Mac Tools Announces Multi-Year Primary Sponsorship Deal with Kalitta Motorsports

(Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools NHRA Full Throttle Series Top Fuel dragster. Photo provided by Team Kalitta PR)


Mac Tools®, an industry-leading hand tools manufacturer, announced this past weekend at its annual sales conference, Mac Tools Tool Fair, that the Columbus, Ohio-based company plans to return as a primary sponsor of the Doug Kalitta-driven Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel dragster. The partnership will begin at the 2012 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis through the remainder of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and also continue through the 2013 and 2014 racing seasons.

Mac Tools Distributors and their families were on hand to show their support as Brett Shaw, President of Mac Tools, made the announcement at the kick off meeting for the Mac Tools Tool Fair.

“Our relationship with Kalitta Motorsports is a testament to Mac Tools’ commitment to driving our brand, building product awareness with fans and technicians; while engaging with our distributors at all the NHRA events across the U.S,” Shaw said. “We’re truly excited to offer our continued support to the Kalitta organization, the NHRA and look forward to a successful partnership for everyone involved.”

Kalitta Motorsports and Mac Tools have celebrated a long-standing relationship that dates back to 2001, when Mac Tools began serving as the primary sponsor on Kalitta’s 8,000-horsepower Top Fueler through 2008. In 2012 Mac Tools entered their 12th year as an associate sponsor for the Ypsilanti-Mich.-based multi-car team, which also includes the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend, the Optima Batteries Top Fuel dragster driven by David Grubnic, and the Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by Alexis DeJoria.

Kalitta, a 47-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich. and a 15-year veteran driver of the world’s quickest and fastest race cars, 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.

“Despite the tough economy, Mac Tools has been committed to Kalitta Motorsports and to NHRA drag racing,” Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta Motorsports Vice President of Operations, said. “We are thrilled they are back as primary sponsor of Doug Kalitta. We’ve enjoyed a lot of success over the years with Mac Tools on the side of our dragster, and we look forward to continuing to share that success with them. We also look forward to representing all of the hard working Distributors who have always been big supporters of Kalitta Motorsports.”

About Kalitta Motorsports

Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The team was founded and is owned by drag racing icon Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. For more than 50 years, Connie has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and an owner. Kalitta Motorsports is one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing with five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different professional drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.

Jeff Arend drives the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car for Team Kalitta. Alexis DeJoria pilots the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car. David Grubnic drives the Optima Batteries Top Fuel dragster while Connie’s nephew, Doug Kalitta, pilots the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster. Connie serves as head tuner for all Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by co-crew chiefs Jon Oberhofer and Nick Boninfante on the DHL Funny Car, by Del Worsham on the Tequila Patrón Funny Car, and by Jim Oberhofer on the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster. Connie serves as crew chief on the Optima Batteries Top Fuel dragster.

Associate sponsors on Kalitta Motorsports’ race cars include Candlewood Suites, ROCKY Boots, Red Line Oil, Technicoat Companies, OPTIMA Batteries, JEGS, and Mac Tools.

For more info about Kalitta Motorsports including exclusive content such as videos, photos and more, please visit www.teamkalitta.com. Follow Us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TeamKalitta. Like Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KalittaMotorsports. Check out videos about Team Kalitta on our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/TeamKalitta

Neff defends Gatornationals title as points leader

(Mike Neff returns to the Gatornationals as the defending race winner and current NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car points leader. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Entering this week’s 43rd annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Auto Plus Raceway, Mike Neff likely is the most frustrated recent points leader in any motor racing discipline.

Twice in as many races this year, the 45-year-old driver/crew chief on the Castrol GTX® Ford Mustang has rolled to the starting line for the final round with the quickest race car on the grounds. Twice he’s come away empty-handed, beaten both times by John Force Racing teammates.

“All in all, anytime you go to the final, it’s a good day,” said the defending Gatornationals Funny Car champion, “but still, I’m frustrated with letting two chances slip away.”

Neff first lost to his boss, John Force, at the season-opening O’Reilly Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., when he was momentarily distracted and therefore was late in reacting to the starting signal. That gave Force the edge he needed to win despite a slower track time (4.080 to a best-of-the-event 4.036).

A week later, at Phoenix, Neff’s 8,000 horsepower Ford stumbled at the start in a final round showdown with Robert Hight’s Auto Club Mustang. As a result, it crossed the finish line just .027 of a second behind the winner.

“Our car had been running great (quick time of the event at 4.070 seconds),” Neff said of the Phoenix result, “and then it just shook. I had to pedal it (feather the throttle to regain traction) and then, to just barely lose, it’s frustrating.

“We want to win every race and we work hard at it,” he said, “but, on the positive side, we’ve had two races with Force Mustangs in the finals. We’re definitely satisfied with that. We’ll just keep on keepin’ on.”

