J . R . TODD

the Las Vegas spring race in 2014 .

When Todd answered his phone to the tone of Kalitta ’ s gruff voice asking if he would fly out to Vegas to drive the nitro legend ’ s car , previously piloted by David Grubnic , he couldn ’ t have possibly imagined what would follow . He was in the middle of a hiatus after running a handful of races for Bob Vandergriff Jr ., as well as a short stint in a supercharged Pro Mod for Al-Anabi in the U . S . and Qatar , so Todd was more than willing to hop on a Sin City-bound plane to drive for the “ Bounty Hunter ”.

“ Going into that weekend , I wasn ’ t sure what to expect ,” Todd freely admitted . “ I just knew that once Connie called and asked if I would fill in , I wasn ’ t going to tell him no . When I got there he said ‘ We ’ ll see how things go and we ’ ll be talking .’ One thing led to another and I got hired , and the rest is history .”

The opportunity to work one-on-one with a crew chief , team owner , and former driver with a career as illustrious as Kalitta ’ s isn ’ t lost on Todd , who also previously drove for Bruce Litton in IHRA competition and Dexter Tuttle at the beginning of his NHRA career .

“ You hear the stories about Connie and how tough he can be , but getting to drive his personal car has been the biggest honor of my driving career by far . He ’ s been great to work with . As a driver , if I ’ m making a mistake in the car , I want someone to point it out and tell me . He ’ ll give me his two cents on how I should do things , but when he comments on how good of a job we ’ re doing , that ’ s the best kind of compliment that I could receive as a driver , coming from somebody like him .”

The duo of the young , eager Todd and the intimidating , legendary Kalitta didn ’ t take long to gel , going on to win a race in just their 12 th race together , coincidentally at Denver , the site of Todd ’ s first Top Fuel victory eight years prior . He finished a career-best

second in the 2014 points standings , then won another race in 2015 , but 2016 has proven to be the best year for Todd , Kalitta , and co-crew chief Rob Flynn . Todd finished the season fourth in points with a career-best 37 round wins and six

final rounds , including an emotional win at Sonoma .

“ I would definitely say that this has been a career-best season ,” Todd stated . “ I don ’ t have the wins or the points finish to exactly show for it , but that also just shows how competitive Top Fuel has gotten – having that many final rounds and round wins , then to finish fourth . The way we started the season , you always like to think you have a shot at the championship , but we basically started with an allnew team with all-new crew guys and brought in Rob Flynn to work alongside Connie . The season got off to a slow start for us , but once the summer kicked in we really picked up the performance . I thought we had one of the top cars on tour .”

Todd would be correct in his assessment . His hot summer season kicked off with a runner-up finish to teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round at Atlanta , losing on a holeshot in what was the closest race in NHRA Top Fuel history . The margin of victory was . 0000 , a result that Todd says , “ wore on me for a while .” The SealMaster team went to backto-back finals at Norwalk and Chicago , won the Somona race , and reached the semifinals at the U . S . Nationals .

“ Then the Countdown started and we just stumbled and really didn ’ t capitalize when we needed to . Antron [ Brown ], when he goes on a tear like that at the first half of the Countdown , it ’ s going to be hard for anyone to stop that . Going into the final few races was bittersweet for me . Once again , we had one of the better cars at the end of the Countdown and I wasn ’ t ready for the season to end by any means . I think if we could ’ ve started off the Countdown the way we finished , we definitely would ’ ve been in a lot different position going into Pomona .”

Todd finished the Countdown with runner-up finishes at the final two races of the season in Las Vegas and Pomona . A career-best 3.680 elapsed time on a hot racetrack gave him the number one qualifying position at the Auto Club NHRA Finals , where another holeshot loss to Doug Ka-

PHOTOS : GARY NASTASE