Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season and that the nitro withdrawals haven’t been kicking in too bad yet! So many exciting things have happened since the end of the 2016 NHRA season that I can’t wait to fill you all in about. I’m going to rewind just a bit to get you all caught up.
Although we didn’t end 2016 with a Championship, we did end it with an all-Kalitta Top Fuel final that resulted in Doug and the Mac Tools team taking home their fourth Wally of the year! After all the success we had in 2016 – 7 wins, 3 all-Kalitta finals, 9 number one qualifiers, all four full-time cars finishing in the top 10, etc. – having this outcome at the final race of the year was just the icing on the cake, and I believe it got everyone fired up for the 2017 season.
The Monday after the World Finals, we headed to Hollywood for the NHRA Awards Banquet. It’s always fun to spend time getting dolled up with the lovely ladies of Kalitta Motorsports, and I love seeing the transformation for all the crew guys who go from their typical black pants and crew shirt attire to tuxedos! The 2016 banquet was particularly special for Kalitta Motorsports because our leader, Connie Kalitta, was honored with the first NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award. It was an indescribable honor to be there to witness Connie accepting his award, and I will always be thankful for that opportunity. In my (completely biased) opinion, there is nobody more deserving of such a prestigious award.
Upon returning to Michigan after the end-of-season festivities, it was revealed that there would be quite a few significant changes happening in the Kalitta camp. Del Worsham decided that he wanted to go back to racing with his dad and their family racing team, and this left a vacancy in the seat of the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car. J.R. Todd had previously made mention of being interested in driving a Funny Car, and when he was presented with the opportunity to drive the DHL Camry he said yes! Of course, this then left a vacancy in the SealMaster dragster. Lucky for us, Troy Coughlin Jr. was up for the job of driving the Bounty Hunter tuned machine, and thus our game of drag racing musical chairs came to an end, at least with the drivers. There were a few shifts with the Funny Car crew chiefs that put Nicky Boninfante on the Patron team with Tommy DeLago, Todd Smith on the DHL Funny Car with Jon O, and Glen Huszar on Paul Lee’s McLeod Funny Car with new addition Nick Casertano. A lot of crew guys changed their positions on the cars, but I’ll just mention one instead of boring you with all 14 of the changes: My boyfriend Isaac is now a “bottom end guy” instead of a clutch assistant! I’m so proud of him for taking on this new responsibility, and I’m thankful that his hands will no longer be stained black with clutch dust.
Just a sidenote about Del returning to Worsham Racing – everyone here at Kalitta Motorsports supports Del 110% in his decision to go racing with his dad again. We have had some really great times with him and his family over the years, and we will miss having Del, Connie, Kate, and Maddy in our pits. They are definitely one of the coolest families in drag racing, and we wish them all the best!
After all the chaos of finalizing these changes, it was time to celebrate a very special event: my dad’s 50th birthday! I’ve been counting down the days until he turned half a century old since his 49th birthday, which I know he genuinely appreciated. With a lot of help from Patricia and Sarah, we managed to throw my dad an amazing 50th birthday party, complete with a professional belly dancer (sent courtesy of my great Uncle Ray Oberhofer). It was amazing to see how many people came out to celebrate with my dad – the whole Galvin family came to Michigan from out West, as did Donnie Couch, Alan Reinhart, Gary Nastase, Frank and Maggie Bradley, and Steve and Samantha Bryson! My grandparents drove up from Texas, my Aunt Vicki and Uncle Bob drove over from New Jersey, and so many other amazing friends came in from all over the place for this special event. Seeing how special my dad is to all these people is just an awesome feeling because I’m lucky enough to call the man my Pops.
The day after my dad’s birthday party, it was time for the Kalitta Christmas party! As always, Patricia did a fantastic job of organizing the event. This year the party was ugly sweater themed, and there were some ridiculous sweaters. The winner of the ugliest sweater award? My father. You’ve got to admit, that thing is hideous! Hahaha.
After the Christmas party came the actual Christmas holiday. Isaac and I decided to drive to Maine to spend the holiday with his family, and we had a really great time. I got to experience a wicked Nor’easter, snowmobiling, and for the first time in my life, Star Wars. Isaac convinced me to see Rogue One, and then I was curious about what the other movies were like so we watched Episodes IV, V, and VI. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised with how good the movies actually were!
After our 19-hour road trip back to Michigan, it was time to get back to work. This time of year may be called the “off-season,” but this could actually be the busiest time of the year for us! There are so many projects that have to be completed in the two-month stretch between the Finals in November and the Winternationals in February. This “off-season,” the projects have included fitting Troy Coughlin Jr. in the SealMaster dragster, fitting J.R. in the DHL Funny Car, front-halfing the SealMaster car, front-halfing both the DHL and Patron Funny Cars, putting a new front and back half on Doug’s Mac Tools dragster, building a new chassis for Troy that should be finished around Gainesville, and building a new chassis for Alexis that should be done before Gainesville. After completing the new chassis for Alexis, the chassis shop will build a new chassis for J.R. that should be done sometime in late April. The boys and girls in the Bounty Hunter chassis shop are definitely going to be keeping our Lincoln Welders busy with all these chassis projects!
Outside of their regular projects, the CNC shop has also been busy with the production of Kalitta cylinder heads. The design was just approved by NHRA over the winter and the heads are now going into production. Doug and the Mac Tools team will test the new heads out first while the rest of the cars continue running the Stage 7 Alan Johnson head. The plan is to eventually have all of our cars running Kalitta heads, but while this project is still getting on its feet the Stage 7 Alan Johnson head will be used regularly.
There have also been plenty of trailer projects going on here at the shop. Three of our trailers spent time at Pegasus in Ohio for various repairs and updates, and back at the shop the guys have been doing lots of fabrication for the trailers such as making new shelves, brackets, and organization units. The DHL team has also been busy moving into a brand new Pegasus trailer, so they’ve been cleaning out their old trailer and getting everything set up in the new one.
The marketing team has also stayed busy with getting new wraps designed for the trailers, updating how some of the cars and tow vehicles look, and designing and approving the new firesuits, hero cards, and crew shirts for the teams. Like I said, this is a busy time of year for us!
In less than a month we will be heading west to Phoenix where we will conduct pre-season testing, and the following weekend we will be firing up for the Winter Nationals in Pomona! The 2017 season will be here before you know it, are you ready? I know I am! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their off-season, and make sure to follow along with us @teamkalitta on Twitter and Instagram and “like” Kalitta Motorsports on Facebook to keep your nitro withdrawals at bay!