At the start of this NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, the looming questions regarding the early Top Fuel class championship seemed to be “Who can stop Antron Brown?” . . . then “Who can stop Leah Pritchett?”
 
But a rather quiet, serious, bespectacled husband and father of two from Michigan probably had another question: “Hey, what about me?!”
 
Doug Kalitta never would say that publicly. But especially after Kalitta defeated Brown in the Pomona semifinals, many who pay attention to statistics are asking, “How about Doug Kalitta?”      
 
Those people are the ones who know that the Mac Tools / Toyota Dragster driver has been in the top three in the standings after 25 consecutive races.
 
They’re the ones who know Kalitta has momentum at this weekend’s Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. With his Winternationals runner-up finish at Pomona two weeks ago, Kalitta is No. 2 in points. Equally impressive is his unprecedented performance of six 3.6-second passes. No one has recorded more than two 3.6-second elapsed times in a weekend before the 2017 Winternationals.
 
Surprisingly, several drivers clocked 3.6s last year. Antron Brown was the first to dip below 3.7 seconds in 2015, triggering a flurry of them that August at Brainerd. So the 3.6s have been attainable for the past two years. Last year, no fewer than eight Top Fuel racers last year posted at least one – Brown, Richie Crampton, Brittany Force, Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican, Tony Schumacher JR Todd, and Steve Torrence.
 
Today, according to three-time and reigning champion Brown, “the .60s are here to stay. If you want to have a car to win, you have to run in the 60s."
 
He got no argument from Kalitta.
 
“When the conditions are right, like they were in Pomona, and I think in Phoenix this weekend, too, I would have to agree with that. There’s night sessions we do throughout the year. A low-70, good-60 runs seem to be more prevalent these days,” Kalitta said.
 
Whatever the numbers were, Kalitta said he was happy with his strong beginning.
 
“It was really nice to start out with that kind of consistency,” he said.
 
“It was a hell of a team effort, really. I don’t know if you can pin it on just one thing,” he said. “You know drag racing – all those little things just add up – all the things each person does to make it right.”
 
Relatively new moves at the Kalitta Motorsports headquarters at Ypsilanti, Mich., have made a difference, he said.
 
“Last year we had just one guy who switched on my team. I think having the same guys helps. They work together, and we continue to build on what we’re doing,” Kalitta said.
 
“A couple of years ago, Jim [crew chief Oberhofer] and Connie [team owner Kalitta, Doug’s uncle] decided to make the investment in the machinery and the tooling and the people to start building and doing more of the stuff in-house. To be honest with you, too, I think that’s helping not only my program but the Funny Car program, as well. We’re just trying to keep up with the Joneses, I guess. It’s competitive out there.”
 
Kalitta said, “A lot of people are doing things in-house and maybe we were late to the program. A couple of years ago we started to do it more in-house, so it’s taken us a couple of years to get to where we’re at today. I think the overall quality of my car, the Mac Tools Toyota car, and the job that everybody’s doing . . . I certainly have to give the credit back to Jim and Troy [Fasching] and everybody that’s working over there [at the nearby shop] on a day-in, day-out basis. It’s a great team effort. We’ve been working together. I think it’s all coming together at the same time for both [the Top Fuel and Funny Car] programs. We started doing the in-house frame stuff at the same time for both the Funny Cars and the dragsters.”
 
And Kalitta’s Top Fuel legacy keeps adding layers. The 42-time winner has a list of impressive statistics. He’s fifth in victories among Top Fuel victors, third behind Tony Schumacher and Brown among active dragster drivers. He’s tied with Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Angelle Sampey for ninth among active NHRA drivers from all pro classes. With 592 round-wins, he’s posed to become the ninth driver in NHRA history to reach the 600 plateau. He has 47 No. 1 qualifying positions. Only Funny Car’s John Force has more consecutive top-10 finishes among active drivers. Force has 32 years as a top-10 driver, Kalitta 19.
 
He earned four Wallys last year, marking the most he's had since 2006.
 
That 10-year gap is motivation for him.
 
“We go to all the events thinking we’re going to come out with a win. It’s nice when you can make that happen. Getting the four wins last year was – that’s the goal: winning races and contending for the championship This year we’ll stay on the same [plan] of what we did last year,” he said, noting that if he’s going to get four victories, he’d just as soon get them in the six-race Countdown. “That would be the perfect timing.”
 
What Kalitta, like every other racer, wants most is to earn a championship. It would be his first after coming in second four times. (Cory McClenathan can sympathize. The currently inactive veteran finished second four times in seven years in the 1990s: ‘92, ’95, ’97, ’98 and has no championship.)
 
“Everybody’s got their goals, and it’s nice when you can achieve them,” Kalitta said. “We’ve been in it for a while. It is what it is. I mean, each year we do what we do and you improve on what you’re doing and all you can do is hope that you can make it happen. There are a lot of variables throughout these events. Those last four races are the best time to get those four wins. We’ll be ready for it – better than we were last year.”
 
He didn’t indicate any particular problem last fall.
 
He said, “It’s just the way the format is. The importance of each round may be a little higher. It’s an interesting format and it’s an even playing field. We’re all working through the same system. Actually, I personally think it’s fine.”
 
Kalitta neither looked forward to nor dreaded the new points-and-a-half provision in effect at the Finals in November.
 
“The whole format, it’s like when they go to Indy [with the points changes], sometimes it helps you, sometimes it hurts you. Same with the last race of the year,” he said.” Hopefully we’ll be in a position to take advantage of it. We’re working from the same sheet of music.”
 
Entries have fallen off a bit for the past couple of seasons, with Alan Johnson Racing, Morgan Lucas Racing, and Bob Vandergriff Racing parked and Don Schumacher Racing paring back.
 
“I’m not really sure how many fulltime cars there are this year, but there definitely are a handful of good-running cars. I think it’s going to be close racing all year long,” Kalitta said.

“It’s better for the sport [if the field were full at every event]. But everything that’s going on with the sport, I’m pretty positive about what the NHRA is doing and FOX and the broadcasting opportunity,” Kalitta said. “I think the sponsorship is only going to continue to get better and better. Hopefully we’re at the low [in car counts], maybe. The Funny Cars seem to keep a pretty good car count. It’s just a matter of getting the sponsorship dollars out there for some of these guys. They’re out there.”

And so are more victories and milestones that await Doug Kalitta.