Kalitta Earns No. 1 Qualifying Position At Seattle
![Doug Kalitta storms to the top of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel qualifying in Seattle. (Photo courtesy of NHRA)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/OKH8f86ORHbY4zTSyNMT4H5z-Pg=/810x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2010/07/11/117_DougKalitta_Seattle.jpg)
Doug Kalitta earned his first No. 1 qualifying position on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series since 2006. The run came near the end of final round qualifying in the Northwest Nationals being held in Seattle, Wash.
Courtesy: NHRA Media Relations
KENT,
The other No. 1 qualifiers at the 14th of 23 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock).
On a cooler day Saturday, many expected change at the top of the qualifying ladder but only Edwards emerged from the pack –Kalitta (3.844, 313.58) and Hight (4.194, 291.57) set the pace in each of their respective classes in the Friday night session.
“Obviously we held on today. Larry Dixon got close (a 3.896 in the third qualifying session). I’m real proud of my guys. It’s nice to get some performance out of (the Kalitta Air dragster) and our first low qualifier in awhile,” Kalitta said.
The No. 1 was Kalitta’s first pole since November, 2006, and it was the 29th of his career.
“(Team owner) Connie (Kalitta), obviously he’s happy, and the whole team is happy. It’s been awhile. Hopefully this will be the beginning of something good for us,” he said.
He will have a bye in the first round tomorrow and when reminded of the incident in
Kalitta also secured a berth in the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs along with fellow Top Fuel driver Antron Brown.
In Funny Car, Hight’s No. 1 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang was his sixth this season and the 38th of his young career, leaving him just six shy of Top 10 status on the all-time No. 1 qualifiers list after less than six full years of racing.
“The top 10 cars are so bunched up, anyone can win this deal,” Hight said. “It’s a big deal being No. 1 for points, but it really means nothing. No matter (where you qualify) in Funny Car, you’ve got a tough race.”
Hight opens with Jeff Diehl in Round 1 Sunday and he was quick to remember a 4.22 Diehl ran in hot conditions in
“He does that again tomorrow and we take him lightly and he’s going to put us on the trailer,” Hight said.
Also in Funny Car, points leader John Force clinched his berth in the Countdown to 1.
In Pro Stock, defending Full Throttle Series champion Mike Edwards (6.598, 209.75) bounced back from his first-round loss at the Summit NHRA Nationals June 27 to earn his NHRA-best 10th No. 1 qualifier of 2010.
“(On Friday), we stepped outside the box and tried a few things, and didn’t like what we seen (so) we went back (Saturday) morning and kind of ran the thing the way we ran it here last year,” said the driver of the Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP. “I really thought it was going to work out (Friday) … and it didn’t”
Final Eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. and live coverage of the event will be streamed on ESPN3.com.