KALITTA TEAM TO COMPETE AT NORWALK

Following the death of Scott Kalitta, the remaining Kalitta Motorsports drivers, Doug Kalitta, Dave Grubnic and Hillary Will, along with their teams, will compete June 26-29 at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA National in Norwalk, Ohio.

“We’re a race team, and that’s what we do,” said Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta Motorsports general manager. “Scott was a drag racer to the core, and he would want us to compete in Norwalk, so we’re going to go racing this weekend. Our thoughts will of course be with his wife Kathy and his sons Corey and Colin, and (father) Connie, but we feel it’s the right thing to do.”  (Todd Dziadosz photo) [6/24/2008]

SCOTT KALITTA SERVICES ANNOUNCED

A public memorial service to celebrate the life of Scott Kalitta will be held this Thursday, June 26, at 7:00 p.m. at Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center, 350 Shady Lane Drive, Norwalk, OH  44857.

The Kalitta family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to these charities close to Scott's heart: The school his sons attend, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School, Attn:  Development Office, 315 41st Street West, Bradenton, FL  34209 or B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe), c/o Doug Herbert Performance Parts, 1443 E. Gaston St., Lincolnton, NC 28092.

Cards for Scott’s family or Connie can be sent to Kalitta Air, 818 Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, MI 48198. Email condolences can be sent to champion@kalittaracing.com. [6/24/2008]

WINS WITH MOV OF .000

Andrew Stirk of Brampton, Ontario, sent us a note about his experience at Toronto Motorsports Park a couple of weeks ago. He runs an ’83 Chevy-powered Mustang in Mod ET and is the 2007 track and Mod ET champion. In the final round of the King of the Hill run-off, Stirk launched with a .020 light against Steve Ferstl’s dragtster with a .027. Stirk ran a 10.925 on a 10.91 dial and Ferstl ran 8.338 on an 8.33 dial. The margin of victory on the time slip was .0000!

After Ferstl and Stirk picked themselves up, they wondered if anyone else has turned in four zeros. Anyone out there? [6/24/2008]

SPIERING FAMILY WILL HEAD TO EDMONTON

After years of watching their father race, Carl Spiering’s daughters Lisa (17) and Monica (14) will be competing over the July 4th weekend at the IHRA Edmonton, Alberta, event in Eaton Powerware-sponsored race cars. Both young ladies will be driving dragsters, something their Pro Mod-driving father never did.

“It was always a dragster,” said Lisa (shown) about the choice of car. “There was never any question about it.” Lisa is presently making the transition from a 70-mph junior dragster to a full-sized car.  (photo courtesy Carl Spiering Motorsports) [6/24/2008]

NO TOP FUEL DRAGSTER SHOOTOUT IN 2008?

The Agent has had several messages from his Top Fuel sources saying they hear rumors that the Technicoat folks, who sponsored the Top Fuel Challenge last year, didn’t feel they got their money’s worth and bailed out of the program for 2008.

The Agent sort of dismissed this as just another bad rumor until he checked the NHRA.com file that usually contains the info about the shootouts and couldn’t find any reference to the shootout. A further check of Drag Race Central where the points are usually listed found the points for Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike and Fuel Funny Cars but no points listed for Top Fuel.

This leads the Agent to ask, is there not going to be a Top Fuel shootout program in NHRA this year? Did the NHRA PR department already issue a statement to that effect and the Agent missed it? Yet one more reason we see for Top Fuel cars to not make the Western Swing and another indicator that the Top Fuel class is in some distress! [6/24/2008]