KALITTA MOTORSPORTS
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Event 4 of 24
O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals
Houston Raceway Park
Baytown, Tex.
March 28-30, 2008
Media Contact: Todd Myers
tmyers@kalittaracing.com
Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools team ready for a rebirth in Houston
HOUSTON, (March 26, 2008) – At this weekend’s, March 28-30, annual running of the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex., just a few miles out of the Houston city limits, Doug Kalitta, driver of the “Big Red” 8,000-horsepower Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, is hoping that he and his Mac Tools team will regain their championship contender status after taking a step back at the previous NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event in Gainesville, Fla.
“Not qualifying in Gainesville was extremely disappointing for our whole team,” Kalitta, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “Things like that are tough to get over, but you have to block that out and move on.
“Our Mac Tools team stayed to test in Gainesville after the event, and the results are very encouraging. We basically started over. We took everything off of the car and analyzed every system to see if we could pinpoint what our problems have been. We found a few things that were wrong, and now we think we have them fixed, so hopefully that’s the end of our struggles. We’re eager to get to Houston and start over.”
Kalitta won the Top Fuel title trophy in Houston in 2003. He is currently in 14th place in 2008 POWERade Top Fuel championship points.
Since winning the NHRA’s equivalent of Rookie of the Year, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Road to the Future Award after the 1998 drag racing season, Kalitta has driven his dragster to 30 Top Fuel national event titles, which places him in sixth in career wins for the sport’s quickest and fastest class. In the past five NHRA seasons, Kalitta has solidified his place among the best Top Fuel pilots of all-time. In 2006, he won a career-high five national events in 2006 and led the POWERade points for almost the entire second half of the season. After finishing just 14 points shy of his first NHRA championship, Kalitta garnered his third career runner-up points finish in 2006. He was also points runner-up in 2003 and 2004. In 2007, he won one event – the event held in Richmond, Va.
The O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 3:00 p.m. (CT) and 6:00 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at noon and 3:00 p.m. The top sixteen qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.
All times and dates subject to change.
The O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals is the 4th of 24 national events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) POWERade Drag Racing Series. The racing operation was started in 1959 by now legendary drag racer and team owner Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. His son, Scott Kalitta, drives the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car. Scott’s cousin, Connie’s nephew, Doug Kalitta drives the flagship Top Fuel dragster for Mac Tools. Native Australian Dave Grubnic drives the Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, while Hillary Will drives the Ken Black-owned and Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster.
Connie serves as head tuner for all Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by crew chiefs Jim Oberhofer (Hillary Will-driven dragster) and Jon Oberhofer (Mac Tools dragster). Connie serves as crew chief on the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car with assistance from co-crew chief Glenn Mikres and as the crew chief on the Kalitta Motorsports dragster with assistance from co-crew chief James Riola.
Associate sponsors on all Kalitta Motorsports’ race cars include Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies, K2M, and Toyota.