Goodson Tools & Supplies Blog

Hello Everyone,

I hope this week has been good to all of you. Everything has been going well here at Kalitta Motorsports this week, as the team prepares for our next race at Z-Max Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. Another reason everything is going well is because Team Manager, Rachel Brunner’s favorite team, besides Kalitta Motorsports, the Michigan Wolverines, pulled and unbelievable comeback to win against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. On Saturday after the Annual Kalitta Company Picnic, myself, along with my wife Tammy O, Rachel Brunner, DHL Funny Car crew-member Mike Morris and the “Volume King Car Dealer of Ypsilanti” Rick Fischer, made our way to Ann Arbor, for the first ever night game at “The Big House”, and were part of an NCAA record crowd of 114,804 fans. It was truly an unbelievable sight and an unbelievable game! I attached a picture of the crowd after Michigan scored the winning touchdown and another picture of how happy our gracious host, Rick Fischer was after the Wolverines won! Now is that the face of a guy you want to buy a car from or what?

Ok, on to the racing since I don’t want to talk about how bad the Steelers got whipped last Sunday (I sat and watched it all)! Everyone here at Kalitta Motorsports has been working very hard getting ready for our next three race swing, which includes this weekends race in Charlotte, followed by the following weekends race in Dallas and then finishing up the next weekend in Reading, PA. Now that’s alot of driving for the Team Kalitta truck drivers! On top of preparing Jeff’s DHL Toyota Funny Car, Grubbies Rocky Boots Dragster and Doug’s Kalitta Air Dragster, the team has been working overtime getting Alexis DeJoria’s Tequila Patron Toyota Funny Car ready for its big debut in Dallas. I have to tell you that the paint job on Alexis’ car is one of the coolest I have seen in quite some time! The best part of the whole deal is that Alexis and Kalitta Motorsports PR Genius, Todd Myers, worked on the design together, and I must say, they did a great job! Now I can’t show any pictures of the new Patron Toyota, because there will be an unveiling of the car before the race in Dallas, and if I did, Alexis would probably hurt me real bad! Since she has been workin out with boxers and MMA fighters as of late, I am NOT going to mess with her!

Going into this weekends race in Charlotte, all three of Team Kalitta’s hotrods are in the final phase of the Countdown to the Championship. It is pretty exciting for everyone here, as we have all been given new life in the points battle. I know I am excited about the way the cars have been running as of late, and maybe just maybe, we are gonna hit our stride at the right time! At the Kalitta Company picnic this past Saturday, I spent some time talking with the Bossman, Connie Kalitta about the direction he wants to take with the engine program in Grubbies Rocky Boots dragster and Jeff’s DHL Toyota, and to say I am excited, is an understatement! I really feel that you are going to see some great performances out of both of those teams! I also feel that you will see some great things out of Doug’s Kalitta Air Dragster, as we have been pecking away at a combination that really seems to be coming together! You know, I was never a big fan of this Countdown deal, but I have grown to like it this year because I feel we can make some noise in it!

I am also looking forward to seeing our friend Steve Graham from Rocky Boots in Charlotte this weekend. Steve, Grubby and the Rocky Boots Team, did a display yesterday at Bass Pro Shops at the Concord Mills Mall by the track, and I hope it was a huge success for Steve and everyone at Rocky Boots!

Well, that’s all of my rambling for today, I need to get to the airport for the first time since our Seattle race, and go through all of the security BS! Man, will I miss flying with Connie and Doug! Anyway, take care and have a great weekend!

Jim O

Hello Everyone,

 I hope all of you are doing well and have had a great week so far! All of us at Team Kalitta are excited about the Mac Tools US Nationals, coming up this weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am pretty excited as well because we feel that we may have figured out was has been plaguing Doug’s car all year, and the fact that my wife Tammy, actually won a $1,000 jackpot on a slot machine down at Greektown Casino in Downtown Detroit this past weekend! Since we never seem to do well at Indy, and my wife never seems to do well at the casinos, I hope you can understand why my confidence is high for this weekend!

