POMONA, Calif. — With a celebration set and a world title all but decided, Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta heads to In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this weekend with a far different feeling than he’s ever had for the 60th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.
Years of anguish, near-misses and second-place finishes finally gave way to the elusive world championship in 2023, but even that came down to a thrilling and drama-filled winner-take-all final round against Leah Pruett.
This time around, it’s a far different feeling for Kalitta, who will clinch his second championship in three years this weekend. Once the 59-time event winner attempts a qualifying run and makes the field, the championship will be his, giving him a world title under far less stressful conditions once qualifying ends on Saturday.
It will still be a surreal moment for Kalitta, who has performed well in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster and now just needs to put the finishing touches on yet another banner year.
“It’s hard to believe that we managed to not drag it into the last round of the last race,” Kalitta said. “It feels really good. I’m definitely proud of my guys for making it all happen for sure. We just have to qualify this weekend so we can definitely manage that. It’s a huge relief. It means a lot to Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta), me and everybody at Kalitta Motorsports, and we’re very grateful.
“It’s gratifying – I always hoped I’d be able to tie my cousin (Scott Kalitta) with the number of championships he has, and there’s plenty of people who have won this twice. To be one of the guys that’s won it twice with Alan (Johnson) as the crew chief is really special for sure – that’s pretty cool.”
Last season, Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) won the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals while Brown, Austin Prock (Funny Car), Anderson and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) each secured world titles.
It’s the sixth race of the playoffs and the 20th race of the season and Kalitta still has plans to end the season in style.
A 60th career win at the 60th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals would certainly be meaningful and special, closing out the year with a victory at the World Finals. It would give Kalitta five wins this season, and three in the playoffs, but a close second would be ensuring teammate Shawn Langdon finishes second in points.
He enters the weekend 19 points ahead of Justin Ashley for the second spot, with Brittany Force 58 points (or two rounds) back at the points-and-a-half race. It’s the final race for the record-breaking Force, who won the most recent race in Las Vegas and is retiring from full-time racing after competing this weekend at her home track.
Others to watch this weekend include Tony Stewart, Clay Millican, who won the spring race in Pomona, Shawn Reed and Brown. For Kalitta Motorsports, combining for eight wins and the top two spots in the standings would mark a job very well done in 2025.
“That would be the icing on the cake, for sure,” Kalitta said of winning in Pomona for the eighth time in his career. “Shawn’s car is plenty capable of outrunning those guys, and he’s obviously trying to secure second. We’re hopeful he can pull it off, but we want to win this race, too. He’ll hopefully have to go through us to get the win and I love running at Pomona. I’ve had great success there, and the pressure will be off. The only other thing to do is go out there and win this thing.”
In Funny Car, Prock enters the weekend with a 101-point lead over Vegas winner Matt Hagan. Prock is looking to sew up his second straight world championship.
Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn won in Vegas, extending his lead to a commanding 92 points over teammate and reigning world champ Anderson. Glenn is after his first world title.
Pro Stock Motorcycle teammates Richard Gadson and Gaige Herrera are separated by only 21 points, as points leader Gadson attempts to close out his first championship.
