Goodson Tools & Supplies Blog

Hello Everyone,

After what seems like an eternity…Team Kalitta heads back to the drag strip this weekend in Las Vegas, looking to capture its first Wally of the 2013 season! While we were off…a lot of us were fortunate enough to attend the wedding of Tequila Patron Driver Alexis DeJoria to our longtime friend Jesse James. It was a great day and we wish Alexis and Jesse nothing but success! I was also fortunate to have my brother Jon O cook during Easter weekend while Mom and Dad O were up visiting for a few days. Jon O is a good cook, and of course he makes nothing that you could find on the Weight Watchers Points list!

After looking a the latest weather forecast for the Vegas race and talking with our Toyota track guru and engineer Kevin “Shag” Kuchta…this should be our first race with track temperatures over 110 degrees! Shag is a big part of the Kalitta Team as he provides us with so much valuable information…everything from timing sheets, weather predictions, track temperatures and conditions and so much more. Shag was also a big part of the design of the new Toyota Camry body, and with that he provides Team Kalitta Funny Car crew chiefs Nicky Boninfante, Jon O, Tommy D and Glen Huszar some great information when it comes to setting up the rear wings of the Team Kalitta Camrys! We are very fortunate to have Shag a part of the Kalitta Team and we can’t thank him enough!

Racing in Vegas also means a big crowd from our friends at Technicoat! Cowboy Bob and all of his Technicoat employees and customers have been such a big part of the Kalitta Team for such a long time and we look forward to seeing all of them this weekend.

At the Kalitta shop…all of the teams were getting ready for our 2013 season to kick into top gear as we won’t be sitting idle to much from here on out! So much goes into making a great 1000 foot lap, and it couldn’t be done without everyone at Kalitta Motorsports putting in the effort that they do! I also have to thank Pegasus Trailers for bailing out the Mac Tools Team…after Phoenix our Mac Tools trailer had some issues with one of the axles of the trailer, and the folks at Pegasus dropped everything and made sure we would make it to Gainesville! After Gainesville we decided to have Pegasus fix the other axle…even though it wasn’t broke…we were just trying to prevent the inevitable! It would be tough for us to race without a trailer!!

Well that’s all of my BS for the day…I hope all of you have a great weekend and if you’re in Vegas…I look forward to seeing you…if you’re not…take care and check us out on espn2!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone,

First off I would like to thank all of you who sent well wishes to my wife Tammy…I passed them on to her and I know she thanks you all for thinking of her! I hope that your spring weather is better than the spring weather we are having here in Ypsilanti, as we are having snow flurries to go along with the 30 degree temps…lovely! It’s time for it to warm up here! Speaking of warm weather…Gainesville was a pretty good race for Team Kalitta, and hopefully it will be a springboard for the rest of 2013!

In the competitive Top Fuel World…Doug and his Mac Tools Team had another good weekend of qualifying, as Doug ended up qualifying in the number one spot for the second race in a row! The last qualifying session was cool as Doug went into that session as the number one qualifier with a 3.80, but Antron Brown…who ran right in front of us…ran a 3.78 and took the number one spot from Doug. After seeing the number one spot taken from us…we made a few adjustments and took it back, as Doug ran a 3.77 at 326 mph…what a cool deal that was! Grubby and his Optima Batteries/Advanced Auto Parts Dragster…made some good consistent runs, with a 3.84 at 319 mph being his best, which put Grubby in the number 11 spot and set up a first round race with Spencer Massey.

In Kalitta Funny Car World…both the DHL and Patron Toyota Funny Car Teams went into the Gainesville race with a different plan of attack. That plan seemed to payoff as Del qualified in the number five spot with a 4.10 at 309 mph, and Alexis ended up 10th with a 4.12 at 306 mph. On Alexis’ last qualifying pass…the Tequila Patron Toyota was on a great pass, but the team had planned to do an early shutoff as the Tequila Toyota had some engine problems that they wanted to make sure they had fixed before their next full pass, and after looking at everything…the problems were fixed!

