At Long Last A Top Fuel World Champion

Doug Kalitta, the nephew of drag racing icon Conrad “Connie” Kalitta, began his professional racing career as a USAC open-wheel competitor in 1991, earning that year’s midget-series Rookie of the Year honors. Just three seasons later, he became a USAC national sprint car champion. In 1998, he followed in his famous uncle’s and cousin Scott’s footsteps and went NHRA Top Fuel racing. His success was immediate, but the championships proved elusive.

Kalitta was runner-up for the Top Fuel title in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2016, 2019, and 2020, often losing out in heartbreaking fashion to last-minute heroics from his championship challengers. But in a heavy helping of irony, it was crew chief Alan Johnson, the man who saddled Doug with inarguably his lowest moment, that delivered his finest 17 long years later.

Doug’s run to his first NHRA Top Fuel world championship, one of the most popular in the sport’s history, mirrors in ways Tony Schumacher’s crushing defeat of him in 2006. That year, Schumacher and his Johnson-led dragster trailed the leader by more than 300 points at one time, and took the championship all the way to the final run of the season to claim the title. This season, Kalitta entered the Countdown to the Championship sixth in the standings, but had breakout performances when he needed them most, propelling himself into the points lead and racing all the way to a historic winner-take-all final round at In ‘N Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip on Sunday evening to finally seal the deal.

Kalitta Motorsports brought the decorated crew chief Johnson aboard at the beginning of the 2022 season, but Kalitta went winless on the year. The pair was mired in the bottom half of the top 10 in the standings through 13 races in the regular season, but came alive in the Countdown, as Kalitta won back-to-back races at Reading and Charlotte to take the points lead — a lead he relegated at Dallas and didn’t reclaim until the final run at the In-N-Out Burger Finals.

In an incredible final round with shades of Gary Ormsby’s and Joe Amato’s iconic winner-take-all final round at the 1990 Winston Finals, Kalitta left first and powered away from Leah Pruett, 3.67 to a 3.72, bringing racing fans who have followed his career for 26 seasons to their feet in celebration. Twenty six years of disappointment; 26 seasons of reporters asking “is this the year?” all came down to one run.

“It’s incredible the way the…