Doug Kalitta, driver of the 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, is hoping to make it two wins in a row this weekend, Feb. 20-22, at the NHRA national event at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., just a few miles from Phoenix.
At the previous event, the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., Kalitta, a 12-year NHRA veteran, and his team took home the Top Fuel title trophy. 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. With the win in Pomona, Kalitta moved to sixth on the list of Top Fuel driver wins.
“Getting the win in Pomona was a big weight lifted off all of our shoulders,” Kalitta, a 44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., and 31-time NHRA national event winner, said. “It was a big lift for me and our whole Kalitta Motorsports team. You can’t start off a season any better than that.
“We’re looking forward to going to Phoenix and trying to make it two in a row. We’ve had some success at Firebird in the past and our car is running great so we’re optimistic about our chances this weekend.”
Kalitta won the Top Fuel event at FIR in 2001.
Kalitta’s newly-hued bright yellow 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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