Doug Kalitta and Sonoma Raceway are a pretty good match. The 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champion has five wins in six final rounds at the wine-country track, but in order to get that sixth win this weekend, he’ll need more “crisp” runs. he 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes July 26-28, 2024 at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.
On Sunday in Seattle, Kalitta won his first-round matchup with Billy Torrence when he blistered the Pacific Raceways track with a nearly perfect 3.670-second run at 337.41mph; it was the quickest and fastest run in track history, and Kalitta knew it could be special.
“You can feel the difference when it’s on a run like that,” Kalitta said. “The motor just seems more crisp. You can just kinda tell this thing is ready to have some really good performance with the way it’s idling. On the burnout, you can kinda tell he (Crew Chief Alan Johnson) has the thing spiced up pretty good. Obviously, you need track conditions to be able to have that thing set up like that for it to stick. It’s definitely a fun ride and a hell of an opportunity we have with Alan and (Assistant Crew Chief) Mac Savage and all my guys to be driving that thing when it’s running like it is so it’s pretty cool.”
Just like the 2024 season is for the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer. Kalitta has three wins in six final rounds this season. His semifinal showing in Seattle last weekend ended a four-race streak in which he raced in the final round. In fact, either Kalitta or his teammate, Shawn Langdon, raced in every final round of the season so far except one. It appears, as the regular season winds down with three races remaining, this team is only getting stronger.
“That’s the trend we’re hoping for, and the results are showing it,” Kalitta added. “The car’s been going down the track and Alan has a lot of confidence with the tune up and the team so I’m pretty excited with what we have going on right now.”
Sonoma Raceway is a special place for Kalitta not only because he won his first race there in 1998 but also because he has five wins although his last wine-country win came in 2005.
“I won my first race there against Bruce Sarver,” Kalitta said. “That was the only win I got that year so it was a huge deal for me to win that first one at a new place in the wine country and the whole deal, but I have to admit – it’s been a while. It’s been quite a while sort of like Seattle last weekend. It was the same thing so I was really hoping to pull it off there since it’s been a while since we’d won there. Looking forward to getting back to Sonoma. The conditions there are almost always really good. When the sun goes down, it really cools off so it’s one of those places where, with our tune-up and everything we’re doing, I think it’ll be a good track for us.”
This story was originally published on July 25, 2024. 
