Hello Everyone,
I hope all of you had a great Memorial Day weekend, I know I did, as I spent it playing golf with Jon O and my friends Ed and Michelle Stuck, and going to the movie theater three different times. Of course, I went for the guy movies as I saw Fast Five, Thor (in 3D) and the Hangover 2, which thank God, it wasn’t in 3D! They were all pretty good movies if you like those kind of movies, which I do.
This coming weekend Team Kalitta heads East to Englishtown, New Jersey for the NHRA Supernationals. Growing up as a kid in New Jersey, I always wanted to go to the Drag Races in E-Town, but for whatever reason, the State of New Jersey had this law that you needed to be 18 years old to get in the pits. With that law, my mom would take my brother Jon O, my sister Susie O and myself, and we would sit in the spectator grandstands all day waiting for my dad’s Top Fuel Dragster to run. Since the race was run in early July back then, the temperatures were usually pretty high which made it even more enjoyable for my mom. For that reason, I was never a big fan of racing in E-Town and on June 21st of 2008, I really hated racing in E-Town more than ever!
On that tragic day, Scott Kalitta lost his life at the Englishtown track, and since then, things have never been the same. It’s hard to believe that it has been three years since I lost my big brother, my friend and my mentor, but with every tragedy, there is alot of good positive things that happen. Of course there has been alot of safety improvements in those three years, and alot of those improvements, have saved other drivers lives, and for that, we thank you Scott! Team Kalitta has also grown as a Team, we have become a stronger more cohesive team that knows how to deal with adversity or anything thrown our way. The first couple of years we went back to the E-Town track, I know that alot of us on Team Kalitta were pretty emotional and maybe scared to face the track that took Scott’s life, but this year is going to be different. When we arrive at the E-Town track this weekend, we plan on taking that track by the throat and showing it what Team Kalitta is all about, that’s what Scott would do and that’s what our leader Connie Kalitta always does!
We have all been working hard since our last race in Topeka, and with the NHRA season getting into full swing, the time is now for all three Team Kalitta cars to make a serious run for the Top Ten in points. Both Doug and Jeff are in sixth place and Grubby is only a couple of rounds out of the tenth spot, so a good showing in Englishtown would go a long way in the points battle. No matter what, it is going to be a great weekend in Englishtown because they can’t keep me out of the pits anymore and my daughter Ashley O, with her new drivers license, will be there with me to keep me in line! She always says that she is good luck, so we will see how that goes. I will also get to spend a little time with my Grandparents and a few other family members that I only get to see once a year. Oh, did I mention that the Poulin family is coming down from Maine with lobster again? I love the Poulins!
Well that’s it from me, take care everyone and if we don’t see you in Jersey, we hope to see you soon!
Jim O