Interview and photos by Jeff Burk
7/10/07
Connie Kalitta is certainly one of drag racing’s icons. He began racing
in the late 1950’s and was a runner-up in the A/D class in a blown
dragster
at the U.S. Nationals in 1960. He is of a very few racers to win
national
events
in the NHRA, IHRA and NASCAR. As a driver he had a
career
that spanned over
30 years. He was one of the first 16 drivers in the NHRA to
break the 300-mph
barrier. He won nine NHRA national events as a driver,
including
at least one
in every decade from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. As a car
owner and tuner he has won two NHRA World Championships with son Scott and nephew Doug has been runner-up three times and holds the absolute et record
at 4.420. He is truly a drag racing legend on and off the track and, according to
his employees, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Just before the NHRA
race at Norwalk, DRO editor Jeff Burk went to Kalitta Racing and Kalitta Air head-quarters in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to do the first interview Kalitta had done in
many years. Here then is Burk’s interview with the legendary Conrad “Connie” Kalitta.
What was your first car and where did you race for the first time?
Connie Kalitta: The first race car I built was a '51 Willys that I built in 1957. It was painted white, had a 350 small block, and it ran 70-80 mph. We went down to a track in Akron and a dragstrip out in Baltimore. I drove that car on the street and the strip In 1958. I built a dragster with a supercharged small block in it and the first time I took it out it ran 125 in a quarter mile.
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What year was that?
CK: Hmm…..'58. I had the street car in '57 and the dragster in '58.
Did you run any of these cars at the U.S. Nationals?
CK: I did when they held the U.S. Nationals at Detroit Dragway In fact, I was beat by Leonard Harris (1960 U.S. Nationals winner) twice. They (NHRA) had a goofy deal and Leonard Harris beat me twice for the A Dragster class win if my memory is right. [Ed. Note: Chris Martin’s Top Fuel Handbook verifies that Kalitta did lose to Harris in the A/D finals at that event.]
