Flying the blue and white of new sponsor Osborn this weekend Doug Kalitta powered his Top Fuel dragster to a quarterfinal finish at the NHRA SummerNationals in Indianapolis. After two solid runs in qualifying yesterday Kalitta started the race day as the No. 6 qualifier. His first round opponent was Doug Foley and the Mello Yello point leader knew he could not take the racer from Mooresville, North Carolina lightly.
The Osborn Top Fuel dragster and Kalitta got the jump off the starting line and they never trailed in the drag race. Kalitta’s winning time of 3.808 seconds outpaced Foley’s respectable 3.968 second run. As Kalitta crossed the finish line he flew through the speed trap at 319.45 mph, which combined with his elapsed time were his quickest and fastest numbers of the weekend. The round win was important when you consider how tough the competition is and how the NHRA is working to maximize events across the country.
In the second round Kalitta had lane choice over second generation driver and upstart Top Fuel racer Justin Ashley. In a close race that was decided by just a few feet it was Kalitta coming up short but not discouraged. As both dragsters approached the finish line Ashley was mixing up cylinders but he had just enough of an edge to out distance the Osborn dragster.
“That was just racing,” said Kalitta. “A second-round loss – that’s one of those deals that you just hope doesn’t happen. We had a pretty strong run in going A to B. We were right there. Overall, it was good having Osborne on the car with us this weekend. I love running this place. We’ll just keep our heads down and move on to the next one.”
Even with the quarterfinal loss, his earliest exit since the AAA Texas FallNationals in Dallas last season, a span of seven races Kalitta was encouraged to hold onto the points lead.
“You want to put as many rounds on the guys behind you as possible,” said Kalitta. “The Torrences are back there and there are other cars too. We will leave with the points lead no matter what but it would have been great to get two more round wins today.”
In two weeks the NHRA will be back in Indianapolis and Kalitta is looking forward to the return to the site of his biggest career win, the 2019 U.S. Nationals.
“We will be back in Indy in a couple weeks and I love racing here. There is a lot of history and we have won rounds. This weekend we were with Osborn and we’ll be back with Mac Tools in a couple weeks. Rob and Troy have a great handle on this tune up and I have a lot of confidence. We are going to just tray and qualifying as best we can and win as many rounds as possible.”
Quotable:
Doug Kalitta on snapping streak of final round appearances: “We will just have to try and get that streak going again in a couple of weeks. We have a great race car and I know Rob and Troy will look at how to make it even better for the rest of the season.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 6 (3.907 sec., 308.35 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Doug Kalitta 6 .077 3.808 319.45 (W)
Doug Foley 11 .096 3.968 298.80
Second Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Doug Kalitta 6 .065 3.830 314.46
Justin Ashley 14 .059 3.811 314.02 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
