NHRA: Doug Kalitta And Mac Tools Team To Compete For Fourth Title In Thunder Valley
May 13, 2008
NHRA
BRISTOL, Tenn., – This weekend, May 16-18, Doug Kalitta, driver of the 8,000-horsepower “Big Red” Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, is hoping that a trip to the scenic East Tennessee quarter-mile at Bristol Dragway, carved into the Appalachian Mountains in Bristol, Tenn., will grant him and his Mac Tools team their first win of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series and their fourth win in the upper right-hand corner of the Volunteer State at the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.
Kalitta and the Mac Tools team were kings of the valley in the consecutive roaring gorge campaigns of 2005 and 2006. They first visited Bristol Dragway’s winner’s circle in 2001. Kalitta’s three O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals Top Fuel titles are the most victories by any driver in any NHRA professional class.
“We’ve had a lot of success in Thunder Valley so hopefully we can do it again this year,” Kalitta, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “Bristol is a great track and a great facility. We always have a big turnout of drag racing fans and Mac Tools Distributors at the track, so it’s definitely one of our favorite stops on the tour.
“Our Mac Tools dragster keeps getting better event by event, so I know we’re close to breaking through with a win. Jon (Oberhofer, co-crew chief) and Richard (Hogan, co-crew chief), and all the guys on our team have been working so hard to get our car to the level we know we can compete at, and we’re very close to that again. It’s a good feeling.”
Kalitta, who was in 14th place in POWERade Top Fuel championship points after the third event in Gainesville, Fla., is currently in 8th place in points. He holds the track record for speed at Bristol Dragway, 331.53 mph (2006).
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 Thunder Valley Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 4:30 p.m. (ET) and 7:00 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The top sixteen qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at noon.
All times and dates subject to change.
The O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals is the 8th of 24 national events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
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