Even after winning two championships, some things about driving a Top Fuel car never change...

Doug Kalitta is a 59-time winner and now a two-time champion in NHRA’s Top Fuel class, but some things about trying to keep a 12,000 hp dragster pointed in the right direction over a quarter-mile never change.

“[The sensation] doesn't slow down much,” he tells RACER Debrief. “I mean, this thing… it's ripping, you know?

“If you compare it to a Funny Car. I mean, you're really steering the heck out of that thing, a Funny Car. The Top Fuel car is very light on the controls, and you're just kind of just guiding it down there, and really with pressure more so than really having to steer the thing. You're steering it with pressure.

“As far as a car that's hooked up going to the finish line, the main thing is being able to keep that thing nice and straight and (not) moving back and forth. There's a little bit of unloading; even though the thing's not smoking the tires, that happens. But that is the ideal situation for sure, is A to B, you know, car going to the finish line.

“You have to remind yourself that this thing could smoke the tires. You may have to pedal it, or sometimes if it's early enough in the run and it shakes, you can get away with a quick slap on and off the throttle. Once you're out there little ways, you really have to be patient to let the tire settle a little bit and the motor settle a little bit and then ease back on it. And you got the guy out there and in that situation, you got to get the thing hooked up where you're not going to catch him.

“That's one of the things Alan (Johnson, crew chief) commented on this year - after driving for him for three years – that I could keep that thing nice and straight going down through there. And that really helps with unloading either one of the wheels.

“Austin Prock… there was a race that we had a pedal fest and he ended up getting the best of me on that one. At the end we were talking and he was like, ‘man, I always wanted to beat you at a pedal fest’ because I have a reputation of being able to hook that back up and get it to the finish line, and he got me one day. He's a hell of a driver, he's doing a hell of a job in that Funny Car and he's got a good feel for those things.”

Kalitta, along with newly-minted NHRA Funny Car champion Prock, both had plenty more to say during this week's edition of RACER Debrief. Check out the full conversation below.