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NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship Race One of Six U.S. 131 Motorsports Park; Martin, Mich. Post-Event Wrap-Up
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 4 qualifier at the NHRA Great Lakes Nationals. During the second round of qualifying Friday afternoon, Langdon reached the finish line in 3.698 seconds at 339.37 mph. It was Langdon's sixth-consecutive top four qualifying effort. Eliminations: Langdon and the Kalitta Air Careers team had a spectacular day recording the lowest elapsed time of the season and the fastest speed in NHRA history. Langdon defeated Maddi Gordon, Will Smith, his teammate, Doug Kalitta, and Spencer Massey on the way to his fifth win of the season and the 28th of his career. In the first round, Langdon's 3.652-second pass at 344.04 mph was the quickest elapsed time of the season, but the 2013 Top Fuel champion and Crew Chief Brian Husen, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., were just getting warmed up. They defeated Smith with a 3.686-second effort at 342.73 mph in the second round, but the biggest fireworks came in the semifinal matchup with Kalitta. Langon posted a 3.663-second elapsed time at 346.95 mph to shatter the 345 mph speed record he set in Valdosta, Ga., in May. The Kalitta Air Careers team put the exclamation point on the weekend reaching the finish line at 346.15 mph in the win over Massey in the final round. With elapsed times of 3.652, 3.686, 3.663 and 3.664 seconds along with speeds of 344.04, 342.73, 346.95 and 346.15 MPH, one drag racing insider called Langdon's day, "the best sustained performance in the history of Top Fuel." Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Michigan in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads Kalitta by 11 points following the first of six Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs races. Langdon on Michigan: "It just goes to show it takes everything. You go to a facility like US 131 that takes a lot of pride in their facility; it's beautiful. The concrete is awesome, straight, flat, and then you get some good conditions, and really anything's possible. My guys have been doing such a great job, and I've talked over and over about how good my team has been all year long; they just continue to give me a great race car. They put it together perfectly, and then Brian (Husen) makes perfect calls, last-minute adjustments, and he races smart. We knew the track was so good, but the problem was being able to get wheel speed. You just had to get everything in sync, but to be able to do that for four runs today, is awesome. I'm proud of the guys to come off the Indy win and get another one here. "I'm very happy for Brian to win as a crew chief at his home track so there's just a lot of good things going on, good vibes. This race was a big one for Kalitta Air. We had a lot of people out this weekend from Kalitta Air, Applied Innovation, Fifth Third, Gerber and PJH. Obviously, the rain kind of hindered a little bit of that, but Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) was able to come out this weekend and see some runs. To be able to see a smile on his face is the end goal. All in all, A plus weekend. "Brian was talking all day about the track being good enough to set a record. We were able to do it on the speed. We were just trying to race situations and trying to race smart, not beat ourselves, because there's always that little bit of a 50/50 shot if you really go for it. Brian raced what he felt was comfortable and gave me a great race car; I just tried not to do anything to mess that up."
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Great Lakes Nationals; it was his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 71st of his career. Kalitta was the top qualifier after Friday but made his best qualifying attempt during Saturday's rain-delayed third qualifying round. The Applied Innovation Top Fuel dragster reached the finish line in 3.660 seconds at 338.86 mph, and Kalitta held on through the final session late Saturday afternoon. Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Kyle Satenstein and Billy Torrence to reach a semifinal showdown with his teammate, Shawn Langdon. In the semifinals, Kalitta was off the starting line first, but the Applied Innovation dragster smoked the tires, and Langdon cruised to the win with a 3.663 second run at 346.95 mph, the fastest run in NHRA history. Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves Michigan in second place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails Langdon by 11 points and leads third-place Tony Stewart by 68 points. Kalitta on Michigan: "It was great to see that we had so many people come out today. The Monday Nationals actually had people! The track is incredible here. Really incredible conditions. I don't know what happened in the third round, but we were definitely gonna give Shawn and his team a run for their money. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be for us in the Applied Innovation car this weekend; we really wanted to get them a win in their hometown. Obviously, always cheering for the Kalitta cars so we're all real proud of what Shawn and that Kalitta Air team did today. He got a little ahead of us in points coming out of here so we will just have to hunt him down in Rockingham."
Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 5 qualifier at the NHRA Great Lakes Nationals. His best qualifying attempt was during the first qualifying attempt Friday afternoon. Todd made a 3.893-second run at 334.57 mph and followed with a nearly identical time and slightly faster speed in the second round. Eliminations: Todd defeated Dave Richards and Terry Haddock setting up a semifinal matchup with Jordan Vandergriff. The DHL GR Supra team was up for the challenge, and Todd's 3.899 second run at 336.83 was his best of the day, but Vandergriff's 3.896-second effort was good enough to get the win by .0359 seconds. Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Michigan in fifth place in in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails fourth-place Ron Capps by six points and leads sixth-place Austin Prock by 40 points. Todd on Michigan: "It was good to get to the semifinals here in Michigan, especially with this being our team's home state. The fans really showed out, especially for a Monday, and we definitely appreciate everyone who stuck around. We made a strong run in the semis and just came up a little short. All in all, not a bad way to start the Countdown for this DHL team. We'll take the positives from this weekend and get ready to be back in the car in just a few days." Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action Sept. 25-27, 2026, at the NHRA Nationals at The Rock in Rockingham, N.C. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
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