On raceday…Doug was up first for Team K, and his opponent was rookie Leah Pruett. At the start…Leah had the slight advantage, but the Mac Tools Dragster was glued to the track as a 3.80 at 325 mph showed up on the Gainesville scoreboard to beat Leah’s tire smoking 5.12. Grubby was up next for Team K, and he had a tough opponent in Spencer Massey. At the start…Grubby and his Optima Batteries/Advanced Auto Parts Dragster was ready and on a great pass…but for whatever reason, the Optima Dragster began to make a move towards the centerline…Grubby fought it for as long as he could to keep it in the groove, but he just couldn’t and the Optima Dragster spun the tires right before half track, which gave Massey the win.

Now it was time for first round of Funny Car, and both Alexis and Del were ready to win their first rounds of racing in 2013! Del was up first against Tim Wilkerson, and at the start, the DHL Toyota darted out there pretty good, but at about 100 feet the DHL Toyota lost traction…at that point Del pedaled the DHL Toyota and got it hooked back up to beat Tim, who was smoking the tires in the other lane. Del is definitely one of the best when it comes to pedaling a Funny Car! Alexis was up next in her Tequila Patron Toyota, and her opponent was Blake Alexander. At the start, Blake had the slight advantage, but the black and green Toyota was hooked up and marching down the Gainesville strip! At the finish line, Alexis got the win with a very nice 4.08 at 308 mph to take out a tire smoking Blake Alexander. Going into the second round, there would be three Kalitta cars still racing!

In the second round…Doug was up against our buddy Brandon Bernstein…at the start, both Doug and Brandon had very good reaction times and were side by side most of the way down the track, but at the finish line, the Mac Tools Dragster got the win with a 3.79 at 319 mph to Brandon’s 3.81 at 322 mph, and move into the semifinals. Alexis was up next for Team K, and her opponent was Johny Gray who has been running very well in 2013. At the start, both Alexis and Johnny had nearly identical reaction times, but the Tequila Patron Toyota fell behind just a little at the 330 foot mark and just couldn’t catch up, as Johnny’s 4.08 at 312 mph beat Alexis’ 4.12 at 307 mph. Even with the loss…Alexis and her Tommy DeLago lead team are heading in the right direction! Del was up next, and his opponent would be Courtney Force. At the start, Del was ready and he never looked back as the DHL Toyota ran a nice 4.12 at 306 mph to beat Courtney’s 4.13 at 310 mph! The DHL Team was pumped and ready to head into the semifinals!

In the semifinals…Doug was up against Clay Millican, who was running very well in Gainesville. At the start, Clay had the slight starting line advantage, but the Mac Tools Machine began to reel him in and take the lead, but at about 500 feet, the Mac Dragster lost traction which gave Millican the win. No matter what…we had a good weekend with the Mac Tools dragster and moved into fourth place in the points! Del’s semifinal round opponent would be Robert Hight from John Force Racing, who is a threat to win any race! As Del put it…he left when he heard Robert leave! Del is one of those honest guys who said he never saw the light and figured he was dead meat…but fortunately for us…Robert smoked the tires immediately and Del was glued in…running his best time of the weekend with a 4.07 at 309 mph…what a great tuneup by Nicky and Jon O! It was off to the final round for Del and the DHL boys!

In the final round…Del was up against Johnny Gray…at the start both drivers were ready and off to good starts. But as was the case when Alexis ran Johnny in the second round…the DHL Toyota fell behind at the 330 foot mark and just couldn’t catch up…as Johnny’s 4.05 at 315 mph beat Del’s 4.10 at 303 mph. All in all it was a good weekend for the Team Kalitta Toyota Funny Cars as Del moved up to sixth place in the points and Alexis moved within one round of the Top Ten! I believe that there are more good weekends to come for the Team Kalitta Toyota’s! We even stayed and did some testing with all of the Team Kalitta cars on Monday and were very happy with the results we saw with all of the cars!

Well that’s all the BS I can stand to type today! I hope all of you have a great weekend…we are all going to enjoy the next couple of weekends off here at Kalitta Motorsports, and some of us may even go to a wedding! Take care and I’ll type at you before our next race in Vegas, which is April 5th thru the 6th.

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone,

I hope all of you have had a great week so far and have some great plans in store for this coming weekend! This weekend, Team Kalitta rolls into Phoenix, Arizona for our second race of the season after a pretty decent showing in our season opener in Pomona, California last weekend.

