Kicking Things Off
Hi everyone! I’m sure you’re all already aware, but just in case you aren’t… the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season is officially underway!!! It was so good to get back to the track for Phoenix testing and our season opener in Pomona. We were only away from the track for about three months, but that feels like a long time when you spend 24 (or more) weekends a year at the track!
I was so excited to head to Phoenix for testing for several reasons. First and foremost, it gave me the opportunity to get out of Michigan and into some warmer weather for a few days! Second, the dry desert weather treats my hair much better than the humid, snowy, rainy conditions here in Michigan (lol). Third, I just really enjoy testing. In one sense, testing is kind of calm compared to an actual race weekend because it’s basically just the teams out at the tracks, not really any fans, so it’s relatively quiet aside from the sound of the cars. In another sense, pre-season testing is pure craziness, especially when you have four cars that are all running on different schedules trying to make as many laps as they can every day for three or four days straight. The day typically starts out with everyone on a close schedule; everyone in our camp is ready to fire their cars up around the same time and head to the lanes to make their first lap. However, if one of the teams encounters an issue during the warmup or at another point while still in the pits or takes a bit longer on the turnaround, they can fall behind compared to the other cars. Because of this, our cars end up running at varying times for the rest of the day and I end up running around like a crazy person trying to keep up so I can do Periscopes and Facebook Lives and things of that nature to keep the fans up to date on everything that’s happening. It’s crazy busy, but it’s so much fun to me and I just really enjoy it – going to the stands and having my pick of the seats of where I want to sit to get on-track video, being able to drive a golf cart through relatively empty pits, and not having to worry about the typical stresses that come along with a race weekend.
Testing went pretty well for all four of the Kalitta cars. Of course, there were some struggles since we had guys taking on new roles on the cars for this season, crew chief swaps, two “new” drivers in J.R. and Troy, and the teams were trying new things out. It’s testing! Lots of trial and error takes place, and that’s how we learn new things that will (hopefully) make our cars run better and help make the teams function smoothly at actual races.
Once testing concluded on Sunday, it was time to think about the Super Bowl! I was excited to watch this game because I’m a Patriots fan (have been since 2005) and so is my boyfriend Isaac and my “uncle” Michael Phillips! I completely didn’t think that the Patriots were going to come back after the first half, but I’m so glad they did. It definitely made for one of the most exciting games of football that I’ve ever seen. Regardless of who you were cheering for, I think we can all agree that game was one for the books!
Once the Super Bowl ends is when the real fun starts, because that’s when we head to Pomona for the Winternationals! This year we kicked the season off with a pep-talk from Alexis’ dad, John Paul DeJoria, on Thursday. There’s really only one word to describe this pep-talk, and that word is awesome. It was fascinating to listen to JP talk about his life and tell personal stories about how he started his businesses and basically worked his way up from nothing. One of the coolest things was that he gave everyone the opportunity to ask questions, and he gave advice on how his experiences could help us achieve our personal goals, business or otherwise. It would be impossible to convey everything that he talked about and do it the justice that it deserves, so I’ll just end this part by saying thank you John Paul, and “be an eagle!”
The Winternationals always seem to be pretty high energy, at least from what I’ve noticed in the past five years that I’ve been going. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s the first race of the year and everyone’s stoked to be back at the track, but this year our team had even more reason to be pumped up because we had three new partners in attendance! During the offseason, we formed partnerships with WIX Filters, Global Electronic Technology, and Spy Optic, and we had attendees from all three of these great organizations. We also welcomed JEGS Performance back to the team after adding Troy to the Kalitta stable of drivers, so we had a lot of great people from JEGS in our pits. In addition to our new partners, we also had many of our long-running partners out at the track from Toyota, Red Line Oil, SealMaster, Justice Brothers, DHL, and so many more that have helped Kalitta Motorsports grow into the organization that it is today. I don’t think we’ve ever had so many sponsors in our hospitality area at once! It was great to see everyone mingling and having a good time, and it was even better to put on a good show for them.
Troy Coughlin Jr. (who I call TJ) had a great debut in the SealMaster dragster! TJ reset his career best ET several times during the weekend and scored his first round win of his Top Fuel career! The entire Coughlin family seemed really excited for TJ. His dad Troy Coughlin Sr., Uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr., and Grandpa Jeg Coughlin Sr. were all there on the line to cheer TJ on, and it was heartwarming to see all the support they were showing him. The Coughlins are a racing family, as are the Kalittas, and I think they fit in perfectly with us.
