In the quarterfinals, Kalitta and Tony Schumacher gave the huge crowd at Bandimere Speedway one of the best side-by-side races of the season. When the two drivers and their machines crossed the 1,000-ft. finish line with identical speeds, the margin of victory for Kalitta was a mere .007 seconds - 4.003 sec., 303.57 mph to 4.005 sec.

Kalitta then matched up with Cory McClenathan in the semifinals. McClenathan “two-stepped” the start of the race and that led to mechanical problems for his dragster later down track. Kalitta got the win light with his best lap of eliminations, 3.997/303.16 to 4.279/259.51.

After an hour-long plus rain delay, Kalitta and his opponent Antron Brown lined up to race in the final round. Kalitta’s No. 50 dragster went into severe tire shake soon after the start. The extra stress on the dragster’s nitro-fueled motor caused the burst panels in the manifold to pop. Kalitta’s engine went silent and Brown was able to get the win, 3.944 sec., 295.21 mph to 11.363 sec., 43.13 mph.

“It was a terrific weekend for our No. 50 team,” Kalitta, a 12-year NHRA veteran and 44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “We have absolutely nothing to hang our heads about. We qualified the best we have all year and our dragster was very consistent all weekend. We had been struggling with our tune-up going into Denver, so now we’re really pleased to see our car back at the performance level it should be. I think we’re going to start winning a lot more rounds from here on out.”

Kalitta, now a 57-time Top Fuel finalist, has posted runner-up finishes in Denver four times in his career (1999, 2001, and 2003). He won the season-opening Winternationals event in Pomona, Calif., in February and also reached the final round this year in Bristol, Tenn. He remains in ninth place in Full Throttle championship points.

FUNNY CAR

Ron Capps scored his fifth Funny Car win in six final rounds of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. It was his 30th of his career in 60 final rounds and he is now tied with Sunday's runner-up, Ashley Force Hood, in class point standings. This was also the second time he has won from the No. 1 spot in his career.