The Mac Tools team and Doug Kalitta were looking for their second Mile High Nationals title today at Bandimere Speedway. Through four rounds of qualifying Kalitta and his Mac Tools Toyota team made consistent runs and entered race day as the No. 8 qualifier with a 3.827 second pass.
In the opening round the 49-time Top Fuel national event winner was facing second-year driver Josh Hart. The two 11,0000 horsepower dragsters launched almost simultaneously and Kalitta was pulling away from Hart’s Top Fuel dragster at half-track. As the finish line closed in Kalitta’s Goodyear tires began to haze at about 600 feet and the loss of momentum was just enough for Kalitta to lose his lead. At the finish line it was getting the win with a 3.999 second pass in front of Kalitta’s 4.003 handing him a victory by seven thousandths of a second at over 310 miles per hour.
“We were pulling away and then we just overpowered the track,” said Kalitta. “That was a disappointing race because I really felt like we had a race car that could have on this race. I have had a lot of success here and another win would have been great for this Mac Tools team. We will head to Sonoma and get after it starting on Friday.”
Kalitta will hold onto his position in the Top Fuel top ten with five races before the end of the regular season. The Mac Tools team will head to Sonoma Raceway in five days to tackle the second race of the Western Swing.
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 8 (3.827 sec, 319.37 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
8 Doug Kalitta .091 4.003 285.59
9 Josh Hart .088 3.999 314.45 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
