Doug Kalitta Wins for the Third Time in 2024 at Virginia

Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon competing at Virginia Motorsports Park in North Dinwiddie, VA (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)

NORTH DINWIDDIE, Va. — The Top Fuel dragsters started off final eliminations with a bang during the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Finals Round 1

Josh Hart and Dan Mercier were the first two to go down the track together. Although Mericer had the better elapsed time, Hart won on a hole shot due to his better speed and reaction time.

Antron Brown and Billy Torrence were up next. Torrence ended up spinning his tires and slipped, fading and handing the win to Brown, even though he started off the line quicker.

Number one qualifier, Shawn Langdon, met his dancing partner, Lex Joon, after that. Langdon had the better run overall and continued his streak of going number one by advancing to the next round.

Doug Kalitta had a solo round after that, where he clocked a reaction time of .081, and elapsed time of 3.940 seconds and a final speed of 318.84.

Next, Clay Millican and Tony Stewart were up. Stewart was the victor of the round with the higher elapsed time and final speed. Stewart also managed to get the lowest elapsed time of the round thus far.

Shawn Reed and Tony Schumacher went head-to-head after. Reed started quicker than Schumacher, but Reeds’ tires hazed over, causing him to slow down pretty noticeably. Schumacher lost himself a cylinder as well, but managed to hold it together enough to get the round win and advance on.

The next round was an all-female lineup with Brittany Force and Jasmine Salinas. They were side-by-side for a little bit, but Salinas’s engine backfired and this caused her to not meet the speeds required to beat Ms. Force.

And last but not least, the final matchup of the first round of eliminations was between Justin Ashley and Steve Torrence. Ashley had a cylinder misfire, and this caused him to not have enough horsepower to compete with Torrence. But Torrence was not in the clear either because his engine expired almost as soon as he ejected his parachutes. Torrence was able to make it ahead of Ashley though to advance to the next round.

Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta competing in the final round at Virginia Motorsports Park in North Dinwiddie, VA (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)

Finals Round 2

Kalitta and Hart were up first to kick off the second out of final eliminations for the Top Fuel dragsters. Although Hart fired quicker off the line, Kalitta took home the win by having a better elapsed time and final speed that got him to the semifinals.

Next up were Brown and Schumacher. Again, Schumacher was quicker on the start, but Brown reigned supreme by claiming the better of the elapsed time and final speed to advance to the next round.

After that were Langdon and Torrence. Torrence had the better elapsed time and final speed in the extremely close race between him and Langdon, but Langdon had the better reaction time, and that earned him the win and an advancement to the semifinals.

Finally, the last two drivers out to conclude the second round of final eliminations were none other than Force and Stewart. In another close race, Stewart managed to edge out Force by getting to the finish line quicker. Force did have the quicker reaction time and final speed, though.

Semifinals

The first of two matches was between Brown and Langdon. In an insanely close race, Langdon managed to hit all three marks ahead of the veteran champion to advance to the final round.

The next match between Stewart and Kalitta resulted in creating an all Kalitta Motorsports final round. Stewart fired quicker than Kalitta, but he lost a cylinder and had to pedal his car to the finish line, handing the win to Kalitta.

FINAL ROUND

In an all Kalitta Motorsports match-up, Langdon and Kalitta faced off against each other in an intense battle. Langdon mashed his gas pedal faster than Kalitta, but ended up smoking his tires while Kalitta was perfectly fine. For the third time in the 2024 season, Kalitta earned himself a Wally.

“We’ve definitely all worked very hard and we’re very proud of what Connie [Kalitta]’s put together for us,” said Kalitta about his win, weekend and team. “It was just a great weekend for all of us.”