(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)
Doug Kalitta, driver of the 8,000-horsepower Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster, believes that his chances of taking home the Full Throttle Top Fuel championship trophy got substantially better during the offseason with the addition of a new “horse” to the Kalitta Motorsports stable. Kalitta and his Team Kalitta teammates return to 300+ mph action this weekend, Feb. 9-12, at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Pomona, Calif.
During a much milder than normal winter in Michigan, Kalitta and his Kalitta Air team were delivered some new “pipe” in the way of a new dragster chassis built by Brad Hadman to the team’s world headquarters in Ypsilanti. It’s the first new hot rod for Kalitta in five years, and it has the 15-year Top Fuel veteran beaming like a child with a shiny new toy at Christmas.
“Yeah, we’re really excited to see what we can do with our new race car,” Kalitta, a 47-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “We also changed the body of the car, too, from a one-piece carbon fiber body to a paneled carbon fiber one. It’s a pretty drastic change, but we’ve already seen it paying dividends in pre-season testing where we ran our quickest lap ever at 3.78 (seconds).
“I’m really optimistic about the 2012 season. I probably say that at the beginning of every season, but we really feel like we’re moving in a positive direction, as far as performance goes, with our team. I think we’re going to win some races this year and be far more competitive, hopefully starting off with a good showing in Pomona.”
Kalitta won the Winternationals in 2009.
Kalitta has amassed 32 NHRA Top Fuel title trophies in 64 final-round appearances. He has finished in the top ten in Full Throttle championship points in every year of his straight-line career. He was the 1994 USAC National Sprint Car champion.
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