One year ago, Doug Kalitta entered the New England Nationals looking to complete the career sweep with a win, and now he wants to do it again. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues May 30-June 1 at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
It was an epic New England weekend for the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion last season. He was the No. 1 qualifier and marched through Sunday eliminations to win the race. With that win, Kalitta completed the career sweep winning at least once at every track NHRA’s premier series visits each year.
“It was definitely nice to check that one off the list last year, and this Mac Tools Toyota team is definitely looking forward to going there to see what we can do,” Kalitta said. “We’re hoping to get to the final to have a shot at winning it again. The Mac Tools car has really been great this season; we went to the semifinals in Chicago so close to the final; it’s been nice. Going to these races each weekend, it’s definitely nice knowing you have a good-running car and a shot at the win. It’s all a guy could hope for; it’s real exciting that our Mac Tools car is running like it is, and everybody’s doing their job really well so far.”
In the season’s first six races, Kalitta has four No. 1 qualifiers including each of the last three, and he has two wins in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge – a rematch of the semifinals and final at the previous race. Kalitta will race in the special event this weekend in hopes of keeping Team Kalitta perfect in the Top Fuel portion of the special event this season. First, though, the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer will try to win the New England Dragway No. 1 “Clawifier” Award presented to the driver who is the No. 1 qualifier after the second qualifying session Friday night, and the track will ship a lobster dinner to that team. It’s the newest addition made by the fan-friendly New Hampshire race track.
“It’s an interesting place – it’s a little off the beaten path but an incredible history of what they do there,” Kalitta said. “They have this lobster challenge in Friday night qualifying so that’ll be cool. Hopefully we’ll have a shot at that opportunity the track presented.”
New England Dragway is a Team Kalitta favorite for another very important event, Eddie’s Lobsterfest – a New Hampshire staple for Team Kalitta. After Scott Kalitta passed away in a 2008 racing accident in Englishtown, N.J., the team debuted this event in 2009 in memory of Scott naming it after one of his nicknames. When NHRA stopped racing at Englishtown, Eddie’s Lobsterfest moved to New England Dragway.
“We’re doing our annual Lobsterfest to honor my cousin, Scott, on Saturday so that’s always a great event,” Kalitta added. “We get a good turnout. Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) really enjoys doing it. It’s a small niche community, and a lot of these guys that raced with Scott are still out there so it’s a good opportunity to get everybody together.”
This story was originally published on May 28, 2025. 
