Doug Kalitta clinches second NHRA Top Fuel world championship

For the second time in three years, Doug Kalitta is a world champion, as the veteran officially clinched the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world championship on Saturday at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

Kalitta locked up the title when qualifying was canceled on Saturday due to weather. It marked a far different feel than Kalitta’s first championship, which went down to a winner-take-all final round at Pomona in 2023.

This time, Kalitta’s dominance in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs ensured that a pressure-packed situation wouldn’t be necessary. He reached the final round of the first four playoff races, winning in St. Louis and Dallas to take control in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster.

That led to the championship being clinched on Saturday, as Kalitta celebrated with his team before the first round of eliminations even started.

“Yeah, this is definitely a lot easier [than 2023],” said Kalitta. “It’s always seemed to come down to the last race, last day, but we had a nice string of runs throughout the Countdown. Alan [Johnson, crew chief] and my whole team have had my car going down the track. It’s been real nice, and just not doing something stupid on the track and getting good, solid runs.

“Alan is always throwing down and always has something up his sleeve. So, I’m just really proud of him and my whole team. It’s a huge relief to be able to win the championship before the last round at the last race, and we’re all just super happy.”

Much as was the case in his 2023 championship season, Kalitta and his Alan Johnson-led Mac Tools team didn’t catch fire until midway through the regular season with back-to-back wins in Sonoma and Brainerd, and entered the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in fourth place.

After a runner-up at both Reading and Charlotte, Kalitta defeated Ida Zetterström in the final round in St. Louis and four-time world champ Steve Torrence in the final round in Dallas to cement his points lead.

A semifinal finish at the season’s penultimate event in Las Vegas gave Kalitta enough of a points lead to ensure the championship would be clinched in qualifying at Pomona.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the secret sauce is with what we’ve done here, but Alan has spent hours building these parts and he’s just got it figured out,” said Kalitta, who has four wins, seven final-round appearances and eight No. 1 qualifiers through 19 races this season.

“You also have to have guys putting that car together exactly the same each and every run to get the consistency for any of these guys to be able to tune the car, so it’s just huge.”

The championship is the sixth for team owner Connie Kalitta and Kalitta Motorsports, and its fourth in Top Fuel. Scott Kalitta won back-to-back Top Fuel crowns in 1994 and ’95 to precede his cousin Doug’s two titles. Del Worsham won Kalitta’s first Funny Car championship in 2015 and J.R. Todd won another in 2018.

Eliminations for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday. Gates open at 7:30 a.m.

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