Doug Kalitta, driver of the bright yellow, 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, is a man of few words but his quiet disposition should never be mistaken for apathy. His desire to dominate the drag strips of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is as fierce as every competitor in the world’s quickest and fastest class of racing. This weekend, March 12-15, the mellow man and his yellow machine will take to the 1,000-ft. track at famed Gainesville Raceway for the 40th annual running of the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
“Yeah, Gainesville is great,” Kalitta, a 44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., and 31-time NHRA national event winner, said. “We’ve won there a couple of times before and the crowd is always huge. Hopefully we can celebrate with some of the fans in the winner’s circle again.”
Kalitta won the Top Fuel trophy in Gainesville in 2000 and in 2005.
Kalitta, a 12-year NHRA veteran, and his team won the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., in early February. It was Kalitta’s first trip to the winner’s circle since the fall of 2007. Kalitta has finished in the top ten in Full Throttle Top Fuel championship points in every season of his straight-line racing career. He is currently in 3rd place (163) in Full Throttle championship points, 43 points behind the leader.
Kalitta’s brightly hued dragster entry is beginning the 2009 season without a primary sponsor. Although the dragster is not currently adorned with the signage of a major backer, it is be decorated with large, special-edition “50 years of Connie Kalitta” decals near the cockpit on each side of the car. In 2009, Kalitta Motorsports is celebrating 50 years of drag racing by team owner and drag racing legend Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. Over the past 50 years, Connie, who has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and as an owner, has dedicated unequalled amounts of time and resources to building one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing. Kalitta Motorsports has won five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.
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