The Calm After (and before) the Swings
Howdy! My last blog left off talking about Englishtown, so let’s pick up with Bristol. Thunder Valley is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit because it’s one of the most scenic. I mean, the track is literally carved into a valley! Having the track in that valley gives a unique experience because you can hear the echoes of all the cars, which is really neat. This year, Bristol wasn’t super eventful for us in regards to racing. Both Alexis and Doug advanced to the semifinals, but Del faced a second-round loss to Alexis and J.R. faced a first-round loss against Tony Schumacher.
Even though the racing didn’t work out in our favor, I was still happy to be able to spend Father’s Day with my dad at the track! As usual, I was having a hard time figuring out what to buy my dad for the holiday, but a few weeks prior to Bristol I noticed that Connie Kalitta was wearing a FitBit. I saw my dad and Connie talking about the Rad Man’s new gadget, and then decided that would be a cool thing to get him! So now, my dad and Connie have matching FitBits. Maybe they’ll start challenging each other to see who can get more steps!
The past few years, my dad and I have road-tripped it down to Bristol. It’s only about a nine hour drive from Ypsilanti, and it’s a beautiful drive through the mountains! This year, we made a very special stop at the original Kentucky Fried Chicken in Corbin, Ky. My dad said “I’ve been driving by this place for almost 30 years and I’ve never stopped, so we’re stopping this year!” I wasn’t going to argue with him because I love KFC’s macaroni and cheese. So, we ended up stopping there not just on the way to Bristol, but on the way back to Michigan as well. Stopping at the original KFC also gave us a cool social media event that I was pretty proud of. I snapped a picture of my dad with a Colonel Sanders statue, tweeted it out, tagged KFC, and they retweeted us! I’m very happy that my dad finally got to stop there, and I’m excited for next year’s road trip because I have a feeling we’ll end up there again!
The family fun continued once we returned from Bristol. My grandparents, Dave and Sue O, flew to Michigan to spend some time with all of the Michigan “O’s” before, during, and after Norwalk. My grandparents seem to be becoming regulars on the NHRA circuit, and that’s A-OK with me. Dave O even made it into one of the Facebook Live videos that I posted over the weekend! The best part about my grandparents coming up was that my grandma’s sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle), Vicki and Bob, drove over from New Jersey to surprise my grandma. Seeing Aunt Vicki and Uncle Bob surprise my grandma was so amazing. She never suspected a thing!
We ended the four race “Eastern Swing” at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, which is basically our home track since it’s only two hours from our shop in Ypsilanti. Norwalk is always a busy event for us since we’re so close to home, and both Mac Tools and SealMaster are based in Ohio so it’s like their home track as well! Our hospitality area was full of family, friends, and sponsors for the entire weekend, and it was great to put on a pretty good show for them. Doug and the Mac Tools team qualified in the No. 1 spot for the third time this season, running a track record 3.719 second ET to earn some green hats and a bye run in first round. Del and the DHL team also earned the pole position by running a track record ET of 3.875 at 328.7 miles per hour, and that became Del’s new career-best ET! Unfortunately, things got a bit sandy in the DHL pit after Del’s parachute failed to deploy on his Q4 pass and he ended up in the sand trap. Going into the sand requires a lot of cleanup; everything has to be taken apart, inspected, cleaned, and put back together. This made for a late night for the yella fellas, but they still earned the green number one qualifier hats and a first round bye run.
The DHL team was really hoping for a strong comeback after going into the sand, but their day ended earlier than hoped when they lost to Tommy Johnson Jr. in round two. Doug and J.R. got paired up in the semi-finals, and J.R. piloted the SealMaster machine to a win over Doug to head to his second final round of the year. The Bounty Hunter led crew would meet up with Shawn Langdon in the final, and Langdon would cross the finish line first to get the win. It can be pretty disappointing to be that close to getting a win but falling short, but that’s just part of racing. It was time to pack up, head home, and get ready to head to Chicago after our first off weekend in about a month.
This year was the first time we haven’t had a race on Fourth of July weekend in quite a while, so it was fun to be able to celebrate somewhere other than the racetrack! Isaac and I got to celebrate by going camping and canoeing with our friends Arielle and Adem (who works on the SealMaster dragster). I had only been camping twice previous to this trip, and I’d never been canoeing before, so I was looking forward to the weekend. To make things even better, Arielle ended up getting a puppy right before our trip, so we had a furry little companion to go on adventures with us! I must say, I was very impressed with myself when we went canoeing. I was 100% sure I would end up flipping the canoe over at least once, but it never happened! Woohoo!
