotten our bonus points that we needed. Now, the next major goal for tomorrow is to hold on to that No. 1 spot, make sure nobody takes that away [to maintain a first-round bye].
“As long as I do my job and stay No. 1, then it won’t matter [what anyone else does]. If I have to race one of them, I have a lot of confidence in my car right now, and I wouldn’t want it if I didn’t earn it anyway. I take it as like the biggest compliment ever that they want to try to race me first round, so I welcome all challengers.”
Matt Latino was second at 6.516, 209.17, followed by Greg Stanfield at 6.523, 210.18. Stanfield entered the weekend 99 points behind Glenn.
Herrera, meanwhile, has a little unfinished business with Vance & Hines teammate Richard Gadson, and Saturday promises to be anything but an ordinary qualifying day. Herrera led both Friday Pro Stock Motorcycle sessions, posting a 6.673 at 201.76 mph while collecting two additional points in his pursuit of the reigning champion.
The teammates will settle their postponed Las Vegas final during Saturday’s opening qualifying session, with Herrera having an opportunity to trim another 20 points from Gadson’s championship advantage. Gadson qualified second Friday at 6.713, 200.00, while Matt Smith was third at 6.750, 201.28.
“It’s definitely an ideal start for sure to go out there and run 6.67 on both passes and get the bonus points,” Herrera said. “Plus, Richard and I both went 1.01 to the 60-foot in Q2, so that was pretty unique. Mother Nature is going to mess with us this weekend, and it wouldn’t be Pomona if we didn’t have some rain. I feel very good this weekend.”
Qualifying continues at 11:30 a.m. PST on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