In Kalitta Top Fuel World, Doug led the way in his Mac Tools Dragster by qualifying third with a 3.76 at 328 mph…Grubby also qualified well by running a 3.77 at only 299 mph, which was good for the number five spot in his Optima Batteries Dragster. For raceday, Doug would face rookie Leah Pruett in the first round, and Grubby would face Morgan Lucas.

The Team Kalitta Toyota Funny Cars of Alexis DeJoria and Del Worsham had two completely different qualifying outcomes. Del and his DHL Toyota were almost flawless during qualifying by making it down the track on all four qualifying attempts. Del ran a best of a 4.05, which was good enough for the number four spot and a first round matchup against Bob Tasca. Alexis and her Tequila patron Toyota experienced some problems during qualifying which prevented her from running any better than a 4.10, which was only good enough for the number 10 spot…Alexis would face Johnny Gray in her first race of the 2013 season.

On raceday, Doug was up first for Team K, and at the start, Doug was ready with a very stout .041 reaction time, which gave the Mac Tools Dragster a lead it would not give up, as Doug ran a nice 3.79 at 326 mph to Leah’s 3.85 at 309 to move into the second round. Grubby was up next in his Optima Batteries Dragster, and I think both Connie and Grubby had that Optima Dragster all charged up for their first round race against Morgan Lucas. At the start, both Grubby and Morgan were ready as they both had good reaction times and then both of thier dragsters performed almost flawlessly! At the finish line…Grubby got the win by runnng a great 3.74 at 325 mph to Morgan’s very good 3.76 at 328 mph…wow, what a race that was! Grubby would now face Antron Brown in the second round, and Doug would face Khalid alBalooshi.

Del and the DHL Toyota Team was up next, and with the performances we saw in Top Fuel…there was no reason to think that the DHL Toyota couldn’t run a good number. At the start…Del had no rust at all as he had a good shallow staged .076 reaction time, and grabbed the quick lead, but unfortunately…the DHL Toyota began to spin the tires at around 200 feet…Del did a nice job of getting the DHL Toyota hooked backup, but it wasn’t enough as Tasca ran a 4.13 to get the win. Alexis was up next against Johnny Gray…at the start both Alexis and Johnny had pretty equal reaction times, but just as Del did…Alexis’ Tequila Patron Toyota lost traction, which gave Johnny an easy win. Even though both of the Team Kalitta Toyota’s didn’t make it out of the first round…there was a lot of forward progress made!

In the second round of Top Fuel…Doug was up first against one of the Al-Anabi Dragsters driven by Khalid alBalooshi. At the start, both Doug and Kahlid had nearly identical reaction times and were locked together the whole way down the track…but at the finish line…alBalooshi got the close 3.78 to 3.80 win over Doug and the Mac Tools Team. The Mac Dragster picked a bad time to fall off, but all in all the Mac Tools dragster ran pretty good! Grubby was up next against Antron Brown…at the start Grubby gave up a little bit on the tree, but started to reel Antron in quickly. At about 300 feet…the Optima Batteries Dragster began to lose traction, which was probably the only time that we have been happy about smoking the tires, because in the other lane…Antron was having all sorts of problems, as his dragster exploded and engine, which caused both rear tires to come apart and send his dragster over into the other lane and against the wall. It was a nasty crash and fortunately for everyone…Antron was able to walk away!

All in all it wasn’t a bad opener for Team Kalitta, but we expect better results, so it’s nice that we get to race again this weekend in Phoenix! It will also be cool that we get to celebrate Connie’s 75th birthday with him on Sunday! It would be so cool if Connie could get a couple of Wally’s for his birthday present! Well that’s about it from me…Take care everyone and I hope you have great weekend!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone!

I hope all of you have had a good winter so far and haven’t been stuck in any of the bad weather that has rolled across the country as of late! Fortunately for Team Kalitta…all of our rigs made it out of Ypsilanti without hitting any major weather snags, and headed west for our first race of the year in Pomona, California!

