KALITTA MOTORSPORTS
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Event 9 of 24
O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals
Heartland Park Topeka
Topeka, Kan.
May 30-June 1, 2008
Media Contact: Todd Myers
tmyers@kalittaracing.com
Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools team to try for two Top Fuel titles in Topeka
TOPEKA, Kan., (May 28, 2008) – This weekend, May 30-June 1, Doug Kalitta, driver of the 8,000-horsepower “Big Red” Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, heads to the Heartland for the annual running of the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kan., with hopes of holding a title trophy for the first time in the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Kalitta visited victory lane at HTP in 2006 with a final-round win over Brandon Bernstein. Kalitta also holds the track record for elapsed time in Topeka, 4.487 seconds (2004).
In the previous five NHRA national events, Kalitta and the Mac Tools team have made three semi-final finishes and one quarter-final finish. Kalitta and his team have moved up six places in the POWERade championship points tally in that span from 14th to 8th.
“We’ve been steadily improving, and that’s always a good thing,” Kalitta, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “The Mac Tools team stayed to test after Bristol (Tenn., previous event), and we found a few problems that had been plaguing us in the fuel system, so now our car should be even better.
“Topeka has been good to us in the past. Hopefully it will be again, and we can get our first win of the season this weekend.”
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 Summer Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 4:30 p.m. (CT) and 7:00 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at noon and 2:30 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 Summer Nationals is the 9th 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 (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 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.