Racing in front of teammates and support staff from the Kalitta Motorsports headquarters in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Doug Kalitta and the SealMaster Top Fuel dragster continued to improve and showcase their strong performance numbers. They qualified No. 6 continuing a streak of solid top half of the field qualifying efforts. Their quickest run coming into race day was a 3.759 second pass at 328.46 mph which was only bested by five other Top Fuel teams.
In the opening round against veteran Antron Brown Kalitta dominated the race taking the lead off the starting line and pulling away for the win with a weekend quickest pass of 3.736 seconds at 330.23 mph. Kalitta jumped off the line with a strong .057 second reaction time that gave his SealMaster Mac Tools Toyota dragster a lead it would never relinquish.
“That win in the first round was big for this SealMaster team,” said Kalitta. “Those guys are a tough team and we are looking to move up in the Top Ten and get ready for the Countdown. (Crew chiefs) Alan (Johnson) and Brian (Husen) have been doing a great job and it showed this weekend.”
In the quarterfinals Kalitta drew Mike Salinas, the No. 3 qualifier, and he knew the race would be a clash of two of the best teams on the circuit. Once again Kalitta made a solid run crossing the finish line with a 3.776 second elapsed time on a track that was heating up throughout the day. In the lane next to him Salinas had just a slight advantage with a 3.771 second pass to race to the win.
“We made a lot of good runs this weekend with this SealMaster Toyota dragster,” said Kalitta. “We had a lot of folks from our shop in the pits so I am glad we gave them a good show. This race team is really coming together and we are seeing better race day results. I am looking forward to the Western Swing in a couple weeks.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 6 (3.759 sec, 328.46 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
6 Doug Kalitta .057 3.736 330.23 (W)
11 Antron Brown .072 3.772 324.36
Second Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
6 Doug Kalitta .070 3.776 324.05
3 Mike Salinas .049 3.771 329.26 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
