NHRA: Legendary crew chief Alan Johnson joins Kalitta Motorsports

Winner of dozens of races and championships over the years, the master tuner will make his debut with the team in the season-opening Winternationals, Feb. 18-20

Kalitta Motorsports' major announcement Thursday morning shows that the long-time drag racing organization is going all-out to win the Top Fuel and Funny Car championships in 2022.

The biggest and most recognized name that was announced was the hiring of legendary crew chief Alan Johnson and Brian Husen, who will join Ronnie Thompson as co-crew chiefs on Doug Kalitta's Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster.

Doug Kalitta / Photo: Kalitta Motorsports

Kalitta has chased the Top Fuel championship for more than two decades but has never won the title. With the addition of Johnson and Husen, Kalitta's chances to capture that elusive first crown just grew exponentially.

Securing Johnson is a major coup for the Kalitta camp. Recognized as one of the greatest Top Fuel crew chiefs in the history of the sport, Johnson has led some of the biggest names in the sport to dozens of wins and multiple world championships over the past three decades.

“It is exciting to be able to come over and work with Connie Kalitta and his team,” Johnson said in a media release. “He has an iconic Top Fuel team. We are looking forward to putting our experience together with their operation to go out and win the championship.”

Husen, meanwhile, collaborated with Johnson to tune Brittany Force to the Top Fuel world championship in 2017. Husen spent the last three seasons tuning Mike Salinas' dragster.

The move to Kalitta Motorsports and working with veteran driver Doug Kalitta is one that Husen is looking forward to.

“It was a great opportunity since I am from Michigan, and I could get closer to my family,” Husen said. “I have been fortunate to work with some pretty good drivers and I have success with all of them. It is exciting to come work with Doug because he is such a good driver.”

Another successful crew chief, Jason McCulloch, will join the organization's other Top Fuel team, the DHL/Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster, as co-crew chief with Kurt Elliott for driver Shawn Langdon. Legendary team owner Connie Kalitta will make the final tuning decisions on Langdon's car.

Per a team media release, "The addition of McCulloch to the DHL/Kalitta Air Top Fuel team gives Langdon’s tuning leadership team of Kalitta and Elliot another veteran with experience and a long history in the sport. McCulloch is proud to be a joining a team that his legendary father, Ed 'Ace' McCulloch worked with at the start of his career."

“The opportunity to come and work with Connie, who is an icon in the sport is something I could not pass up,” Jason McCulloch said. “My dad worked at Connie’s and he had nothing but good things to say about him.

"To work with a driver of the caliber of Shawn Langdon who is an outstanding driver and to be part of the organization that is working to get Doug Kalitta his first championship is awesome. Working with Alan, Brian and Chad is familiar territory for me.”

Also, J.R. Todd returns as driver of the DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, with Todd Smith and Jon Oberhofer as co-crew chiefs for the Ypsilanti, Michigan-based racing organization.

“Our goal every year at Kalitta Motorsports is to win the NHRA world championship in Top Fuel and Funny Car," Chad Head, Kalitta Motorsports General Manager, said in a media release. "Bringing Alan, Brian and Jason onto our Top Fuel teams led by Connie with Kurt and Ronnie puts us in an excellent position to do that.

“All three of these guys are world championship-winning crew chiefs and we feel this gives us an amazing collection of talent in a very competitive Top Fuel category. The stability of the DHL Funny Car team led by Todd and Jon is another big plus for this team.”

Johnson, Husen and McCulloch will be with the team next weekend (Feb. 10-12) at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in suburban Phoenix for the annual PRO Nitro Spring Training preseason test and tune session. 

The trio of new additions will make their official debuts when the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series kicks off the season in two weeks -- February 18-20 -- with the 62nd NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.