The Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Car might have been eliminated from winning a Wally at the NHRA Winternationals, but Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd are leaving with the points lead in their respective classes.
Funny Car’s J.R. Todd was the No. 13 qualifier at the Lucas Oil Winternationals. With weather reducing qualifying to just two rounds, Todd’s best qualifying effort came during the rain-delayed Saturday round when the DHL GR Supra was on an excellent pass before slowing to a 4.207-second run at 223.80 mph.
Todd and the DHL Toyota team defeated Cruz Pedregon and Paul Lee before losing to Matt Hagan in the semifinals. Todd won the first six elimination rounds of the season before the Pomona semifinal loss.
When Todd advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race near Phoenix. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals in Pomona will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points.
Todd leaves Pomona in first place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. The final round of eliminations was postponed by rain and will be run at the next race in Phoenix. With the incomplete race, Todd will either lead Matt Hagan by nine points or John Force by 29 points depending on who wins the weather-delayed final round.
“I think our lucky streak finally ran out in the semis, but all-in-all, I’m really proud of my guys for working hard for DHL, Revchem, SealMaster and never giving up,” said Todd. “I can’t really complain about the weekend going to the semifinals. The weather made track conditions a little tricky for our GR Supra, but everybody was in the same boat. We made some good runs out there, and it’s nice to leave Pomona with the points lead.”
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon was the No. 7 qualifier at the Lucas Oil Winternationals. During the first round of qualifying late Friday, Langdon posted a 3.788-second effort at 318.24 mph for his best qualifying attempt.
Langdon defeated Krista Baldwin before losing to Tony Schumacher in the second round when the Kalitta Air Careers car dropped a cylinder very early in the run.
Langdon leaves Pomona in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. The final round of eliminations was postponed by rain and will be run at the next race in Phoenix. With the incomplete race, Langdon either leads second-place Billy Torrence by 18 points or leads second-place Justin Ashley by 11 points depending on which driver wins the weather-delayed final round.
“The Kalitta Air Careers car was good through qualifying and the first round when we set low ET (elapsed time) of the event (3.680 seconds). In the second round, we dropped a cylinder. It happens – nothing in particular went wrong; it’s just part of the deal,” said Langdon. “We have nothing to hang our heads about, and it’s nice to keep our points lead. We’ll regroup, head into Phoenix and start back at square one for Future Energy Solutions, Mobil 1, Toyota and everyone else that supports us.”
Doug Kalitta was the No. 7 qualifier at the Lucas Oil Winternationals. His best effort came during the rain-delayed Saturday qualifying session when he ran a 3.785-second pass at 303.30 mph.
Kalitta defeated Jasmine Salinas before losing to Billy Torrence when the Mac Tools dragster smoked the tires almost immediately at the start of the second-round run.
Kalitta leaves Pomona tied with Brittany Force for sixth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. They trail fifth-place Antron Brown by two points and lead eighth-place Josh Hart by 24 points.
“It was unfortunate to go out in the second round, but fortunately, our Mac Tools team got past the first round in both of the races so far this season,” said Kalitta. “It was kinda tricky this weekend with only two qualifying runs, and the first qualifying run probably shouldn’t even count because the track was so bad. It was tricky for everybody; we’ll have to save it for Phoenix. Really appreciate everyone at Revchem, SealMaster and Toyota for everything they do for us.”
This story was originally published on March 25, 2024. 
