Kalitta’s last  win was at the NHRA race at  Richmond, VA., in the fall of 2007.  Here at Pomona he was the number eleven qualifier at 4.016 seconds in the 16-car field, defeating Urs Erbacher, Cory McClenathan and Morgan Lucas en route to the 56th final round of his career. In the final, Kalitta defeated number one qualifier Antron Brown in a side-by-side lap, 3.822 elapsed time at 308.57 mph to 3.847 elapsed time at 307.16 mph for Brown after five days of lousy, rainy weather at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Connie and Doug Kalitta 
(photo courtesy NHRA)

“This is a tremendous win for me and the whole team,” Kalitta, a 44-year-old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “I’ve always wanted to win here in Pomona, more so than a lot of other tracks. Pomona is a legendary and historic track, and it means so much to me that now me, Connie and Scott have all won the Winternationals.”

Connie Kalitta took home a Winternationals Top Fuel trophy back in 1967, while his late son Scott got his Winternationals Wally in 2005 when he also won the event in the Top Fuel class. Ironically, the cockpit section of Doug’s winning rail today is the same cockpit section of the racecar chassis that Scott drove to his win in Pomona four years ago.

The Kalitta dragster will compete without a primary sponsor to start the season, but it is decorated with large, special-edition “50 years of Connie Kalitta” decals near the cockpit on each side of the car.

In Funny Car, number thirteen qualifier Ron Capps defeated John Force in the first round on Sunday. Two days later after the rain delay, he disposed of Bob Tasca III with a 4.088/304.80, Robert Hight with a sizzling 4.054/305.56, the quickest of Funny Car eliminations, and finally Jim Head in the money round with a solid 4.154/296.96. Head’s Toyota Solara lost traction at the start of the race. It was Capps' 26th career victory and second Winternationals win.