Doug Kalitta, driver of the bright yellow, 8,000-horsepower Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, led the charge for Team Kalitta in final eliminations of the NHRA national event at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., just a few miles from Phoenix, with a quarter-final finish.
Kalitta, the No. 8 qualifier (3.987 seconds, 307.86 mph) in the 16-car eliminations field, defeated Cory McClenathan in the opening round of eliminations. McClenathan jumped the start of the race and was disqualified with a red light, but Kalitta’s weekend-best lap of 3.845 sec., 313 mph would have been difficult to overcome anyway.
In the quarterfinals, Kalitta, a 44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., and 31-time NHRA Top Fuel winner, raced against No. 1 qualifier Larry Dixon. Kalitta and Dixon thrilled the fans at FIR with a great side-by-side drag race, but unfortunately Kalitta crossed the 1,000-ft. finish line after Dixon, 3.883 sec., 309.34 mph to 3.802 sec., 317.27 mph.
Kalitta won the season-opening Winternationals event two weeks ago in Pomona, Calif.
Doug’s Kalitta Motorsports teammate Jeff Arend, driver of the nitro-fueled DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car, was defeated in the opening round of eliminations of the Funny Car class.
Arend, a 46-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., qualified his nitro-fueled coupe in the No. 16 spot (4.196 seconds, 293.60 mph). He had the challenge of racing No. 1 qualifier Ron Capps in the opener. Arend left the starting line first (.104 sec. to .113 sec.), but his DHL ride started losing valuable traction before the 330-ft. mark on the track, and that allowed Capps to get the win, 7.157 sec., 87.78 mph to 4.105 sec., 305.91 mph.
In 2009, Kalitta Motorsports is celebrating 50 years of drag racing by team owner and drag racing icon 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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