SCOTT KALITTA, GONE SUDDENLY
Jun 25, 2008
Author: Bobby Martin

ParkerTech team owner Frank Parker worked on Scott's crew in Top Alcohol and Fuel Funny Car. Scott will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. God Bless Connie, Cathy, Corey and Colin Kalitta, the crew, other family and friends.

Rest In Peace Scott

The above statement comes from directly from Frank Parker. You can now see information about and from Parkertech Racing Services at www.Parkertechracing.com.


Scott Kalitta was a star in our sport for a long time. Indeed, there was a certain magic involved just from the name Kalitta. Connie was one of my early heroes. He was cool because he drove both Funny Cars and Fuel Dragsters. Later, so did Scott. Scott brought his own brand of intensity to the mix. It was amazing that with all he had accomplished in his life, winning drag races was so very important to him. It's been said in nearly every comment written about him so far that he was a great driver. And he certainly had the best of everything when it comes to equipment. That's what makes his passing so especially sobering. There was no driver error. There were no parts on their last legs from which the team was trying to squeeze one more run. He was on a nice pass, in the center of the groove. Then BOOM. Here was one of the most powerful men in the world, someone certainly more in control of his life than most people. He was doing something he loved and with which he had tons of experience. There were no prior signs that anything was going wrong, other than they hadn't really made a great run so far in that event. As a driver it gives me pause because no doubt the car was prepared as well as humanly possible, and again, it certainly doesn't appear that Scott did anything to cause the problem. It does, however, demonstrate that age old saying, we never know when it's our time. Have you thought about where you will spend eternity?

There will be a special memorial event for Scott Thursday evening in the Norwalk area. On NHRA.com it says, "A public memorial service to celebrate the life of Scott Kalitta will be held this Thursday, June 26 at 7 p.m. at Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center, 350 Shady Lane Drive, Norwalk, OH 44857. The Kalitta family appreciates the desire to send flowers to express sympathy and asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to these charities close to Scott's heart."

The school his sons attend:
Saint Stephen's Episcopal School
Attn: Development Office
315 41st Street West
Bradenton, FL 34209

B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe)
c/o Doug Herbert Performance Parts
1443 E. Gaston St.
Lincolnton, NC 28092

*All donations to BRAKES will be used for the expressed purpose of saving lives and keeping our children safe. Website - www.putonthebrakes.com


A private funeral service for family members will be held at a later date.

Cards for Scott's family or Connie can be sent to:
Kalitta Air
818 Willow Run Airport
Ypsilanti, MI 48198

Email condolences can be sent to:
champion@kalittaracing.com


After the service, everyone will get back to the business of racing. It will not be routine after we've lost one of our "main guys," but we will go on. There will be things we have to deal with that we can't control, like the weather. But the Baders have built a racing facility that is absolutely state-of-the-art. As National Dragster's "Tricky Tipster" points out, we have a 5.57 time slip from when this surface was brand new. It'll be interesting to see what kind of performance it yields this weekend. I think records will be set in several categories, even if the weather is a little warm. The reason is the track is completely free of bumps. As a tuner, the toughest thing for me to deal with was a spot on the track that would upset the car. Frank and Dan are better tuners than I, but with this track, they may even be able to beat the '57 given another shot at it. When we ran at the points meet, the air was pretty good, so we'll have to see what happens.

I feel lots of pressure just because Frank and Dan put such a good race car on the track. That usually means the only thing that can go wrong is the driver messing up. There are many things you can do to mess up a run. I'll just try to be steady and consistent, and let that Parkertech power work its magic. Even that's a challenge, though. If it were possible for a human being to perform a task exactly the same over and over there wouldn't be sports like bowling, right? A lot of good teams and drivers will be trying to accomplish the same thing as us. You can check the results at nhra.com and dragracecentral.com. Or if you're in Norwalk this weekend, as a lot of people surely will be, please stop by the Parkertech pits and say hi. We'd love to see ya.