One week after reminding the Top Fuel field he still wears the No. 1 on the side of his dragster, Doug Kalitta arrived at Pacific Raceways and made another statement.
Kalitta delivered his second consecutive Top Fuel victory Sunday at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, leading a rare Kalitta Motorsports nitro sweep as teammate J.R. Todd earned his first Funny Car victory of the season. Greg Anderson completed the list of professional winners by returning to the winner’s circle in Pro Stock and reclaiming the points lead.
The victories came in the 12th of 20 races in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and tightened every professional points battle heading into the final two regular-season events before the Countdown to the Championship.
Kalitta’s march through eliminations was the most dominant performance of the weekend.
After qualifying third, the reigning Top Fuel champion posted three 3.60-second runs on race day, including a weekend-best 3.669-second blast, before closing the afternoon with a 3.677-second pass at 338.43 mph to defeat Leah Pruett’s 3.689, 333.49.
The victory was Kalitta’s second straight after winning last weekend in Sonoma and the 62nd national event triumph of his career. It also marked his second Seattle victory, 12 years after the first.
Kalitta defeated Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and Antron Brown before meeting Pruett in the final. By the time the final round arrived, his Mac Tools dragster had been the quickest and most-consistent car on race day.
The victory also pulled Kalitta within five points of teammate Shawn Langdon in the battle for the regular-season championship.
“Getting this double, I’m just so happy for Connie,” Doug Kalitta said of his team owner and uncle. “He’s given us everything we need, and obviously all the crew chiefs. Everybody’s pulling together trying to help one another, and today’s a good result of that. I’m just real proud of our whole effort. I tell you, Connie’s had my back for years.
“Alan [Johnson, crew chief] has got the car dialed in. I feel very fortunate he’s working on my car. It took us a little bit to get it going this season. We obviously made a lot of changes, and it’s coming together, and when you get down towards the end of the year, Alan’s got a lot of championships. This is really the time of the year he really focuses on, and he always seems to be able to pull it off, so it’s going to be exciting.”
Pruett reached her third final round of the season by eliminating Will Smith, Justin Ashley and No. 1 qualifier Josh Hart, and continues to build momentum after returning to full-time competition this season.
Kalitta’s victory set the stage for an even bigger celebration inside the Kalitta Motorsports camp.
Todd ended a frustrating 23-race winless streak by winning the Funny Car title, collecting his 23rd career victory and first since early 2025. It also marked his first Seattle victory and completed only the second nitro sweep in team history.
Todd qualified No. 1 and defeated Jeff Arend, Jordan Vandergriff and Matt Hagan to reach the final round against defending world champion Austin Prock.
The championship matchup ended before either car reached the finish line. Prock left .005-second too soon, triggering the red light and handing Todd the victory. Todd ran the full distance anyway, going 3.941 at 334.90 in his DHL Toyota GR Supra. The victory earned Todd his first NHRA 75th Anniversary Diamond Wally.
Just as important, Todd climbed to third in the Funny Car standings.
“Dickie [Venables] and Todd [Smith, crew chiefs] did a really good job of racing smart today, not throwing down every run, just racing the conditions on the track,” Todd said. “I thought for sure we were in trouble there in the semis. I missed the Tree, which you can’t do against Matt Hagan because they’ll make you pay for it, and then I hit the gas and the thing is just out of control, but the win light came on. In the final, I saw Austin out front, and I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I thought that I was late and then the win light is on our side. It’s crazy, but I’m just so happy for my guys because they’ve been working their butts off.
“It’s definitely a big weight off our shoulders. I feel like we let a couple slip through the cracks there earlier in the year. Then we struggled … with some clutch disc issues. Now, I think that we’re getting back to where we need to be.”
Prock reached his second final round of the season by defeating Daniel Wilkerson, Dave Richards and Jack Beckman. Although he came up short, the defending Seattle winner continued to gain ground in the Funny Car title race.
Points leader Ron Capps lost in the opening round for the second straight event, but maintained the championship lead. Beckman trails by 37 points, while Todd moved within 42 points of first.
Pro Stock produced another shift atop the championship standings.
Anderson returned to the winner’s circle for the third time this season and the 115th time in his Hall of Fame career when Greg Stanfield fouled by .008-second in the final round. Anderson completed the run with a 6.508-second pass at 211.00 mph in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
Anderson’s victory snapped a brief slump that included consecutive first-round losses. It also moved the six-time champion back atop the Pro Stock standings with two regular-season races remaining. After qualifying second, Anderson defeated Stephen Bell, Matt Latino and longtime rival Erica Enders to advance to the final round.
Stanfield denied himself an opportunity for back-to-back victories after winning in Sonoma a week earlier. He reached the final by defeating his son, Aaron Stanfield, Cody Anderson and defending Seattle winner Dallas Glenn.
The outcome moved Anderson eight points ahead of reigning NHRA champ Glenn.
“I certainly didn’t have a lot of confidence when I came here today. We ran a lot better this weekend,” Anderson said. “My car was definitely better, but I could see, as everybody could see, Dallas Glenn had the car to beat, so to get by Dallas and everybody else out here, like Greg Stanfield, who’s on a roll, is really great.
“It’s just a cool class right now. The rest of the year is going to be cool. It’s going to be a real dogfight. I just feel fortunate to be part of it. I’m still alive. I apparently, somehow, took the [points] lead from Dallas today, so that’s pretty damn cool, and it just shows what can happen in this class.”
With only Brainerd and Indianapolis remaining, Kalitta has transformed the Top Fuel title fight into a three-team battle. Todd has reinserted himself into Funny Car championship contention. Anderson and Glenn appear headed toward another season-long Pro Stock showdown.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series resumes Aug. 20-23 for the NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway.
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