Kalitta claims provisional no.1 qualifying spot at home track in Norwalk

NORWALK, OHIO (June 23, 2017) – Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster, took the track record and claimed the no.1 qualifying spot at Kalitta Motorsports’ home track in Norwalk, Ohio, earlier this evening. 

Kalitta was strong in both sessions of qualifying in the home race for his primary sponsor, Mac Tools. In the early session, the Kalitta recorded a 3.730 second lap, which seeded the Mac Tools Toyota in the second spot after the early Friday session.

However, the Jim Oberhofer-led team was not done. The final pair to blaze down the Norwalk track surface, Kalitta earned a new track record 3.709 second pass that put him in the top spot at the end of Friday qualifying. Kalitta is looking for his first no.1 qualifying spot of the season.

“My record was taking a beating! But I was just hopeful that we could go up there and run strong. Fortunately, Jim and the Mac Tools Toyota guys had a great tune-up for the track tonight. The Mac Tools machine got to about half track and was really pulling. I knew it was on a good run. Great night! It is great to keep our record and see if we can keep it tomorrow.”

If this holds, it would be Kalitta’s fourth no. 1 qualifier in the past five seasons in Norwalk and his third in a row at the track based less than 100 miles from Kalitta Motorsports’ home base in Ypsilanti, Mich.

The remainder of the five-car Kalitta Motorsports contingent also competed in qualifying. In Top Fuel, Troy Coughlin Jr. was 16th with Shawn Langdon in the 17th spot. Alexis DeJoria holds seventh in Funny Car and teammate J.R. Todd is 10th. 

Qualifying resumes tomorrow at 1:30pmET.