‘Be Like Scott’ Is Doug Kalitta’s Mindset as He Seeks Second NHRA Top Fuel Crown

• Doug Kalitta enters this year's Countdown to the Championship as the Top Fuel class’ No. 1 seed

• That seeding puts him in an excellent position to repeat his long-awaited crown and to join his late cousin Scott Kalitta as a back-to-back NHRA champion.

• Doug Kalitta has treasured an assortment of memorabilia to keep Scott Kalitta’s legacy fresh in his mind.

Reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta has signed plenty of autographs at dragstrips across the country.

But this time, he was the one asking for a signature.

The driver of the Mac Tools Toyota Dragster said a gentleman approached him at the recent Toyota U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and presented him a collectible car that featured his cousin, Scott Kalitta.

Scott Kalitta, who died in a 2008 qualifying accident at Englishtown, N.J., was the 1994 and 1995 Top Fuel champion. And Doug Kalitta said that with that gesture, “I was reminded that he won back-to-back championships.

“So at this point, I'd love to be like my cousin Scott,” he said. “So that'll be our goal. We were always very competitive with everything that we did, so I think it would be cool if we could pull it off. That's definitely the goal. I think we've got what we need to make it happen—and [I’m] looking forward to it.”

Doug Kalitta said the gift-bearer was a fan of the sport. “I actually had the guy [autograph the car]. I was like, ‘Sign this thing for me.’ I was getting the autograph that time, but I thought it was cool. So I got him to sign the thing. And, like anybody's signature, you can't read it.”

The ultimate signature Kalitta wants is the one on another champion’s check in November. And as the Top Fuel class’ No. 1 seed heading into the Countdown to the Championship, he’s in an excellent position to repeat his long-awaited crown.

“So definitely,” Kalitta said, this pursuit of a championship has a different vibe than last season’s did. In 2023, he was trying—and succeeding—in tossing off the NHRA-record label of winningest driver without a championship. (He bequeathed that title to 40-time Pro Stock winner Kurt Johnson, who’s inactive.)

The six-race playoff series that winds from Charlotte to St. Louis to Dallas, then on farther west to as Vegas and Pomona, Caif., will begin this weekend with the Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, near Reading, Pa.

However, Kalitta—tied with Steve Torrence for fourth on the all-time Top Fuel victories list with 55—said he really couldn’t say what he found to be key to overcoming six runner-up finishes.

“I wish I had a real clear road map,” said Kalitta, who is also out to regain momentum after failing to qualify for the elimination rounds at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indinapolis the last time out. “It's really the performance of your car and the consistency of being able to go rounds.

"The one thing for sure is there's a lot of good-running cars right now, so there's going to be a lot of close races. I'm just glad I'm going to battle with Alan Johnson and Mac and Mac Savage and my whole Mac Tools team there. We're all real hungry to try to make it happen. So I think the main thing is just have fun and just try to make the best of every round is kind of the mindset I'm going to have.”

For the past 16 years, Doug Kalitta has treasured an assortment of memorabilia to keep Scott Kalitta’s legacy fresh in his mind. And that car he received Labor Day weekend at Indianapolis is the newest addition.

“I took it and put it with my little collection of stuff that I have with him,” he said.

Now maybe he can match his cousin with a second straight championship.