Shawn Langdon was the No. 13 qualifier at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. Langdon’s best qualifying attempt came in the final session Saturday evening when he posted a 4.146 second run at 184.98 mph. The Kalitta Air Careers car was on a good run, but the run was terminated early. It was the first time this season that the Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team qualified in the bottom half of the field.
Langdon defeated Justin Ashley, Josh Hart and Clay Millican before losing to Steve Torrence in the final round. Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers car dropped a cylinder almost immediately, and although both teams had problems, Torrence won the rematch of last year’s Seattle final round. When Langdon advanced into the final round, it was the 10th time in 11 races this season that a Kalitta Motorsports car raced in the Top Fuel final round. It was Langdon’s fifth final round of the season and the 45th of his career.
Langdon moves up one spot and leaves Seattle in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails his teammate, Doug Kalitta, by 120 points and leads third-place Steve Torrence by 39 points.
“The Kalitta Air Careers team did a great job today,” said Langdon. “We got behind the eight ball a little bit in qualifying. We were trying to come in with an aggressive setup, and that got us behind a little bit. The Kalitta Air Careers car ran great today; we just dropped a cylinder in the final round, and it went downhill from there. Brian (Crew Chief Brian Husen) did a great job with the changing conditions through the day, and that gave me a lot of confidence. My guys on the crew and everybody at Kalitta Air, Revchem, DHL and Toyota gave me a great race car today, and we made a strong effort.”
Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. Kalitta’s best qualifying attempt came in the Friday-night session when the Mac Tools Toyota team made a 3.710-second run at 333.08 mph.
Kalitta defeated Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas before losing to Steve Torrence in the semifinals when the tires on the Mac Tools car spun around half track. The semifinal loss ended Kalitta’s four-race final round streak. In the first-round matchup with Billy Torrence, Kalitta posted a brilliant 3.670-second pass at 337.41 mph. The run set the Pacific Raceways track record for Top Fuel speed and elapsed time.
Kalitta leaves Seattle in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads his teammate, Shawn Langdon, by 120 points.
“Real proud of the effort we had going on; this Mac Tools Toyota team gave me a real strong car this weekend,” said Kalitta. “That car was running like mad in the first round – that was a hell of a run there. The semifinal was just one of those deals. We’re going rounds, we’re staying ahead of these guys, and that’s what we need to be doing. I’m definitely proud of Shawn and his Kalitta Air Careers team making the final round, and J.R. and that DHL team had a good weekend, too. It’s game on, and we’re looking forward to Sonoma next weekend to keep this thing going.”
J.R. Todd was the No. 4 qualifier at the NHRA Northwest Nationals. His best qualifying attempt, a 3.919-second effort at 326.48 mph, came in the Friday night session, but Todd and the DHL GR Supra team made strong, consistent runs in each of the four qualifying sessions. Todd’s four elapsed times were all within .112 seconds.
Todd and the DHL Toyota team had a very consistent car in Seattle. Todd defeated Buddy Hull and Bob Tasca before losing to points leader Austin Prock in the semifinals. Todd left the starting line first and posted a 3.921-second effort, but Prock’s 3.884-second run gave him the win by 13 thousandths of a second.
Todd moves up one spot and leaves Seattle in fourth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails third-place Matt Hagan by 22 points and leads fifth-place John Force by 73 points.
“The DHL Toyota went down the track every run, and we made really good, quick runs,” said Todd. “It was really consistent all weekend. We just dropped a cylinder in the semifinals. We’ve been fighting dropping cylinders all weekend so if we can get that figured out, I think we have a really good chance of competing for a win in Sonoma next week.”
Team Kalitta will be back in action July 26-28, 2024, at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
This story was originally published on July 22, 2024. 
