NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In business and in drag racing, few fly higher or have been more successful than Connie Kalitta. Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2002, Kalitta carved out a reputation as a talented and determined drag racer in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, ultimately winning 10 NHRA national event titles, including the biggest of them all, the U.S. Nationals, in 1994. Kalitta’s first win came at the 1967 NHRA Winternationals.

 

Connie’s late son Scott, won two NHRA Top Fuel championships and 18 national events while his nephew, Doug, has amassed 42 career wins in Top Fuel. Today, Kalitta Motorsports fields four cars, including Doug’s Mac Tools Top Fueler, the SealMaster dragster of J.R. Todd that Kalitta himself tunes, and the Toyota Funny Cars of reigning world champ Del Worsham and Alexis DeJoria. All told, Kalitta entries have won nearly 90 NHRA national events.

 

In fact, it was his winnings in drag racing that enabled him to purchase one airplane that started him in the airline business in 1967 when he began transporting parts for the automotive business with a twin engine Cessna 310 that he piloted himself. Over the years, Kalitta grew from a one-airplane operation into a substantial airline conglomerate, American International Airways, Inc. (AIA), that used B747, L1011, DC8, B727, Twin Beech and Learjet aircraft in worldwide airfreight, air ambulance and charter passenger operations.

 

In 2000 he formed Kalitta Air, with three Boeing 747 aircraft, and the fleet has grown to a present total of 15 Boeing 747 aircraft and 2 Boeing 767 aircraft. Capable of air express delivery of virtually any type of freight, the company provides scheduled and on-demand charter service for customers in the United States and around the world, including the Unites States Postal Service and Air Mobility Command.