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YPSILANTI, Mich. (May 31, 2023) – In a tip of the cap to team owner Connie Kalitta and his cargo airline, Kalitta Air, Shawn Langdon will fly the Kalitta Air Bounty Hunter livery starting with this week’s race in New Hampshire. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season resumes June 2-4, 2023 with the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
The Team Kalitta owner is a legend – not just in NHRA Drag Racing but in all of Motorsports. He is one of the most successful professional drag racers and crew chiefs in NHRA’s Top Fuel class – ever. Driving a Top Fuel dragster adorned with “The Bounty Hunter” livery, Kalitta was a threat to win every time he eased up to the starting line. Kalitta is a four-time NHRA champion and owns three additional championships from other sanctioning bodies. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and won NHRA’s first Lifetime Achievement award in in 2016.
During his driving career, he was said to have kept a “most wanted” list of drivers he intended to beat, and when he did, he crossed their names off his list. At that time, Kalitta’s nickname became the “Bounty Hunter.” Langdon will sport Kalitta Air and Bounty Hunter colors starting this weekend, but for Langdon, perhaps the most wanted item on his list will be round wins.
After a strong start to the season that included a runner-up and a semifinal showing, Langdon has two consecutive first-round losses. A full team test session prior to Chicago helped, and he equaled his best qualifying effort of the season in the windy city. That was progress, but the team must continue to build on what it accomplished two weeks ago.
“We definitely made progress with the test session and our qualifying effort in Chicago,” Langdon said. “It’s always nice to work hard and see some results, but for our Kalitta Air “Bounty Hunter” Toyota team, what we need most is consistency and round wins. Our guys are working as hard as they can to get our team where it needs to be – we know we can do it. We have what we need to perform, we just have to put it all together and keep it there.
“The races in Epping are epic because those New England fans love NHRA Drag Racing,” Langdon added. “We’re all in this sport because it’s what we love. Crew guys, drivers, crew chiefs – we love what we do, but when we go somewhere and the fans love what we do almost as much as we do, it makes us really want to put on a great show for them.”
2022 NHRA New England Nationals Recap: Qualified 12th, defeated Josh Hart and his teammate, Doug Kalitta, before losing to Justin Ashley in the semifinals.
Career Stats: 315 events, 337 round wins, 17 wins, 38 final rounds, 19 No. 1 qualifiers
2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified 11th and lost to Antron Brown by two 10 thousandths of a second.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 8; defeated Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett; lost to Justin Ashley
Pomona: Qualified No. 7; defeated Tony Schumacher, lost to Brittany Force.
Las Vegas: Qualified No. 6; defeated Krista Baldwin and Clay Millican before losing to Steve Torrence and
Josh Hart in the semifinals.
Charlotte: Qualified 11th, lost to Leah Pritchett and Pat Dakin in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 6, lost to Clay Millican in the first round.
Point Standings: Langdon enters Epping in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails eighth-place Mike Salinas by 44 points and leads his teammate, 10th-place Doug Kalitta, by three points.
DOUG KALITTA, MAC TOOLS TEAM LOOK TO EXPAND ON CHICAGO PROGRESS
YPSILANTI, Mich. (May 31, 2023) – It has been a tale of two seasons all in a six-race time frame for 49-time NHRA winner Doug Kalitta, but with some signs that things are looking up, the veteran Top Fuel driver is once again stalking elusive win No. 50 in New Hampshire this weekend. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season resumes June 2-4, 2023 with the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
Kalitta started the season with a bang taking the Mac Tools Toyota team to the semifinals at the opening race, winning the inaugural Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge and taking the No. 1 qualifier in Phoenix. It appeared the team was on its way to getting the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer his 50th win, but then Kalitta reeled off three-straight first-round losses. After a successful test session prior to Chicago, the team showed flashes of its early-season brilliance with a No. 3 qualifier followed by its first round win since March. The team stumbled in the second round, but progress was made.
“We all know what we need to do, and we know how to do it,” Kalitta said. “We had a good test session before Chicago and made some progress in that race. Our job now is to build on that progress and put this Mac Tools team in position to win rounds and races. I know my guys are doing everything they can to get us back to where we were earlier in the season, and we all just have to be patient. Most things don’t get fixed overnight so we need to stay focused and know we’re all in this together. We’ll get there.”