J.R. also had a pretty successful debut in the DHL/WIX Filters Toyota Camry! After encountering some ignition wiring issues during qualifying, the DHL team got things fixed up and ready for raceday. In the first round of eliminations, J.R. ran his career best E.T. and speed in Funny Car with a 3.902 at 330.72 mph to score his first Funny Car round victory over Tim Wilkerson and his 150th professional round win! I was so proud and happy to see both J.R. and TJ have such strong starts to the season, it definitely makes me excited to see what’s going to come next.
It was so nice to have Alexis back at the track with us. We really missed her during the World Finals in November, so it was great to see her back behind the wheel of the Patron Camry and making some nice passes down the track! I believe that the off-season changes that included moving Nicky Boninfante and Dave “Bigfoot” Boyer to the Patron team will prove to be very beneficial as this season progresses. Not only will they bring their tuning and leadership skills, but they will bring their comedic skills as well. Nicky and Bigfoot are two of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, so you can bet that team Patron will be having lots of laughs this year!
Doug and the Mac Tools team were on a roll in Pomona. Phoenix test was the first time I got to witness a 3.6-second run from that team, and I was thrilled! Can you imagine my excitement when they made six consecutive 3.6-second passes?! I was over the moon! I know how much potential that team has, and I was just so proud to be able to witness their outstanding performance. When my dad and I were walking to the starting line for one of the qualifying rounds, I asked him what he was thinking for this pass. He responded by saying “Me and Troy (Fasching) ain’t being bashful this year. We’re acting like every race is our last.” This was followed by a stellar pass that earned them three more bonus points, and I just thought to myself “jeez, I guess he wasn’t lying!”
Even though Doug didn’t win the race in Pomona, I couldn’t be happier. There’s a bit of a superstition in the Kalitta pits about winning the Winternationals being bad luck. Both times my dad worked on a car that won the Winternats (in 2005 with Scott and in 2009 with Doug), the rest of the season was unsuccessful. Both times, the car finished 9th in points and not another race was won for the whole year. So, both my dad and I try to put a positive spin on not winning the Winternats by recalling these stats and focusing on the next race!
Before we headed back to Michigan on Tuesday, we got to spend some time with Steve and Samantha Bryson from Global Electronic Technology. They invited us to their home to have dinner, and we had a really nice time. The food was great, and the company was even better. Their enthusiasm about the weekend we had in Pomona was enough to get us all pumped up and ready to head to Phoenix to see if we could keep the momentum going! Steve and Samantha are definitely two of the nicest people out there, and their hospitality is so greatly appreciated.
The weekend after the Winternats, I got to witness one of my favorite things: seeing my dad on the dance floor! The dance studio he goes to, Footnotes Ballroom in Ann Arbor, was having their four-year anniversary showcase, and my dad was signed up to do a Cha Cha. Even after turning 50, the man still has moves! And that gold sparkly shirt he was wearing? Too fly for words. Great job Pops, can’t wait to see what kind of goofy getup Trish has you wear next time!
Before we got the race weekend started in Phoenix, we kicked things off in Nashville at Mac Tools Tool Fair. My dad was scheduled to speak on Friday morning as a part of the kickoff they do before Tool Fair gets underway, so I flew down to Nashville with Doug Kalitta, Rachel DeLago, and Bob Lawson on Thursday evening (my dad arrived on Wednesday) so that we could watch my dad speak and then head to the airport to fly to Phoenix and get qualifying underway. I’ve seen my dad speak a few times before, but never to a group quite as large as he had during Tool Fair. Never one to be phased by pressure, he did a phenomenal job. I was so proud of how well he did, and it was so nice to hear from different distributors about how much his words meant to them. Speaking at Tool Fair made for a long day since we went straight from Nashville to Phoenix and then had only about an hour before Q1 began, but it was totally worth it!
Our weekend in Phoenix wasn’t exactly the most exciting, unfortunately. The two highlights were TJ and J.R. resetting their career-best elapsed times once again. As of writing this, TJ’s career best ET is now a 3.696 (which was his first pass in the 3.60 range) and J.R.’s is a 3.887 (which is his second pass in the 3.80 range) and I have a feeling it won’t be long until they reset these bests again!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now, folks! Until next time, make sure you follow along with us @teamkalitta on Twitter and Instagram and “like” Kalitta Motorsports on Facebook to stay up to date with all the #KalittaStrong happenings in Ypsilanti and on the road!