No one has been “keepin’ on” quite like Neff, who first distinguished himself as crew chief to 2005 NHRA Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi before, intrigued by Force’s promise of a driving job, moving to JFR in 2007. After earning Rookie-of-the-Year recognition in 2008, the former motocross racer found himself out of a ride, the victim of the economic downturn and lack of sponsorship.

Back in the more familiar role of crew chief, he directed Force to a category-best six wins and a record 15th career championship in 2010. He was preparing to settle in to that strictly mechanical role when fate once again intervened, this time in a positive way.

When two-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals champion Ashley Force Hood revealed in January, 2011, that she was climbing out of the car to start a family, Neff was offered another chance behind the wheel. Needless to say, he’s made the most of it.

He’s made final round appearances a habit, especially since taking on the dual role of driver and crew chief.

As a driver, he’s taken a JFR Ford to the final round 12 times in his last 25 starts. As a crew chief, he’s done the same thing 22 times in 47 races. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that Neff has been at the starting line in one capacity or the other at virtually every-other-race over the past three seasons.

Moreover, while he was struggling with the dual role last year, even on the way to his Gatornationals win, he has settled into a comfortable routine this year thanks in no small measure to the rapid development of Jon Schaffer as his mechanical facilitator.

“I’ve got my man Little Jon and he can get in there and twist the knobs for me,” Neff said of the last minute adjustments to the tune-up that used to be a major concern when conditions changed significantly while he was helplessly strapped into the cockpit. “I can communicate with him. We’ve got a good situation.”

Force back at Gatornationals, 33 years later

(John Force, left, seen here with fellow Ford Racing driver Bob Tasca III, returns to the Gatornationals for the 33rd year. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

In 1979, after competing in just two events in his budding NHRA Funny Car career, both of them in his native California, John “Brute” Force loaded his Wendy’s Hamburgers Corvette into a bare bones transporter and, on March 6, with a makeshift crew, drove 2,415 miles to the site of the 1979 Gatornationals.

It then was known as Gainesville Raceway, not Auto Plus Raceway, and Force arrived with no illusions. He was just there to rub elbows with his racing idols and to satisfy a commitment to Phil Dunne, a Wendy’s franchisee who was one of his biggest corporate supporters.

He didn’t expect to win. He just wanted to qualify.

It was not to be. The former truck driver missed the 16-car starting lineup, likely because he spent more time displaying his car than he did racing it. Significantly, there were no drag racing show cars in 1979 so, between qualifying opportunities, Force was out displaying his actual, ready-to-run race car at multiple Wendy’s locations.

That’s where he was, in fact, on Sunday morning when he got word that he was in the show as an alternate for the Larry Fullerton. Back then, NHRA filled short fields with alternates, a policy to which it no longer subscribes.

Unfortunately, on race day, the man who would become king slowed from his 6.470 second qualifying pace (just .015 of a second short of the time needed to make the show) to 7.230 seconds and, as a result, lost in the first round to one of those aforementioned idols, Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen.

Now, 33 years later, Force is back and, in this week’s 43rd Tire Kingdom Gatornationals, he will not be content simply to compete. The desire to win still burns brightly and, at age 62, he already has shown that he’s lost few of the skills that have carried him to 134 tour victories and 15 NHRA championships.

Winner of the season-opening O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., Force brings his newest Castrol GTX® HIGH MILEAGE™ Ford Mustang to Florida trailing only teammates Mike Neff and Robert Hight in the Full Throttle point standings.

He probably would be trailing absolutely no one were it not for the fact that his youngest daughter, Courtney, took him out in the first round of last month’s Arizona Nationals at Phoenix. It was a sobering moment for the man who this year will be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

“You love your kids and you want them to do well,” Force said. “I want (Courtney) to do well for her sponsor, Traxxas, (but) I had the points lead and I haven’t had it in awhile. I just choked out there. Yeah, the car dropped a cylinder. It wasn’t going to run anyway no matter what I did, (but) you have to get your energy up every run. It’s just hard to get in that fight mode against your family.”

Still, despite his Phoenix frustrations, Force knows he is back in contention after a largely forgettable 2011 during which he won once, but never was a threat to win the championship.

“No matter how hard you try, you still have to have a good hot rod,” Force said, “and last year I just didn’t have a heap that could win. I had my crew chiefs (Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas) running Courtney’s test program and they were just spread too thin. But we’re back.

“Making the Top 10 is going to be tough,” he predicted. “Somebody is going to be left out. There are a lot of cars running better than ours right now. We’re in the hunt but, we’ve got a little ways to go. I just want to keep fighting and keep my nose clean and get points. It’s too early to think about anything else.”

Like, maybe, a 16th championship.

