Entering the Route 66 Nationals last year, Kalitta had three round wins in five races and was 10thpoints. Fast forward to 2024 after five races, and the three-time Route 66 Raceway winner enters this weekend’s race on the strength of a win, a semifinal finish, three quarterfinal showings and No. 1 qualifiers at each of the last two races. That puts him second in points entering the season’s sixth race.
“We started out really strong,” Kalitta said. “I’m super proud of the effort we’ve put out, really with all three of our teams with Shawn (Langdon) winning twice and J.R (Todd) winning already this season. We all have a little extra skip in our step so the momentum is good, and we’re hungry to keep it going. The guys come into Chicago after a couple weekends off so everybody should be fresh and ready to roll.”
Applied Innovation is back on Kalitta’s car for the first time since the team won the special pre-season shootout race in Florida. Applied Innovation serves customers in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Florida, with managed and co-managed IT and Help Desk services. The company founded as a printer, copier and fax company in 1987 is now a full-fledged, office-technology provider. Applied’s technology services and solutions are designed not only to improve its clients’ business but also the lives of the people working within them.
“I am a testament to Applied’s services because we just switched all our Kalitta Charters stuff over to Applied Innovation, and they do a really good job with the product they’re selling,” the reigning Top Fuel champion added. “I certainly encourage anyone to switch to them. They love NHRA Drag Racing, and they have a good group of people that typically comes to the races including their owner, John Lowery. They’re good, down to earth people, and I hope they’re getting their money’s worth with what they’re doing for us. It seems like they are. We were fortunate to win that first pre-season shootout race in Bradenton (Fla.) while flying their colors so we’d love to do that with them again this weekend.”
After two races running in the four-wide format, it’s back to standard two-wide racing this weekend. Kalitta won his first four-wide race in Las Vegas last month – a goal that alluded him since Bruton Smith introduced the four-wide format. With a confident race team behind him, Kalitta knows his Applied Innovation team is a threat to win every time it pulls up to the starting line.
“That’s always been my mentality – every year I’ve ever raced,” Kalitta added. “That’s just a testament to the team I have around me now and in the past. Being a threat to win every race is the mindset. If you’re not thinking you can go to one of these races and win, that would just suck. It’s part of what motivates me for sure.”
Race Information:
Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals
Route 66 Raceway; Joliet, Ill.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
- Qualifying Show 1: 7:30-9 p.m. Friday, May 17 on FS1
- Qualifying Show 2: 1-2 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals Round 1: 4-5 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals: 10 p.m.-Midnight, Sunday, May 19 on FS1
2023 NHRA Route 66 Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; defeated Kyle Wurtzel, lost to Clay Millican.
Doug Kalitta Career Stats: 592 events, 53 wins, 60 runner-up, 775 round wins, 55 No. 1 qualifiers.
2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gatornationals: Qualified No. 7; defeated Clay Millican; lost to Steve Torrence.
Pomona: Qualified No. 6; defeated Jasmine Salinas; lost to Billy Torrence.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 3; defeated Terry Totten; lost to Justin Ashley.
Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 1; defeated Shawn Langdon in the first round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the semifinals followed by Justin Ashley, Steve Torrence and Tony Stewart in the final round.
Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 1; defeated Shawn Reed and Cody Krohn in the first round, Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas in the semifinals before beating Antron Brown but losing to Justin Ashley and Clay Millican in the final round.
RESTED AND READY, TODD, DHL TEAM WANT TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING
The season’s first quarter went pretty well for J.R. Todd and his DHL GR Supra team. Now, the trick is to keep it going. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes May 17-19, 2024 at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.
After the first five races of the 2024 season, things are pretty good for Todd and his DHL team. They won the season’s first race and have advanced to at least the semifinals at each race this season including a final-round appearance in Las Vegas.
“We are definitely ready to get back on track and try to keep our momentum going,” Todd said. “It’s definitely nice to make it to the later rounds on race day, and we want to keep that going. As long as we keep making those Mission Foods races, we’ll be in pretty good shape. That’s what I said after we won that first race of the season. If we can make all of those, we should be in a good points position. So far, we’re on track to do that so we just have to stick to the plan and keep making runs down the track and going to those later rounds.”
When Todd advanced to the four-wide final round in Charlotte two weeks ago, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge this week. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the four-wide final round in Charlotte will re-run the semifinals and finals in the two-wide format earning additional purse and championship bonus points.
With its lofty performance in the first quarter of the season, the DHL team is second in points – a far cry from one year ago when the team was mired in 11th place. The enhanced performance makes everyone happier and more confident, but everyone on this team knows room for improvement remains.