Kalitta raced to a runner-up finish at the 2014 installment of the New England Nationals. The No. 2 qualifier took out Terry McMillen, Khalid AlBalooshi and Richie Crampton before dropping a close final round to Tony Schumacher. Three years later Kalitta set the track speed record that still stands today with a monster 331.69 mph pass in his Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster.
Winning No. 50 won’t be the only focus this weekend. Eddie’s Lobsterfest is a New England staple for Team Kalitta. After Scott Kalitta passed away in a 2008 racing incident 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.
2022 NHRA New England Nationals Recap: Qualified fourth, defeated Cameron Ferre before losing to his teammate, Shawn Langdon, in the quarterfinals.
Career Stats: 572 events, 742 round wins, 49 wins, 107 final rounds, 52 No. 1 qualifiers
2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gatornationals: Qualified third; defeated Spencer Massey, Antron Brown; lost to Steve Torrence
Phoenix: Qualified No. 1; defeated Rob Passey, lost to Shawn Langdon.
Pomona: Qualified 11th and lost to Antron Brown in the first round.
Las Vegas: Qualified 10th; lost to Steve Torrence and Josh Hart in the first round.
Charlotte: Qualified No. 6; lost to Leah Pritchett and Pat Dakin in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 3; defeated Kyle Wurtzel, lost to Clay Millican.
Current Point Standings: Kalitta enters Epping in 10th place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails his teammate, ninth-place Shawn Langdon, by 3 points and leads today’s race winner, 11th place Clay Millican, by 20 points.
J.R. TODD, DHL FUNNY CAR LOOK FOR MAIDEN EPPING WIN
YPSILANTI, Mich. (May 31, 2023) – J.R. Todd is a past champion in NHRA Funny Car racing. He’s won a lot of races on many different tracks, but one that’s eluded him is New England Dragway. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
After a solid season start, Todd and his DHL Toyota team backed up a bit in performance, but a test session prior to the last race near Chicago was helpful. The team posted its best qualifying effort of the season one race ago when it was third quickest. The race-day results did not follow, but still, the improved qualifying effort was a point of light in what has been a rather dark period of the season.
Todd enters the NHRA New England Nationals in 10th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings a far cry from his early-season standing following a runner-up finish at the season’s first race. The team continues to do all it can to find its way back to that early-season performance.
“We didn’t get to this point overnight, and there’s no way we’re going to fix everything with one test session,” Todd said. “We made progress in testing, and we made a little more progress during the race in Chicago. That’s great, but it’s a process; nobody is satisfied with where we are. I’m really fortunate to have some of the hardest-working guys in the sport working on our DHL Toyota team, and I promise you, we’ll keep thrashing until we get where we need to be. I’ve never won at Epping, and it would be great to take care of that this weekend in front of the huge crowds they get there and get our season back on track.”
Race Information:
NHRA New England Nationals
TV Schedule:
- Qualifying 1: 7:30-9 p.m. p.m. Friday, June 2 on FS1
- Qualifying 2: 9-10 p.m. Saturday June 3 on FS1
- Finals 1: Noon-2 p.m. Sunday, June 4 on FS1
- Finals 2: 7-9 p.m. Sunday, June 4 on FS2
2022 NHRA New England Nationals Recap: Qualified 10th; defeated Blake Alexander and Cruz Pedregon before losing to Matt Hagan in the semifinals.
Career Stats: 281 events, 307 round wins, 19 wins, 42 final rounds, 14 No. 1 qualifiers
2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:
Gainesville: Qualified No. 6; defeated Blake Alexander, Robert Hight, Chad Green; lost to Matt Hagan in final.
Phoenix: Qualified 15th and lost to Alexis DeJoria in the first round.
Pomona: Qualified No. 5 and lost to Alex Laughlin in the first round.
Las Vegas: Did not qualify.
Charlotte: Qualified No. 6; lost to Robert Hight and Mike McIntire in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 3; lost to Bob Tasca in the first round.
Current Point Standings: Todd enters Epping in 10th place in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails ninth-place Cruz Pedregon by 69 points and leads 11th place Blake Alexander by six points.