Motorsports This Week on ESPN

NASCAR Nationwide Series at Phoenix           

The NASCAR Nationwide Series moves to the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for a 200-mile race and ESPN2 will have a live telecast. NASCAR Countdown airs at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 3, with the race’s green flag at 4:45 p.m. All NASCAR programming on ESPN and ESPN2 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets with the WatchESPN app and WatchESPN.com.

Announcers:

Booth: Lap-by-Lap announcer Allen Bestwick; analysts Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree.

Pit reporters: Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, Vince Welch.

ESPN Tech Garage: Tim Brewer

NASCAR Countdown: Nicole Briscoe (host); Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty (analysts).

NASCAR Now Schedule

The one-hour weekend edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now will air on Sunday, March 4, at 11 a.m. ET with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Mike Massaro will host, joined by analyst Andy Petree from Phoenix along with reporters Shannon Spake and Marty Smith. Weekday editions of the program air Tuesday and Thursday of this week at 3 p.m.

Date	Time	Show	Host	Network
Tues., Feb. 28	3 p.m.	NASCAR Now	Allen Bestwick	ESPN2
Thur., March 1	3 p.m.	NASCAR Now	Mike Massaro	ESPN2
Sun., March 4	11 a.m.	NASCAR Now	Mike Massaro	ESPN2
Mon., March 5	3 p.m.	NASCAR Now	Mike Massaro	ESPN2

Motorsports on Other ESPN Platforms

ESPN.com -- RacingLive! on ESPN.com is a live blog where fans can engage in debate and discussion with ESPN.com writers and editors during the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. On Sunday, March 4, RacingLive! Phoenix will coincide with the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. Fans can join ESPN.com’s NASCAR experts in dissecting every aspect of the race live at http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/. ESPN.com motorsports writer Terry Blount will be on hand at Phoenix.

ESPN Radio -- Each weekend morning, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay starts its engines at 6 a.m. ET with host Pat Patterson anchored from the site of that weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, ESPN Radio’s RaceDay listeners get an hour of news, previews and analysis, as well as profiles and interviews with NASCAR’s biggest names and newsmakers and the involvement of listeners via calls and e-mails.

JEGS.com jumps on board with Stremme for Daytona 500

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Squarely in the Daytona 500 field, David Stremme and Inception Motorsports now have a partner. JEGS.com, the leader in delivering high performance parts, announced today it will sponsor Stremme's No. 30 Toyota in the Great American Race at famed Daytona International Speedway.

The sponsorship is an extension of Stremme's relationship with JEGS through Cody Coughlin, grandson of JEGS founder Jeg Coughlin Sr. Cody, 16, is racing late model stock cars, and the veteran Stremme is helping the younger Coughlin work through the short-track ranks.

"I like Cody," Stremme said. "I met his mom (Di) and dad (John) at the Snowball Derby and we hit it off. Cody is very well-rounded, and he's got great teachers in Gary St. Amant and Butch VanDoorn. Gary helped me a lot in my career, and we've already seen what Butch can do with Cody during this year's Speedweeks with a couple of poles and some top-five finishes at the 46th World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. I'm also trying to help Cody in any way I can."

Stremme made it in the Daytona 500 field via last Sunday's qualifying, turning a lap of 191.963 mph. He'll start the race from the 42nd position, flying JEGS.com colors.

"We have a really good shot at running well," Stremme said. "We're kind of underdogs in a way (but) we were able to out-qualify some really big teams. We had to have a different agenda leading up to the 500 than other teams but come Sunday, I think we'll be able to show how hard my team has worked and hopefully get a really good result to start the season off."

Stremme and JEGS have a lot in common. JEGS is a family-owned business, as founder Jeg Coughlin Sr. and sons John, Troy, Mike and Jeg Jr., have built the company into an industry leader. The Coughlin family has a long history in racing, too, competing successfully in drag racing for years.

The Stremme family also has a racing background as David's father, mother and brother have all competed in stock-car racing.

"It's really neat, especially knowing Cody and getting to meet John," Stremme said. "We get parts from JEGS for our cars so we're very familiar with them. They have a grassroots thing going with asphalt and dirt cars. It's just really neat, especially with my background in short-track racing. For them to come on board with this team, I think it's very cool."

The 34-year-old Stremme is from the Midwest, just like Ohio-based JEGS. Stremme was born in South Bend, Ind., and grew up racing the short tracks in the area. He was named the American Speed Association Rookie of the Year in 2002 before heading South to chase his dream of racing in NASCAR.

He raced in NASCAR's Nationwide Series for three seasons, winning Rookie of the Year in 2003, before moving to Sprint Cup with Chip Ganassi Racing for 2006. He has a best finish of eighth, at Talladega, in 2007.

Stremme has competed in 137 Sprint Cup and 146 Nationwide Series races in his NASCAR career.

Inception Motorsports, based in Mooresville, N.C., switched to Toyota for 2012 and began using Triad Racing Development engines this season. Steven Lane serves as the team's crew chief.