This weekend at Indy will be a fun race for Doug’s team, as our long time sponsor, Mac Tools, will be the primary sponsor on Doug’s car. From 2001 to 2008, Doug won alot of races driving the Mac Tools dragster, but one of the races we never won with “Big Red”, was the Mac Tools US Nationals, but we hope to change that this weekend! While Doug will be back in Mac Tools colors, Grubby will bring back out the Candlewood Suites dragster like he had in Chicago, the same one that was runner up at that race. I know Grubby and the team are excited about racing in Indy with the chance to secure a spot in the Top 10, but they are more excited that the Bossman, Connie Kalitta will be back in Indy, making the tuning decisions on the Candlewood Suites Dragster! After spending some time with Connie over the last week, I can tell you that he is ready and as sharp as ever!

While both Doug and Grubby are changing colors for the weekend, Jeff will be in his familiar yellow and red DHL Toyota Funny Car with a chance to secure a spot in the Top 10. After making some good runs in testing last week, Jeff, Jon O and Nicky, are confident that the DHL car will have a great weekend! While the DHL car has struggled the last few races, the team keeps working hard to make sure that everything is put together right, which gives the DHL car the best chance to run well and hopefully win some rounds. 

Well, that’s all from me for now, I need to get in my truck and drive to Indy, and for the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to the drive and racing in Indy! I hope my attitude is the same after Monday! Lol. Take care everyone and I hope you enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer

Kalitta Motorsports

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 1, 2011) – Native Canadian Jeff Arend, driver of Kalitta Motorsports’ nitro-fueled DHL Funny Car, is eager to go racing and potentially accomplish what would be one of the biggest highlights of his 16-year pro racing career this Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 5, at the most prestigious drag racing event in the world, the 57th annual running of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

Arend enters the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in ninth place in Full Throttle Funny Car points, only six points away from eighth place and 16 points ahead of 10th. He is 78 points ahead of 11th place.

“This is something we really, really want,” Arend, a 48-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., said. “Everyone on our DHL team and at Kalitta Motorsports are doing all that we can to ensure that we get a spot in the Countdown. A few races ago it looked like we had it locked up, but we’ve had some bad races and the teams behind us in points have been doing much better, so it’s gotten pretty tight.

“I’m extremely confident in my team and everyone in our organization that we’ll get the job done in Indy this weekend. I’ve never finished in the top ten in points so to be this close to making that a reality is very exciting. And, this is Indy, the biggest race of the year, and we want to get an Indy ‘Wally’ for the trophy case.”

The 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship breaks the 22-event season into two distinct sections: the 16-event Countdown to 10 and the six-event Countdown to 1. After the first 16 events, only the top 10 drivers advance into the final segment of the playoffs, and their points are reset to within 10 of one another with the exception of the points leader, who will have a 30-point advantage over second place. The 10 drivers will then compete for Full Throttle world championships at the season’s final six events beginning at the next event in Charlotte. Each round of eliminations is worth 20 points.

Arend and the DHL team have one win this season (Houston), one runner-up posting in Chicago, and two semi-final finishes in Bristol, Tenn. and Denver.

Arend took over the controls of the DHL Funny Car at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in 2008 after the tragic death of Scott Kalitta in a racing accident in June of that year in New Jersey.

Event Schedule

The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals begin Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with one qualifying sessions at 7:00 p.m. (ET). Two more qualifying attempts will take place on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. followed by two more qualifying efforts Sunday at noon and 3:00 p.m. The top 16 qualified cars in each pro class will race Labor Day Monday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Times and dates subject to change.

TV Schedule

9/4 Qualifying – 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M. (ET) ESPN2
9/4 Qualifying – 5:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. (ET) ESPN2
9/5 Eliminations – 12:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M. (ET) ESPN2

Times and dates subject to change.

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 Funny Car for the team. Connie’s nephew, Doug Kalitta, drives the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster entry while Dave Grubnic drives the team’s second Top Fueler under the banner of Kalitta Air as well. Connie serves as head tuner for all Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by crew chief Jim Oberhofer and assistant crew chief Troy Fasching on Doug’s Top Fueler and by co-crew chiefs Jon Oberhofer and Nick Boninfante on the DHL Funny Car. Connie serves as crew chief on the Grubnic-driven racer with help from assistant crew chief James Riola.

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