I can’t tell you how pumped everyone is here at Kalitta Motorsports to get the 2013 Season started! It seems like it has been months since we tested in West Palm Beach, but in reality it was just a few weeks. During that time off, everyone worked hard to make sure we were ready for not only Pomona…but Phoenix as well, which is the very next weekend! I would have to say that our Hospitality Team, which is led by Chris Hill…worked the hardest, as they have been busy getting the new Pegasus built Kalitta Hospitality trailer ready for Pomona. I have to tell you that everyone did a great job and this trailer looks awesome!

The teams spent most of their time getting spare cars and parts ready along with servicing the parts we ran during testing. Since you can’t just go to any local auto parts store and buy parts for a 10,000 horsepower nitro burning engine…you need to be as prepared as possible not only for Pomona and Phoenix…but the next five or six races after that, cause if you’re not…you can dig yourself a hole real quick!

I have to tell you that while we are always excited to start a new season…we are real excited to start the 2013 Season, and see how all of the changes we made at Kalitta Motorsports works out. I am very happy with the additions of Tommy D and Glen Huszar to the Tequila Patron Toyota Team…I believe that Alexis and her Tequila Patron Toyota will do great in 2013! I am also very happy about having Del drive the DHL Toyota…I know he is going to work with Nicky and Jon O very well, which will add so much to that DHL Toyota Team! I know that Scott very is happy that Del is wheeling his ride! I know that both Connie and Grubby are ready to throw out those big numbers with the Optima Batteries/Candlewood Suites Dragster! I know I have said this a million times, but seeing how Connie acts before a season starts, is like watching a little kid get ready for Christmas!

For myself personally…I am very excited about this season for Doug and the Mac Tools Team. The Mac Tools Team, which is led by Troy Fasching and Mac Savage…are as focused as I’ve ever seen them in all of the years we have worked together! If both Doug and I can do our jobs half as well as the rest of the Mac Tools Team…we will have a great 2013! It’s also great to have such great partners and friends like Tequila Patron, DHL, Mac Tools, Optima Batteries, Candlewood Suites, Toyota, Redline Oil, Technicoat, Fischer Honda, Justice Brothers, Jegs, Champion Spark Plugs, Kymco, Spine Brothers Motorsports, Mechanixwear, Saftey Kleen, and of course Kalitta Air! Without all of these great companies…Kalitta Motorsports does not exist!

Well that’s about it from me…take care everyone, and if you can’t join us in Pomona…check us out on espn2 as my good friend Dave Rieff takes over as the anchor for all of the NHRA TV Shows on espn2!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone,

First off let me apologize for not sending you any results from Friday’s testing at West Palm Beach…for some reason I could not get Internet access on my laptop Saturday or Sunday, and I have no idea why…maybe it’s time for a new laptop!

On Friday Doug made three runs with with the Mac Tools Dragster, with a 3.75 at 328 mph being his best…Grubby made a couple of laps with Optima Batteries Dragster, with a 3.87 at 271 mph being his best…Alexis ran a best of 4.08 at 308 mph in her Tequila Patron Toyota, and Del ran a 4.06 at 311 with the DHL Toyota, which was his best run of the test session. We were scheduled to run on Saturday, but the skies opened up and it rained pretty much all day…which certainly didn’t break our hearts!

Overall it was a very good test session for Team Kalitta as we learned a lot and tried some new parts and combinations we have been looking at for quite some time. It was also very cool that Doug’s Mac Tools Team was able to do some tire testing for Goodyear which allowed us to try out some of the new rubber compounds they are thinking about for future use. I was very pleased with the performance of all of our Team Kalitta nitro burners and how all of the teams worked together during a long week! Doug’s Mac Tools Dragster made nine runs between a 3.74 and a 3.79, which I believe was better than any other dragster on the property. Grubbies Optima Batteries Dragster made numerous runs that showed tremendous potential with the incremental numbers showing high 3.70 runs. Alexis and her new Crew Chief, Tommy D…made a lot of good runs in the Tequila Patron Toyota, as the green and black Toyota was one of the most consistent funny cars on the property. Del got reacquainted with driving a funny car very quickly, as he did a great job driving the DHL Toyota, and the great chemistry between Del and the DHL Team was evident all week long, which should make the DHL Toyota a Championship contender!

