Doug Kalitta, mashing on the throttle of his Mac Tools Dragster as smartly as he could on the 116-degree  Royal Purple Raceway track, watched Tony Schumacher and that U.S. Army Dragster speed ahead of him Sunday afternoon.

It was something he was starting to get accustomed to.

On this 1,000-foot course at Baytown, Texas, in the final round of the NHRA’s O’Reilly SpringNationals, Kalitta said to himself, “Well, I’m going to get beat here.” Schumacher simply has had his number lately. And Kalitta figured this would turn out like their previous final-round meeting in February at Phoenix.

“He was out ahead of me. I don’t know what he was running over there in that left lane. But whatever happened, we got by him,” Kalitta said, elated that his 3.820-second elapsed time at 324.98 mph meant he finally had solved the Schumacher riddle.

“It wasn’t until the end that we got him. But Tony is a tough competitor, and certainly here lately we’ve had a tough time getting around him. Hopefully this is a [sign] of things to come,” Kalitta said following his 36th triumph that pushed him past drag-racing legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits for fifth on the NHRA’s all-time Top Fuel victories list.

Schumacher, who moved into the points lead despite the runner-up finish, put up a 4.014-second, 225.60-mph fight with an engine that blew up about halfway down the course. (“We went after it in the final and just pushed it past the point of no return,” Schumacher said.)

Kalitta’s happy surprise improved him from seventh place to fifth in the standings as the ultra-competitive Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads east to Atlanta Dragway in two weeks for the May 15-17 Summit Southern Nationals.

The veteran Top Fuel contender, who’s chasing his first drag-racing series crown to match his USAC national sprint-car championship, became the sixth different winner in as many races this season. This is the first time that has been the case since 1992.

Already five different winners to start a race hadn’t happened since 2000. And that wasn’t lost on Kalitta, who stood on the podium with two-time 2015 winners Ron Capps (Funny Car) and overwhelming hometown favorite Erica Enders-Stevens (Pro Stock) as she earned her second straight victory here.

“Anytime you can get past all these guys and get the win, it’s pretty special,” Kalitta said. “You’ve got to work a little extra hard on Sunday. It’s a very competitive class. Funny Car’s the same way. Pro Stock’s the same way. You’re just going to have to deal with it and try to keep rising to the top.”

He said winning always is gratifying, “especially here at Houston. It was a challenge for all the crew chiefs with the heat. The track is good here. It’s amazing – with good cloud cover here, there’s plenty of traction. So hats off to the effort that went into making this place what it was: nice, even lanes,” he said.

“It was great racing for the fans, and they had plenty of ‘em here today. They’re probably used to this heat. In Michigan, we’re still hoping that the heat is moving that way, but it hasn’t quite yet,” the Ann Arbor, Mich., airline owner said.

Kalitta had to defeat Spring, Texas, racer Troy Buff, Larry Dixon, and Don Schumacher Racing’s top-qualified driver, Spencer Massey, before renewing his rivalry with Tony Schumacher.

“It was a great race,” Kalitta said. “You get by the Schumacher cars, you’re having a good day. I’m real proud of everybody on my team.”

This is his first victory since the August 2014 Seattle event.

“I’ve had a couple of dry spells. You never know when you’re going to have another opportunity to win one of these,” he said. “You have to appreciate the opportunity and certainly appreciate these wins when you get them.

“We’ve struggled. We went to the final in Phoenix, but we certainly aren’t having the year we started out with,” Kalitta said, referring to the 2014 season. He led virtually the entire “regular season,” only to see his charge collapse and slide him down to fifth place by year’s end.

“The way I’m looking at it is as long as we’re strong at those last six races  . . .  I have to admit we kind of struggle on those last six races. I was actually OK with starting off just the way we did. We’ll gain momentum and we just want to be in those top 10 and be in the Traxxas Shootout. We accomplished that today [with the victory giving him an automatic berth in the September bonus race]. And be there for the end. That’s what it’s about for all of our teams.

“We’re all just trying as hard as we can every round, qualifying, and let it fall where it is. The competition is real tough out here, so you’ve just got to hope that you’re there at the end,” he said. Then with a laugh, he said, “As much as I’d like to be smart enough to have a real good strategy, I’m not sure I can convince you guys with that one.”

He said he’s “just trying to get to the final again and get a chance to win. It was a great day for us. You just take it round by round, but my confidence was high. My guys, they’re always real hungry. They just work their butts off on my car. Just real lucky to have them. They give me a good car every time I go up there [to the starting line]. My team ended up changing a couple of motors. [Crew chiefs] Jim Oberhofer and Troy [Fasching] made good calls on that thing.

“It was running strong,” he said. “We smoked [the tires] in the second round. In the final, I’m not sure exactly what was going on there.  I was just looking for the win light. Anything other than the win light I have a hard time remembering.”

Kalitta extended his qualifying streak to 100 races here this weekend and will be shooting for his 400th appearance at Atlanta. But will be become the Top Fuel class’ first repeat winner?

“You never can tell. We like Atlanta. That’s where [series sponsor Coca-Cola’s] Mello Yello brand is. It’d be a great place to do it,” Kalitta said.

He said he credits team owner and uncle Connie Kalitta for his success in drag racing.

“He has supported me with drag racing, and it’s been an incredible opportunity, and it’s been great to have him as a mentor out here,” Doug Kalitta said.” So all of these statistics . . . I have to give Connie the credit. I’m hungry. I’m out here trying to win these things. But I mean, he has been the financial support of all of our teams. We’re fortunate to have great sponsors – Mac Tools, DHL, Red Line Oil, and JR’s car, Tequila Patron – [and]  Summit, Traxxas, and O’Reilly.”

He said he particularly likes the races sponsored by this weekend’s event sponsor.

“In the past I’ve had good luck in those [O’Reilly-sponsored races]. Sometimes you’ve got to take all the luck you can get,” Kalitta said.

Schumacher said Kalitta’s victory didn’t surprise him at all.

“We knew Doug and his team were going to be tough, and there’s no shame in coming up short against those guys,” Schumacher said.

“I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible team led by [crew chief] Mike Green. Mike and I won our first race together here back in 2009, and we nearly did it again today. This U.S. Army team really makes a big difference here at the track just like the Army makes a difference in our nation. To be able to come out here and go four rounds in these changing conditions… and then add in the pressure of doing it all with quick turnarounds so that we can be on live television, I can’t thank them enough. It was a really good weekend for this U.S. Army team.”

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