Drag Racing Action Online/Elon Werner

Images Geoff Sculley and Mike Gregg

2023 NHRA Top Fuel Champ Doug Kalitta had the quickest car at Bradenton Motorsport Park taking his Applied Innovations  dragster to a 3.658 sec at 332.84 mph to lead the field after one day of qualifying at the Florida track.

“We’re hungry to try to win this race again. It was fun last year. We had Applied Innovations on our race car last year, and they’re back with us all weekend again. Crew Chief Alan (Johnson) and Mac (Savage), and all these guys working on my car they’re all hungry to do the same. We’ve been working real hard all the winter long.” 

“We finished in second last year and we battled to the end. It was all we could do. We’re hungry again, for sure, this year. This is a great opportunity with these guys and this Applied Innovations team. I’m really excited.” 

The 2023 and 2024 NHRA Top Fuel champs on a side by side Thursday night pass

“Today was good. SCAG hosted an autograph session we had a great turnout for that. There were quite a few people here tonight. For the first night of the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout I’m pretty happy. We appreciate everyone coming out on a Thursday and we expect big crowds the next two days.”

Sliding into second place in qualifying was Brittany Force in the Monster Energy Drink car with a 3.675 @ 334.15

Austin Prock reigning 2024 NHRA Funny Car champion, put the Team Force Cornwell Quality Tools ’25 Camaro in the #1 spot after two rounds of qualifying on Thursday. Prock laid down a quick 3.816 sec at 332.84 mph

Team Force makes a side by side run under the lights

“We’ve been making some really good runs here in testing the last few days and you want to make sure you’re solidified in the show on that first qualifying run. That way you can try some things tomorrow when it’s cool out in the middle of the day and then in the evening. Really proud of the team. It was definitely a hectic run. They dropped the body for the burnout, and it was completely fogged over. I needed a defrost button in the Chevrolet SS, but those don’t exist in nitro racing. My guys have the windshield a quick wipe, and it definitely helped. It got about half of it off. Staging was a little interesting. At about 150 feet out, it cleared right up. It got a little inside down at the finish line, which is uncharacteristic of me, but it was good enough for number one qualifier. I definitely had my hands full.”

“Last year, we tested for two days prior to Thursday and never once made it past the Christmas tree and Thursday morning, you know, all the stars lined up in this Cornwall Tools pit and made a full pull on five or six cylinders. I think we ended up number three on Thursday night here. So we are two spots better this year, and definitely a lot more confidence in my driving.”

“A lot of the fans that came out last year are here again. Some of them have been saying, ‘Man, last year, you’re signing Robert Hight’s hero cards. Some of are coming up and saying, “Nice to see ya champ. We called it from the get go.’ After they saw us win the Shootout, they were like, ‘That kid’s going all the way.’ So it’s been cool to meet up with the fans again, and it’s been a long three months being away from the racetrack, being away from the fans, this is definitely my happy place. I know this place is gonna be packed.”

Dallas Glenn is currently sitting in the #1 spot in Pro Stock in his Rad Torque Systems Camaro with a 6.515 sec at 210.28 mph.

A tick behind Glenn is 2024 NHRA champ Erica Enders with a 6.519 @ 210.67.

“These guys have been wearing out the dyno over there in the engine shop, and I’ve been driving all over the country, picking up trailers and testing and getting new people licensed,” Glenn said after qualifying was finished for the day. “So that feels really good. After a long week of testing, we thought we had something good. We were just kind of babying everything. We learned a few things through testing and tried to go out there and lay a great one down. I don’t know if it’ll hold up for tomorrow, but it’s going to make it tough. And I’d rather be on top, looking down than looking up.”

Glenn, far lane, and his team partner Greg Anderson during Thursday night’s qualifying    Anderson is currently third with a 6.533

“We work all winter long, and this event is the perfect opportunity to see what we worked on, see how it works against everybody else. It’s kind of like that first test for Formula One. Everybody kind of gets to see what their hard work is and what they need to make tweaks on. Pro Stock is so competitive, we want to come out swinging at every moment, because if you don’t, then you’re just going to end up with a big mountain to climb.” 

“We see some new fans here that we don’t normally see because we are a little farther south here from Gainesville, where we start the NHRA season in March. We had an autograph session earlier and I got to meet a lot of nice people. We signed some autographs and it was a lot of fun.” 

Qualifying continues on Friday with eliminations scheduled for Saturday