KALITTA KAYOS KING KONG IN TOP FUEL FINAL, MAKES HISTORY FOR HIMSELF

Written by Susan Wade, photos by Burghardt Photography    Tue, 2019-02-12 07:00





Steve Torrence is beatable.

Steve Torrence is human.

Steve Torrence’s magic-carpet ride is over. Perhaps it’ll just get steam-cleaned so it can soar again. But for now, it’s grounded.

Doug Kalitta is the boss – just like he was on this exact date one year ago.

Doug Kalitta is making history of his own, becoming the first driver in 16 years (since Larry Dixon in 2002-2003) to earn back-to-back victories in Top Fuel here at the NHRA season-opening Winternationals.

Doug Kalitta is reminding everyone with his 45th career victory and third at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif., that he’s ready to ditch his label as four-time series runner-up with no crown.

He said, “Growing up, I remember coming out here years ago when Connie [team owner uncle Connie Kalitta] was driving. I always thought this was the coolest place going – and I still do. So to win back-to-back Winternationals is really something special. To have success here is more than you can imagine for me.”

In taking out surging drivers Scott Palmer and Terry McMillen, along with the top two qualifiers (son and dad Steve and Billy Torrence), Kalitta is flexing his muscles against all takers. His Mac Tools Dragster wasn’t going to be second at Pomona like it was in five other finals (2004, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2017). He was going to make this fifth final-round appearance in six visits to Southern California worth his trip across the country from Ann Arbor, Mich.

But for all he achieved in his 490th race, including three holeshot victories, Kalitta wasn’t bragging. He spoke as though he just had turned in the nice, tidy performance that gave him the No. 7 qualifying position.

"It was really nice just to go rounds today. In the Countdown to end last year, all we were getting is one or two rounds, so to start going rounds today really helped the team’s morale. It was just a battle all day. It worked out well, and we got the win," he said.

He didn’t speak of giant-killing. He actually behaved as though he were lucky to win and share the winners circle with Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock). And the final round indeed was a close one, with Kalitta having the edge by about only seven feet, or .0192 of a second.

“My car started smoking out there, and I thought for sure that Steve was going to drive away. But we hung in there, and the win light came on for our Mac Tools / Toyota Dragster. Steve and that Capco team are really good. We were real fortunate to get by them, and we’ll just keep at it. I’m really proud of all the guys working on my car. Our guys have been very meticulous during the off-season. Everyone has been very positive and have been working together really well. Everyone on the team wants to win and we were really hungry for this one. It was definitely a good day for us."

He was determined to make it the perfect day. That meant he had no intention of backing off the throttle.

“There was no lifting. I could see the finish line, so we just held onto it down there [at the top end]. It was either let it blow or get the win. There was nothing to gain by lifting,” Kalitta said.   

“I was just expecting him to go by when we started smoking [the tires], but fortunately for us, he was having some type of problem over there. He’s had a heck of a streak and there’s no better place to get by him at than the Winternationals.”

As for being master of the holeshot this weekend, he sloughed off any self-congratulations: "It was just one of those things. You just keep your head down and hit that light. It’s part of the deal.”

His victory ended Torrence’s streak of consecutive round-wins at 27. Kalitta denied Torrence the distinction of equaling Tony Schumacher’s record seven straight tour victories.

In the previous 50 races, Torrence had won more often than any other four drivers combined.  In those 50 starts, he had 20 victories, 14 more than Leah Pritchett and 15 more than the two drivers who immediately preceded him as champion, Brittany Force and Antron Brown.  Moreover, he won 12 straight final rounds and last week set the bar for this season with a 3.689-second run at 328.78 mph during a short appearance preseason test at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, near Phoenix.

"Just to get that win gives us great momentum heading into the year," Kalitta said.

His next test will come in two weeks at the Arizona Nationals at the Chandler, Ariz., where he put nine runs on his dragster and loaned it to Kalitta Motorsports teammate Richie Crampton for another three shakedown passes.

"The track was good there and I’m sure it will be good going back and my guys will be pretty enthused to get back there with some momentum and we’ll just try to keep it going," Kalitta said. 

 

 
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