“I can’t really explain how we are so much better than we were this time last year,” the 2018 NHRA Funny Car champion said. “We’re second in points, we’re the only team that hasn’t lost in the first round yet this season, but we’re not getting great elapsed times on race day so we definitely still have room for improvement. We have to keep working on our consistency and keep going down the track. I also want to make the Pep Boys All-Star Callout at Indy and be in the top half of that field – that all stems back to qualifying so we definitely need to work on that going forward.
“We need find a hundredth (of a second) here or there to hopefully keep up with the fast guys that are ahead of us week in and week out and going to the later rounds on race day. I know we can do it – we just have to keep working to find that missing piece of the puzzle.”
Race Information:
Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals
Route 66 Raceway; Joliet, Ill.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
- Qualifying Show 1: 7:30-9 p.m. Friday, May 17 on FS1
- Qualifying Show 2: 1-2 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals Round 1: 4-5 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals: 10 p.m.-Midnight, Sunday, May 19 on FS1
2023 NHRA Route 66 Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; lost to Bob Tasca.
Funny Car Career Stats: 303 events, 21 wins, 25 runner-up, 336 round wins, 14 No. 1 qualifiers.
2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 6; defeated Blake Alexander, Ron Capps, Bob Tasca and Austin Prock.
Pomona: Qualified No. 11; defeated Cruz Pedregon and Paul Lee; lost to Matt Hagan.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 5; defeated Cruz Pedregon and John Force before losing to Austin Prock.
Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 3; defeated D. Wilkerson, D. Richards before losing to M. Hagan and R. Capps
Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 12; defeated Ron Capps and Buddy Hull in the first round, Cruz Pedregon and John Force in the semifinals before beating John Force but losing to Matt Hagan and Daniel Wilkerson in the final round.
SHAWN LANGDON SEES ONLY LEARNING CURVES AHEAD
FOR FUTURE ENERGY SOLUTIONS TEAM
Shawn Langdon and his Future Energy Solutions Toyota team enter Chicagoland in third place in the NHRA Top Fuel points standings. That’s a massive improvement from one year ago. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes May 17-19, 2024 at the Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.
Langdon won the season-opening race in Gainesville, Fla., and added a second win two races later in Phoenix. That early-season success with first-year crew chief Brian Husen puts the Future Energy Solutions team in an excellent spot following the end of the season’s first quarter.
“I think we’ve done pretty well,” Langdon said. “We’ve had some good success winning two races. The car’s been making good runs, and we’re still near the top of the points. It’s been good. It’s always nice to know, as a driver, that the car is making good runs; that confidence is big. It lets me just focus on doing my job and not worrying about the car.”
The two wins were great, but there’s always room for improvement. First-round losses at both of the recent four-wide races were certainly not part of the plan, but as Langdon said then, “it happens.” Langdon won two Jegs All-Star Super Comp championships at Route 66 Raceway, but he’s never won a Top Fuel race at the track outside Chicago. The team’s first-quarter report is good, but learning curves remain.
“I think our biggest strength right now is that we’re able to make good, strong runs in whatever conditions we have,” Langdon said. “The Future Energy Solutions car is a little bit ahead of where it’s been in the previous few years as far as qualifying a little bit better and making stronger runs down the track. Our car is qualifying better than probably any other time in my career at Kalitta Motorsports. It’s one of the best cars I’ve had in a long time.
“If we have weaknesses, and I’d probably say areas for improvement instead, I’d say everything is still a little bit fresh with some new guys on our team. Brian has some learning curves ahead of him being a new crew chief. I wouldn’t call that a weakness – it’s just part of the process. I feel like our team is really good and really strong right now. Everybody’s done a fantastic job, and we really haven’t made any mistakes. I don’t really see any weaknesses – I just see learning curves.”
Race Information:
Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals
Route 66 Raceway; Joliet, Ill.
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
- Qualifying Show 1: 7:30-9 p.m. Friday, May 17 on FS1
- Qualifying Show 2: 1-2 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals Round 1: 4-5 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on FS1
- Finals: 10 p.m.-Midnight, Sunday, May 19 on FS1
2023 NHRA Route 66 Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 6; lost to Clay Millican.
Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 335 events, 19 wins, 21 runner-up, 354 round wins, 20 No. 1 qualifiers.
2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 1; defeated Cody Krohn, Justin Ashley, Antron Brown and Billy Torrence.
Pomona: Qualified No. 7; defeated Krista Baldwin; lost to Tony Schumacher.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 5; defeated Josh Hart, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Justin Ashley.
Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 8; lost to Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence in the first round.
Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 7; lost to Antron Brown and Brittany Force in the first round.
3-G Sports PR
