Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

Saturday, June 21, 2008 started out like any other day at the NHRA Lucas Oil Supernationals in Englishtown, New Jersey. But it ended like no other. Scott Kalitta staged his nitro Funny Car for another routine qualifying run. His previous three runs had not been quick enough to get him into the field for Sunday’s elimination rounds but the crew was confident that they had the tune-up in the car that would get the job done. The car launched well and it looked like this would be a good run. But near the finish line, the car’s engine erupted in flames. This too is not all that uncommon with Funny Cars, but this one was somehow different. The car never slowed. It continued down the race track at full speed, careened past the end of the track’s shut down area and into the barrier at the far end of the track.  

When Scott Kalitta was born, his father, Connie Kalitta was already a touring professional drag racer with a national reputation. Scott literally grew up in and around the sport. He began driving a Top Fuel dragster in 1982 before moving to Funny Cars full time in 1986. He returned to the dragsters and earned back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995 and then he retired from the sport in 1997. He came back for a partial season in 1999, sat out again for three years and returned to competition in 2003. Over his career he won 18 national events, the last coming in a Top Fuel car at Chicago in 2005.

Scott’s final pass in a Funny Car was good enough to qualify him for thirteenth place. The first round of eliminations on Sunday was an emotional one as most of the crewmembers from not only Scott’s team but all of the other Kalitta Racing team members stood silently at the starting line where Scott’s car would’ve been. His opponent, Robert Height lined up in the opposite lane. When the Christmas tree flashed green, Height simply idled away from the line and drove slowly down the track to a standing, but somber ovation from the crowd. It was a fitting and poignant tribute to a fallen champion, racer, and friend.   

Scott Kalitta is survived by his father, and team owner Connie Kalitta; wife, Kathy; and sons, Corey, 14, and Colin, 8                                                                

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In other racing news; Johnny Benson won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night in Milwaukee, WI, and Carl Edwards won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday at the same track.  

Kurt Busch won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in dominant fashion on the road course in Sonoma, California.  

In a subdued victory lane at Englishtown, Tony Schumacher won Top Fuel, Tim Wilkerson won in Funny Cars, and Greg Anderson was on top of the Pro Stocks. All three dedicated their win to the memory of Scott Kalitta.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 am and is filed under Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, Pro Stock, Funny Car, NHRA, Top Fuel, NASCAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.