Pomona should be exciting and of course it can’t come soon enough for us, but trust me…we have more than enough to do to get ready during these next few weeks! Take care everyone and I hope you have a great week and an even better weekend…I’ll type at you soon!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone,

Here are some results from our fourth day of testing down here in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Doug’s Mac Tools Dragster:

Test run 12. 3.77 at 329 mph…we ran a new NHRA rev limiter that is supposed to slow us down…it didn’t work lol!
Test Run 13. Smoked the tires at the step…tried some new clutch parts Test run 14. Smoked the tires at 300 feet…track was a little tricky at that point of the day Test run 15. 3.77 at 326 mph…we were actually a little disappointed as we were trying to run better than our 3.74 run.

Grubby’s Optima Batteries Dragster:

Test run 6. Good early numbers, shutoff at 700 feet…maybe a high 3.70 run?
Test run 7. Decent early numbers with new supercharger…maybe a low 3.80 Test run 8. Tried a new style supercharger case with decent results…maybe another low 3.80 run

Alexis’ Tequila Patron Toyota:

Test run 11. Dropped a cylinder early in the run and shutoff Test run 12. Smoked the tires at 300 feet…tried a little different engine combo Test run 13. 4.09 at 300…good run…Tommy D had Alexis shutoff a little early Test run 14. 4.07 at 302…Tommy again had Alexis shutoff a bit early

Del’s DHL Toyota:

Test run 12. Smoked the tires at the step Test run 13. Smoked the tires at about 100 feet Test run 14. 4.19 at 300 mph…just tried to get on the other side of te power and clutch application curve Test run 15. 4.09 at 311…soft early but made it up in the middle…nice lap!

Well that’s it from me today…we plan on making a few more runs today with each car so I will update you sometime tomorrow. Take care everyone and have a great day!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hey Everyone,

Here is some results from our third day of testing down here in West Palm Beach.

Doug’s Mac Tools Dragster:

Test run 8. 3.79 at 290 mph…broke a blower belt at 3.55 seconds, might have been a 3.75 if the belt stayed on.
Test run 9. Smoke the tires at 300 feet…we were doing some tire testing for Goodyear
Test run 10. 3.87 at 313 mph…more tire testing (we get 10 free tires for each test run…so we ended up with 20 free tires for our testing today and tires are mow $880 each)
Test run 11. 3.74 at 330 mph…nice run an it has more left in it!

Grubby’s Optima Batteries Dragster

Test run 3. 400 foot planned shutoff…very good early numbers, maybe a 3.77?
Test run 4. Smoked the tires a the step…trying the new Stage 7 cylinder heads
Test run 5. 3.85 at 265 mph…good numbers, maybe a 3.78

Alexis’ Tequila Patron Toyota:

Test run 7. 4.16 at 302…the ignition had a glitch and took 30 degrees of timing out about 1.5 seconds.
Test run 8. 4.10 at 296…nice run, but put a couple of cylinders out at 800 feet
Test run 9. Shutoff at 700 feet…Tommy D made some changes and wanted to get a good reading before they made a full pull…good early numbers though
Test run 10. Shut off at 700 feet…car was on a good pass but put cylinders out before 600 feet and then pushed Alexis towards the center line…car was on a good pass!

Del’s DHL Toyota:

Test run 8. 4.10 311 mph…first full pull for Del!
Test run 9. Tire smoke at step
Test run 10. Tire smoke at 250 feet
Test run 11. Tire smoke at step…to much power!

Thanks everyone and I will type at you tomorrow with some more testing results!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hello Everyone!

Here are some results from day 2 of our testing down at Palm Beach International Raceway in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Doug’s Mac Tools Dragster:

Test 4. 3.79 @ 327 mph…92 degree track
Test 5. Tire shake…we tried a different fuel system setup
Test 6. 3.79 @ 326 mph…different fuel system worked!
Test 7. 3.76 @ 327 mph…Low et and top speed of the day!

Grubby’s Optima Batteries Dragster:

Test 1. Planned shutoff at 330 feet…everything looked good
Test 2. Planned 500 foot shutoff…a little soft, but everything looked good!

