J.R. Todd was the No. 9 qualifier at the In ‘N Out Burger NHRA Finals. Todd’s best qualifying attempt came in the Friday-evening session when he made a 3.904-second run at 326.08 mph.
Todd raced Chad Green in the opening round; the DHL GR Supra was on a solid run when it smoked the tires giving Green the round win and ending Todd’s season.
Todd finished the season in eighth place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings.
“We had better plans for the last race of the year, but that kinda fits in with how the year went. This season definitely had a lot – from our early-season issues to winning in Sonoma, it had a little bit of everything. Thanks to DHL, Revchem, Toyota and SealMaster for supporting us – I wish we could have done better for them today. To Todd, Jon-O (co-crew chiefs Todd Smith and Jon Oberhofer), and all the ‘Yella Fellas,’ thanks for battling.”
Shawn Langdon was the No. 10 qualifier at the In ‘N Out Burger NHRA Finals; the Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team made three good qualifying runs in four attempts, but Langdon’s best came in the Saturday evening session when he made a 3.693-second pass at 330.07 mph.
Langdon raced Billy Torrence in the opening round; the Kalitta Air Careers car was on a solid run when it smoked the tires giving Torrence the round win and ending Langdon’s season.
Langdon finishes the season in 12th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings.
“We made some strong runs in qualifying but couldn’t carry that over to race day. I know everybody on our team worked as hard as they could this season, but it just never came together for us this year. We wanted to do better for Kalitta Air, Revchem, Toyota and Future Energy Solutions, but 2023 just wasn’t our year.”
Team Kalitta will be back in action next season, starting with the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 7-10, 2024. 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 November 13, 2023. 
