Shawn Langdon Photo Courtesy: NHRA
Doug Kalitta Adds Another Semifinal; J.R. Todd Returns to Semifinals
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series New England Nationals Presented by bproauto
New England Dragway; Epping, N.H. Post-Event Wrap-Up
Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 8:30-11:30 p.m. Monday, June 8 on FS2
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA New
England Nationals. Langdon made strong runs in three of the four
qualifying attempts, but his best effort came in the Friday night
session when he reached the finish line in 3.709 seconds at 334.98 mph
to claim his second-straight No. 1 qualifier, his fourth of the season
and the 26th of his career.
Eliminations: Langdon followed a first-round bye with a win over Clay
Millican to set up a semifinal-round matchup with his teammate, Doug
Kalitta. The reigning champion was leading the race when the engine in
the Mac Tools dragster stopped, and Langdon cruised to the win setting
up a final round against Leah Pruett, a rematch of the Phoenix final
round Langdon won.
Immediately before the Funny Car and Top Fuel final rounds, rain moved
in and delayed the race. Just as the cars were going to the staging
lanes a second time, the rain resumed, and the Funny Car and Top Fuel
finals were postponed. Langdon and Pruett will race during the second
round of qualifying Friday evening at next weekend’s NHRA Thunder Valley
Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves New Hampshire in first place
in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Doug Kalitta
by 100 points. (Langdon and Pruett both received points for a runner-up
finish. The winner of next week’s final round will receive the
additional points for the race win at that time.)
Langdon on New Hampshire: “We had a really good car. We ran well and
qualified number one. We had a little hiccup in the first round with my
reaction time, and I was pretty mad at myself. I felt like our team
rebounded very well in the second round and semifinals, and I felt
pretty good about the final. We can’t control weather, so we’ll head to
Bristol, start going through some notes and get prepared there. It’ll be
a good weekend.”
Shawn Langdon Photo Courtesy: NHRA
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 8:30-11:30 p.m. Monday, June 8 on FS2
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 4 qualifier at the NHRA New England
Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came in the early session on
Saturday when the Mac Tools dragster reached the finish line in 3.734
seconds at 335.82 mph.
Eliminations: Kalitta defeated Will Smith and Antron Brown before losing
to his teammate, Shawn Langdon, in the semifinals. Kalitta was leading
the all-Team Kalitta semifinal when the Mac Tools dragster encountered a
problem, and the engine stopped.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves New England in second place
in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails first-place Langdon by
100 points and leads third-place Leah Pruett by 119 points.
Kalitta on New England: “It’s just one of those fluke deals in the semis
against Shawn. I guess my car just didn’t want to win today. We were out
there running really well, and it shut off for some reason or another.
AJ and Mac (Crew Chief Alan Johnson and Mac Savage) have my car running
strong just like Shawn’s car over there. I just have a great team and a
great effort behind us with Mac Tools. The president of Mac Tools was
here today so it was good to beat the Matco car (Antron Brown in the
second round). We will get back after it in Bristol.”
J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 8:30-11:30 p.m. Monday, June 8 on FS2
Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 3 qualifier at the NHRA New England
Nationals. In the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon, Todd made
a 3.940-second pass at 329.91 mph to claim the No. 3 position.
Eliminations: Todd defeated Spencer Hyde and Blake Alexander before
losing to Jordan Vandergriff in the semifinals. The DHL GR Supra made
excellent runs in the first two runs but smoked the tires in the
semifinals giving Vandergriff the win.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves New England in second place in
in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He trails points leader Ron Capps
by 15 points and leads third-place Jordan Vandergriff by 14 points.
Todd on New England: “I love coming here with the package we have, and
the yella fellas made a couple of really strong runs; we just missed it
there in the semifinals. We were hoping to come out of here with a win,
but it was good to go to another semifinal – that means we’ll be racing
for some tortillas next weekend in Bristol (Mission Foods Challenge) so
we’re looking forward to that. We’ll keep working on it, and hopefully
one day soon, we’ll win one of these things.”
J.R. Todd Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action June 12-14, 2026 at the
Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn. For
additional information, please visit www.nhra.com [1]. For additional
information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com
[2].
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