At this weekend’s, Sept. 20-23, annual running of the O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Tex., just a few miles south of Dallas, Doug Kalitta, driver of the “Big Red” Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, and his team are hoping to pick up a long overdue win in his crew chief’s, Jon Oberhofer, home state of Texas.
“It’s been a while since we won, so a win this weekend would be special for a couple of reasons, ” Kalitta, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, said. “Jon grew up in Plano with his brother (Jim Oberhofer, crew chief of the Hillary Will-driven Top Fuel dragster), so we know we’re going to have a lot of Oberhofer family members in our pit area this weekend. It would be incredible if we could get a win for them and everyone that has been so supportive of our Mac Tools team throughout this year. ”
Kalitta won the 2002 Top Fuel title at the O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals.
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 29 Top Fuel national event titles, which already ties him for sixth in career wins for the sport’s quickest and fastest class. In the past four NHRA seasons, Kalitta has solidified his place among the best Top Fuel pilots of all-time. Last season was arguably the best of his straight-line career. 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.
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