Don Prudhomme, a legendary figure in drag racing, witnessed the crash and said Kalitta’s car “went into a million pieces.”
“I haven’t witnessed anything like that in a number of years,” Prudhomme said. “The car didn’t slow up enough, got airborne, and he happened to hit a post that’s virtually impossible to do. ... I would’ve never thought that you could get airborne and hit that guardrail and hit that post.”
The concrete post, Prudhomme said, serves as support for the safety net that’s designed to catch cars veering off the strip. Because Kalitta’s parachute never deployed, Prudhomme said the car “never had a chance” once it hit the post at such high speed.
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski—a native of Rochester Hills—learned the news from a television report.
“That really hits close to home,” Keselowski said after winning the pole position for Saturday night’s race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis. “(He was) a friend of my family’s, and I send my thoughts and prayers out to him. That’s tough to hear.”
“The news of Scott’s passing has shaken me up as much as any tragedy has,” said Jim Read, chairman of the Western Sydney International Dragway board.
“Scott, like his father Connie and his cousin Doug, is passionate about drag racing. As everyone knows, we had Scott and a lot of the Kalitta team here in Sydney, and we got to know Scott’s wife and kids. I really struggle to find the words to say how devastated I feel about this news.”
Tim Wilkerson, who competed with Kalitta in the Funny Car class, called it “a tremendous tragedy.’‘
“It’s a very unique situation; the whole run was,’’ Wilkerson said. “I don’t think you can pin any part of the run on any certain thing at all. Can’t say it was the chassis, or the tire, or the tune-up, or the track conditions. The only thing you know is it hit that crane at the end of the ramp.
“My heart is just with Conrad. Hopefully there’s someway Conrad will get through this.’’
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