Connie Kalitta has some really cool toys. We all know about his race cars that Connie has been involved in some way, shape, form or fashion since 1959. And, I bet a lot of you blog readers are already aware that Connie also has the really big toys with wings that crisscross the globe on a daily basis delivering air freight for Kalitta Air. It’s not all that often that we at Kalitta Motorsports get to interact with the fine folks over at Kalitta Air, but yesterday, with the help of our friends at ESPN2, we got to over to Kalitta Air and play with one of Connie’s coolest toys – a 747 flight simulator.

Now, by we I mean me, Rahn Tobler, the Mac Tools dragster crew chief, Jon “O”, the Zantrex-3 dragster crew chief, Dave “Grubby” Grubnic, and photojournalist Matt Islas from ESPN. Connie met us over at his simulator building a little afternoon. Now, for those of you that keenly observed that I said “building” just a moment ago, I mean to tell you this is a BIG building and it was built specifically to house the simulator and another simulator when one becomes available. The ceiling in the simulator bay reaches well over 40 feet. When you walk into the bay, the simulator is, well, intimidating. The thing looks kind of like a lunar module on steel stilts. In fact, at first glance, it looks awkward like it might just fall off its hydraulic perch at any moment, but after a closer inspection you quickly realize that it is very secure. I was later told that the whole mechanism sits on a four-foot-thick slab of concrete. That’s a lot of concrete.

I don’t want to spoil what you guys will get to see one day soon on ESPN2, so I’ll just run through my brief experience inside the simulator when Matt was doing some other filming outside. Within a few seconds of the door closing, I felt like I was really in the cockpit of an airplane. The screens that provide the visual display outside the windows are incredibly realistic and the sensation of motion was eerily right on. I was amazed at how it threw me back in the seat on take-off. This thing even has a surround sound system to provide all the right sounds and bumps. The lightning bolt blast in the thunderstorm was way too real for my taste! Grubby was the pilot of my quick simulated voyage and his take-off was very good … great for a person who’s never even flown a plane, let alone a 747. His landing left a little to be desired though. He will emphatically tell you that he purposely tried to bounce our faux plane down the runway to give Matt a better shot of movement from the outside of the simulator, but I think the simulated crosswinds gave him a bit more trouble that he cares to admit. In my favorite Aussie’s defense though, Leon, our instructor, told me that before I went along for a ride, Grubby had made three very nice landings.

Thanks to Connie, Kathy, Leon, T., and all the staff and employees at Kalitta Air for making our visit something none of us will ever forget. Be sure to keep watching ESPN2’s coverage of our fine sport for a whole lot more about Connie’s toy and the day that the race car guys tried to be pilots.

Oh, and be sure to see some more photos of the simulator at www.kalittaracing.com