Hello Everyone,
I hope all of you have had a great week thus far, and have great plans in place for the coming weekend! Everyone here at Kalitta Motorsports, have been working extra hard getting ready for our final three races of the 2011 season. The first of these races is at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona, which is just south of Phoenix. Now normally, we would race in Phoenix towards the end of February, but for reasons only the NHRA knows, we are racing there this coming weekend, and the weather doesn’t look anything like it would be in February! As of this morning, good ole AccuWeather.com says it will be sunny, and in the mid 90′s each day. Oh joy, another snot-box of a racetrack awaits us! Lol.
Even though the weather doesn’t look like it will produce the kind of track conditions we saw in Reading, or in Charlotte, it won’t stop Team Kalitta from trying to win one of those NHRA 60th Anniversary Wally’s this coming weekend! Alot has been going on the last week or so at Team Kalitta World Headquarters in Ypsilanti, Michigan, as we prepare for the final three races of 2011. Since we start out this weekend in Phoenix, and then have a weekend off before we head to Vegas, followed by another weekend off, before we then head to Pomona, California, alot of work had to be done. Since all of these races are being run in the Southwestern part of the country, it makes no sense for the Team Kalitta rigs and crews to travel back and forth between each race, so it was important that all of the Kalitta teams worked hard to make sure we have enough parts and equipment, to run four cars, at three races, without going back to the shop. Trust me, it’s not as easy or simple as it sounds!
In Phoenix, Grubby will again run his cool looking Candlewood Suites Dragster, and both he and the bossman, Connie Kalitta, have a few new tricks up their sleeve to try and get the Candlewood car in the Firebird Winners Circle. It’s always cool when Connie is at the shop as much as he has been as of late, because he is always thinking of ways to make his hot rod run better. Doug will finish the year out in his Chip Foose designed Technicoat Dragster, and try and get back on track with some round wins and hopefully a race win! There really is no reason why either Team Kalitta Top Fuel car can’t get a win before 2011 season ends!
In the ever crazy Team Kalitta Funny Car World, both the DHL and Patron Toyota Funny Car Teams have been busy preparing everything they can think of for a full on assault on the rest of the Funny Car field. The DHL boys are coming off of a pretty good Reading race, and would like to keep that momentum going into Phoenix. I’m pretty proud of our DHL Toyota Funny Car Team, as they have fought through some adversity to become a solid car in the ever tough Funny Car class! Since Alexis and her Tequila Patron Toyota didn’t make the trip to Reading, it gave the Patron boys and girls, an extra week to get ready for Phoenix, and they needed it! After a couple of problems with the pretty black and green Toyota at Dallas, some repairs needed to be done to the Patron Toyota Camry, which included a trip back to the paint shop. I can tell you that the repairs look great, and the Patron Toyota is ready to rock again! I know Alexis, along with her team, is excited to get back onto the racetrack and finish 2011 off in Gran Patron Style!
Well, that’s my short story for the week! I hope all of you have a great weekend, and if you can’t be in Phoenix with us, I hope you can check us out on espn2. Take care everyone!
Jim O