Alexis’ Tequila Patron Toyota

Test 3. Planned 600 foot shutoff…good numbers to that point
Test 4. 4.16 @ 268 mph…everything looked good, shutoff at 700-800 feet
Test 5 4.08 @ 302 mph…nice straight run!
Test 6. Dropped cylinder at step and shutoff

Del’s DHL Toyota

Test 4. Tire shake at 100 feet
Test 5. Pulled tires loose at 100 feet
Test 6. 4.24 at 248 mph…looked good but pulled to the center line due to body hitting steering
Test 7. Tire shake at 100 feet

All in all the testing isn’t going bad…the funny cars are making progress and the dragsters seem to be dialed in! I’ll type at you tomorrow with our Wednesday results.

Take care!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Hey Everyone,

Here is a quick update from day 1 of testing down here in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida.

Doug’s Mac Tools Dragster:

Test 1. Tire smoke at about 250 feet
Test 2. 3.79 @ 327 mph…track was 93 degrees
Test 3. Tire smoke at about 400 feet…was running good up until that point

Del’s DHL Toyota Funny Car:

Test 1. Planned 400 foot run…car had god numbers until that point
Test 2. Tire smoke instantly
Test 3. Tire shake at 100 feet

Alexis’ Tequila Patron Toyota:

Test 1. Planned shutoff at 400 feet…car looked good up until that point
Test 2. Dropped cylinder at about 100 feet…shut off shortly after

Grubby’s Optima Batteries Dragster:

No runs yesterday as the team was still finishing up the new chassis…they should make a few laps today.

We should all be able to make a few more laps today than we did yesterday. Type at you tomorrow!

Jim O

Jim “O” Oberhofer
Kalitta Motorsports
1010 James L Hart Parkway
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

POMONA, Calif., (November 11, 2012) – Kalitta Motorsports finished a solid 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series campaign at the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif. Sunday afternoon after achieving many of the goals that were set forth at the beginning of the season.

Jeff Arend, driver of the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, was the most successful at his home track. Arend, who lives ten minutes from the historic Auto Club Raceway of Pomona, laid down his career best numbers in qualifying. His qualifying effort of 4.036 seconds set a career high for Arend, who started the quickest field in Funny Car history in the sixth position. On Sunday, the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car got to the finish line first against John Force in the opening round. For the second consecutive season, Arend finished the season in the top ten in points. He picked up his fourth career win at Chicago earlier this season, and was able to be a part of the first ever Traxxas Shootout. Arend was one of only five drivers to qualify for every race in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car season.

Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, was unable to advance past round one on Sunday, but the nephew of legendary team owner Connie Kalitta had another solid season. Kalitta finished in the sixth place in the standings. In his long and successful career, Kalitta has never finished out of the top ten in points. He made his 55th final round in Bristol, Tenn. early in the season, and had 26 round wins in 2012. He added another No. 1 qualifier award in Sonoma, Calif. and was a member of the inaugural Traxxas Top Fuel Shootout.

David Grubnic, driver of the Optima Batteries Top Fuel Dragster, had a good car in qualifying in Pomona. He earned a bonus point early in the weekend and headed into Sunday in the sixth qualifying position. Although “Grubby” fell in a pedal fest in the first round, the season as a whole was great. Grubnic totaled 16 round wins. The Optima Batteries Dragster proved unbeatable yet again at Topeka, Kan. where Grubnic picked up his third career victory and second at Heartland Park. He finished in the tenth position in the points, which is his third straight top ten placement. Grubnic also earned his ninth No. 1 qualifying spot of his career by leading the very quick Top Fuel field in Reading and was also one of just eight drivers in the first Traxxas Top Fuel Shootout.

Alexis DeJoria, driver of the Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car, has earned a great reputation this year as a rookie in the ultra-competitive Funny Car class. She earned her first career round win at Gainesville early in the season, and then had the best back to back race stretch of her early career as she advanced to the finals in Bristol and the semi-finals in Chicago, where she was defeated by her teammate Arend who went on to win the race. Along the way, she won another round of racing in Sonoma, set new career best numbers in speed and elapsed time and earned the respect of all the drivers in the field. DeJoria will finish the season in the 13th position in the standings and as a nominee for the AAA Road to the Future trophy.

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 Mac Tools 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 Mac Tools 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 and JEGS.

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. Follow us on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/teamkalitta.