FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KALITTA MOTORSPORTS
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Event 14 of 24
Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
July 18-20, 2008

Media Contact: Todd Myers
tmyers@kalittaracing.com


Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools team seeking first win of 2008 in Seattle

SEATTLE, Wash., (July 16, 2008) – This weekend, July 18-20, Doug Kalitta, driver of the 8,000-horsepower, “Big Red” Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, looks to get a breakout win in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series at one of the few venues that he has not visited the winner’s circle during annual running of the Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., just a few miles from Seattle.

Kalitta has reached the final round three times in his 11-year career at scenic Pacific Raceways, 2003, 2000, and 1999.

“We’ve had some good runs in Seattle, but we’ve just not been able to go the distance there,” Kalitta, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “Our Mac Tools team has been struggling a little lately to get our car to put up the numbers we know we are capable of, but I’m not worried. I have a great team and a great car, and I’m sure we’ll get it figured out. It would be great to breakthrough and get our first win of the season this weekend in Seattle.”

Kalitta is currently in 9th place in POWERade championship points.

Beginning with the previous event in Denver, the NHRA instituted a new racing distance for the nitro-fueled classes of Funny Car and Top Fuel dragster to 1,000 ft., as opposed to the traditional distance of 1,320 ft., or a quarter of a mile, as a temporary safety solution to help the drivers of the world’s quickest and fastest racing safely bring their cars to a stop more efficiently. The unprecedented action is in response to the tragic death of Kalitta Motorsports’ Scott Kalitta, Doug’s cousin, who died in a high-speed Funny Car qualifying accident in Englishtown, N.J., June 21.

Kalitta, unofficially, recorded the quickest 1,000-ft. elapsed time in NHRA history, 3.758 sec., in Joliet, Ill., in 2004.

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 Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 3:30 p.m. (PT) and 6:00 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at 12:30 p.m. 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 Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals is the 14th event of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.


About Kalitta Motorsports

Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel 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. Connie’s nephew, Doug Kalitta drives the flagship Top Fuel dragster for Mac Tools. Native Australian Dave Grubnic drives the DHL Top Fuel dragster, and 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 (KB Racing, LLC dragster), Jon Oberhofer (Mac Tools dragster co-crew chief), and Richard Hogan (Mac Tools dragster co-crew chief). Connie serves as crew chief on the DHL dragster with assistance from co-crew chief James Riola.

Associate sponsors on all Kalitta Motorsports’ race cars include Mac Tools, Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies, K2M, and Toyota.