KALITTA ( LEFT LANE ) AND MILLICAN LEFT THE STARTING LINE TOGETHER IN THE FINAL ROUND , BUT KALITTA AND HIS ALAN JOHNSON HORSEPOWER SOON PULLED AHEAD FOR THE WIN .
Millican defeated Kalitta ’ s teammate , Shawn Langdon , in the first round and eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher in the semifinals to set up a final round between the two quickest cars on the property .
Kalitta was off the line first with an . 070 reaction time to Millican ’ s . 079 . The two stayed together for the first half of the 1,000-foot course , but Millican started to haze the tires and finished with a 4.22 at 196.39 . Kalitta improved slightly on his semifinal numbers with a 3.706 at 325.14 to secure the $ 250,000 big check for his uncle and team owner , Connie Kalitta .
“ Just making the eight-car show was tough ,” Kalitta said in the winner ’ s circle . “ Clay ’ s car was running really good . Last night , he edged us out of the top spot , so I knew going up there it was going to be a tough race . Fortunately , we pulled off the win . He ’ s a hungry guy , and Jim O [ Oberhofer , Millican ’ s co-crew chief who formerly tuned Kalitta ] and all those guys over there , they put a nice program together , so it ’ s always good to get ahead of them .”
The significance of winning the PRO Superstar Shootout after winning his first NHRA world championship was not lost on Kalitta , who also realized the event was a big-picture win for professional drag racing .
“ The first thing that I really thought of when we won this thing was how proud Don Schumacher would be of the PRO group for putting this together ,” Kalitta said . “ We ’ ve never really seen this kind of money . The whole deal was pretty cool . I know a lot of people worked real hard .”
One of the key players behind the event is Johnson , who serves as the president of the Professional Racers Owners Organization ( PRO ). In the winner ’ s circle , he celebrated not just the Kalitta Motorsports team ’ s success at the race , but also the reward of the hard work the PRO group put into the event . Fans poured through the gates all three days of the event , including a sold-out Saturday crowd .
“ I was really excited , especially for the team that worked on putting this together ,” Johnson said . “ It was a lot of work . It ’ s the first time we ’ ve ever done anything at this magnitude . To see it come together and see the fans having a great time , it ’ s a wonderful feeling . It really is .”
Johnson pointed out that this was not a rinse-and-repeat offseason for the 2023 NHRA Top Fuel champions . With adjustments to the cars and equipment , the Mac Tools car that won the PRO Superstar Shootout was not necessarily the same exact one that won the NHRA Finals and the world championship .
“ It ’ s really great for Doug , but it ’ s also great for these crew guys who worked all winter long to maintain this thing ,” Johnson said . “ There ’ s some things we had to change . The chassis are different . To be able to come out at the first event and run well and win it is just a testament to how good of a job they did over the winter .”
What started as a pre-season test session developed into a unique opportunity for Kalitta , Johnson , and the Kalitta Motorsports team to prove that they ’ re ready to defend their title in the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Series season .
“ Being able to test then have this race just adds another element of stress on the crew chiefs and the crew guys and even the driver to make sure they don ’ t mess up ,” Johnson said . “ It ’ s actually simulating a run for the championship at the first event of the year . It ’ s pretty cool .” DI
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