After the fun weekend, it was time to get back to work and ready for Chicago. When Del went into the sand trap, there was some damage to the Toyota Camry body. The body had to be sent to Roush to get repaired, then to Steve Dekenga to get repainted, and then back to our shop to make sure it fit onto the chassis correctly. Once all the repairs were made and the guys made sure the body fit on the chassis, it was ready to race! They ran the repaired body during Q1 at Chicago without any problems, posting a solid 3.930 ET to start the weekend off strong. Shout out to everyone who contributed to getting that body back in tip-top shape in no time!
Although Del was eliminated in round one on Sunday, our weekend in Chicago went pretty well. Alexis qualified in the number three spot with a great 3.887 ET and advanced to the second round, Doug also qualified third as and advanced to the second round, and J.R. went to back-to-back finals for the first time in his career! J.R. has really been on it lately – cutting really good reaction times, showcasing his driving skills when the car gets a bit squirrelly, and doing all sorts of fun media things like taking over the NHRA Snapchat! The whole SealMaster team has been working really hard, and it’s so awesome to see that car going rounds. Both of the wins that J.R. has with Kalitta Motorsports have come during the Western Swing (Denver ’14, Seattle ’15), so I’m hoping that he’ll be able to claim his third as a part of our team during this year’s Western Swing!
In preparation for the Western Swing, I decided to make a change. If you’ve ever met me or seen me around, you may have noticed that my hair was really long. I’ve pretty much always had long hair, but I was growing my hair out for a special reason the past few years – I wanted to donate it in honor of my mom. While I was in Chicago, I decided that it was time to make the cut, so I booked an appointment to get my locks chopped off! It’s been a bit of an adjustment to get used to my “short” hair, but I’m really excited to be able to help the Children With Hair Loss organization and hopefully make a positive impact on someone’s life. :)
It’s always exciting to head to my favorite race of the year, Denver! Bandimere Speedway has been my favorite track since the first time I remember going there in 2004, and I always look forward to heading back for the Mile High Nationals. Racing at such a high altitude can be tricky, but that makes this race even more exciting! You can have a sea-level tune-up dialed in and struggle when you get to Denver, and it can also be the exact opposite. Troy Fasching, Assistant Crew Chief on the Mac Tools dragster, probably sums up Denver the best for the tuners: “I love going there, I hate racing there.” Lucky for me, I don’t tune one of these beasts so I just get to sit back, enjoy the show and the scenery, and update all of our fans of what’s going on through our social media channels!
I got some of the SealMaster guys to pose as the "pot of gold" under the rainbow on Friday!
Qualifying went pretty well for our cars this weekend in Denver – all four of our Toyota Racing hot rods qualified in the top half of the field! Friday and Saturday were pretty long days due to rain delays, and Saturday was even longer after Alexis went into the sand and the DHL team had an issue with their braking system. The parachute on Alexis’ car got tangled up in the wheelie bar upon deployment, and by the time it finally blossomed, the Patron Camry was headed right into the sand trap. Just like when Del went into the sand in Norwalk, it was a long night for the crew because of all the cleaning. You don’t want to find any pebbles where they don’t belong in one of these cars, so it’s a tedious process of pulling everything apart, examining it, and putting it back together.
Sunday morning came much too soon after being at the track so late, but it was time for raceday! This Sunday was pretty exciting since we were going to be live on FOX, and this marked the first time an NHRA event was broadcast live on a national network. So, the crews prepped the cars, the crew chiefs adjusted their tuneups, and then we headed to the lanes for first round. Both Doug and Alexis suffered first round losses, but J.R. and Del were able to advance to the semifinals before being eliminated. Even though we didn’t leave the mountain with a Wally this year, Denver will still hold a special place in my heart as my favorite track.
After J.R. and Del were eliminated in the semis, I headed to the airport with Doug Kalitta and some other members of Kalitta Motorsports to fly back to Michigan. Upon exiting the plane back in Ypsilanti, it was refreshing to be able to take a deep breath at a more normal altitude! There are now just a few days until the next stop on the Western Swing: Sonoma. My next few days will entail laundry and school work as I finish out my semester, and I will also be spending quality time with my cat since I’ll be staying on the road between Sonoma and Seattle.
If you aren’t able to join us at the races, you can follow along with all things #KalittaStrong by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and Periscope @teamkalitta and by “liking” Kalitta Motorsports on Facebook. Blog at ya soon!