NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Callouts for the third Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout were made Saturday morning at Gainesville Raceway, setting up the action for the big-dollar payout to take place during today’s qualifying. 

The winner will take home $80,000 out of the $130,000 purse, plus a special Callout trophy and belt, and bragging rights.

Top seed Steve Torrence, with the first pick, called out “the man in green,” defending Callout champ and local favorite Josh Hart. Torrence, the current No. 1 qualifier, seemed confident about his chances for a second Callout victory.

“Them CAPCO boys showed out last night and yesterday afternoon, so we got a really good hot rod right now and we looking forward to it,” he said.”

“Our win-to-loss ratio [against Torrence] is a little lopsided right now, so hopefully we can straighten that out,” said Hart. "We are very honored just to be here. We probably shouldn't be here. So, more laps, more R&D for our team. We need it, and no matter how you cut it, we'll go out there, we'll give it our best, and we'll see what happens.

Reigning world champ Doug Kalitta then called out the driver from whom he took the crown last year, Brittany Force. “It was definitely a group decision [among the team], because they're all obviously tough,” he explained.

“We kind of expected this,” she admitted. “I had a good feeling we were gonna get called out by Doug. But this this whole race is very unique; it's a fun event, and we’re excited to be in it, and should be a fun day. We’ll see how it goes down.”

With the third pick, Mike Salinas turned the tables on Justin Ashley, who called him out in the first round last year, a match that Salinas won.

“I think nothing took us by surprise here,” said Ashley. “You’ve got eight cars that are just fantastic and one thing's for sure, this is gonna be a great matchup in the first round. It's gonna be a great matchup for the fans. So I think it's one of those things where you kind of just expect the unexpected.”

By default, that left the final pairing as Antron Brown versus Shawn Langdon.

"When you look at all the people that came across the stage there's no gimme rounds out here,” said Brown. “Everybody's coming out here for business but it's a little bit of honor that nobody picked me. That must mean our team's doing something right.”

“I know Antron is not afraid to race us and we're not afraid to race him,” said Langdon. “I think everybody got a little chicken to call us out because we both have two pretty good race cars.”

The first round will take place during the day’s first qualifying session, the semifinals – where the low e.t. winner form round one gets the semifnal callout – will take place between the two sessions, and the final will be run as part of the event’s final qualifying session.