Time flies when you’re having fun
Since my last blog, we’ve been to six races that have gone pretty well for us – five of these six races had a Team Kalitta car in the final round! Sonoma was the first of these six events, and J.R. picked up his first win of 2016 at the Toyota Sonoma Nationals there in wine country. Since J.R. joined our team, his three wins have all come during the Western Swing; Denver in 2014, Seattle in 2015, and now Sonoma in 2016. Winning in Sonoma was pretty special for J.R. since 10 years ago, he won there with Eric Medlen. It was really cool to see Eric’s mom, Mimi, join J.R. in the winner’s circle for a few photos. I’m glad that she got to be there, and I’m glad that J.R. got to win for his buddy
The SealMaster team’s win in Sonoma gave a pretty good end to a day that started off pretty bad. As you probably know by now, Alexis was injured during an accident in first round of Funny Car on Sunday in Sonoma. From where I was standing, it was hard to see what had actually happened, but I was able to hear Alan Reinhart say she had hit the wall pretty hard, and then heard him say that she was out of the car under her own power. Hearing him say she was out of the car so quickly was one of the most relieving things that could have happened in that moment. Alexis headed to the hospital where they found she had fractured her pelvis, and this resulted in Alexis staying home during the Seattle and Brainerd events to recover. It was so weird being at the track and not having Alexis or the Patron guys there during Seattle and Brainerd, but I was thankful that she was taking the time to recover so that she could come back out and be on her A-game. It was really great when Indy finally rolled around and we got to see Alexis again and hear about her recovery and how well it was going. It’s amazing to me that she healed a fracture as quickly as she did! I guess when you’re as tough as Alexis DeJoria, you won’t let some silly little fracture get in the way of doing what you want to do.
After our fun little mini-vacation, it was time to get back to racing and wrap up the Western Swing. The conditions in Seattle were pretty good for racing – cloud cover, not too hot, and pretty dry for most of the weekend! Del’s DHL Camry was on a roll during that weekend. All four of his qualifying passes were strong, and then during Q3 he ran a 3.841 at 330 mph, that was a new world record ET! Seeing a 3.85 was already crazy enough, but a 3.841?! Get outta here. My amazement wouldn’t end there though, because the DHL team laid down a stellar 3.832 at 330 mph in Q4 to reset the record, earn the number one qualifying position, and leave me pretty much speechless. The DHL team swept the bonus points in Seattle by running low E.T. of each qualifying session! The best part about the whole thing for me was that I got to be at the top end when Del exited his car after Q4, and I got to hear him say “that’s just silly” in reference to how fast he had just ran. That was easily my favorite quote of the day!
We got hit with some rain on Sunday morning that delayed the start of eliminations, but once it finally cleared we were able to start racing. Conditions were good, so we knew first round would be tough. Doug was paired with Richie Crampton in first round, and that’s always a tough match. Even though Doug ran a solid 3.75, Aaron Brooks tuned Richie to a stout 3.69 to end the Mac Tools team’s day early. After defeating Troy Buff in first round, J.R. advanced to round two where he would race his pal Shawn Langdon. Connie and Rob Flynn were clearly ready for this tough race, tuning J.R.’s SealMaster hot rod to a career best 3.698 to get the win. It still blows my mind that these dragsters are running in the 3.6-second zone! We saw another 3.69 in the semis, but this time it came from Steve Torrence to get the win over J.R. Del continued his streak of 3.8-second passes, running a 3.86 to defeat Tim Gibbons in first round, a 3.88 to defeat Robert Hight in round two, and a 3.86 to get the win against Matt Hagan and advance to the final round against Ron Capps. Unfortunately, it began to rain and we weren’t able to run the final in Seattle, so it got pushed to Brainerd.
Once we were back at the shop after Seattle, our chassis shop crew had their hands full. They had to front half J.R.’s car, front half Doug’s car, repair the chassis and body from Alexis’ crash in Sonoma, and they were also in the process of building a brand new chassis for Doug! With a lot of hard work by the whole crew, they got everything done for the dragsters to head to Brainerd and continued making progress on Alexis’ car while we were gone.
When we were finally able to run the final round from Seattle, Capps got the win. However, the DHL team turned their luck around that Sunday and was able to win all four rounds of racing and earn the Wally! It was great to go from being disappointed about losing the makeup race from Seattle on Saturday to winning the Brainerd event on Sunday. It was a really special win because that race marked Del’s 500th career race-day start, and he had never won in Brainerd before. It was really cool to have Del’s wife and daughters there to celebrate those milestones with him! Connie, Maddy, and Kate Worsham are all just really great people and I love when they get to come out to the track. Del’s daughters crack me up! Maybe you’ve heard of “dabbing,” which is some kind of dance thing where people “dab” their head into their elbows? Well, after winning the race in Brainerd, Kate and Maddy attempted to show Jon O how to “dab” so he could send a picture to his daughters. I still don’t think Jon O fully understands what “dabbing” is, but it was definitely fun to watch him try to learn!
After a relaxing off weekend, it was time to get ready for the madness of Indy. The U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis is easily our biggest race of the year, and it’s also the longest since it’s a four day race instead of three. Also, we run the Traxxas Shootout on Saturday and Sunday, so it makes for a very busy weekend. We didn’t have much success with the Traxxas Shootout this year, but we did have both Doug and J.R. advance to the semifinals on Monday, Del made it all the way to the final round, and Alexis clinched her spot in the Countdown! Even though we weren’t able to bring home a Wally, it was still a successful weekend as a whole. I mean, having a car in the final round at Indy is a pretty big deal even if you don’t win, so that’s something to be proud of! Something else that made the weekend so special was running a special DHL/Mello Yello scheme on Del’s car. It was exciting to change up the look of the car, even if it was just for one race.
As Indy came to a close, it was time to start thinking about the big picture: the 2016 NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Competition has been tough in both classes all year long, so it was an impressive feat to have Doug and Del start from the number two spots in their classes when the points were reset. Doug made it to the final round in Charlotte where he raced the point leader, Antron Brown. Antron won the race, but Doug was able to leave in the number two spot. Del made it to the semis before Tommy Johnson Jr. sent him packing, and Del was also able to leave Charlotte in second place.
After Charlotte, our guys headed straight to St. Louis with all of the trucks and trailers to get ready for another hot weekend. It had been about 90 degrees and humid all weekend in Charlotte, and the weather was going to be about the same in St. Louis. The hot weather made for some tricky racing conditions on Sunday, and we didn’t have the performance we were hoping for. Del and Alexis had tough competition in first round, racing John Force and Tommy Johnson Jr. respectively, and both suffered first round exits. J.R. had a strong showing in his SealMaster dragster, advancing to the semifinals before Tony Schumacher got the win over him. Doug made it to the second round in his special look DeWalt FlexVolt dragster before dropping a cylinder and losing to Shawn Langdon. The bright side was that Shawn Langdon actually took out Antron Brown in first round, so Doug was able to make up some ground on Antron and is now less than a round out of first place! Of course, the team was hoping to make more of a move than they did, but they will have another opportunity this weekend in Reading.
I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely have #CountdownFever! This is such an exciting part of the year for many reasons – the points have been reset, we’re racing for championships, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes are now available at Starbuck’s. It’s crazy to think that there are only four races left in the 2016 season, but it’s not over yet! This Countdown is sure to be an exciting one, so be sure to follow along with @teamkalitta on social media to keep up with us and all the excitement! Take care, I’ll blog at you soon!