Hi, Keith Stewart here from the clutch department of Kalitta Motorsports. I am the clutch guy on the DHL-sponsored Toyota Solara Funny Car, driven by Scott Kalitta. I was recently talking with our publicist, Todd Myers, and he asked me to write a blog for you guys, so here it is, in black and white.



As I was paging through the files in my brain, trying to come up with something to write about, something really jumped out at me. What was it? The astounding level that the competition has reached in the nitro classes. One word sums it up: BRUTAL. Let’s take a second to think about this, guys; not too long ago, a 4.79 would have earned you a top-four starting spot in the Funny Car class, and a “still impressive in my mind” 4.57 would have landed you inside the top eight in Top Fuel, right? Well, now my friends, you aren’t safely in the show without running a low 4.70 in Funny Car or a low 4.50 in Top Fuel. And the other wild thing about all of this is there are 15 very stout cars in both classes now. So what has actually occurred here is we have a very small window for margin of error, or missing the tune-up, or making mistakes. And as good as most racetracks are on the Friday night sessions, you really have to take a monster to the starting line, to make it down there, and post a blazing quick E.T. or your chance to get in the show just dropped dramatically. And everyone knows in doing that you just might smoke the tires, because you tried to rotate the Earth, and there goes the same chance, up in smoke. Now you’re left with the two Saturday sessions, in the heat of the day, and usually you can’t run as quick as the night session, so you know you are in trouble.



I don’t think this is an issue we need to fix. What needs to happen is we have to get better at running our cars and making every run count and one tremendous key run completion -- completing the run under power at the finish line. The more you do that, the more you learn, and the more you get good at doing it and the more competitive you become. Overall, it takes time and if you drag your feet and take too long, the competition will simply run you over in what has become a stampede of hot rod racecars.



Everyone knows we haven’t had the normal Kalitta year here, where we have been setting the bar and making the record runs and winning the races. What a lot of people don’t see however is the immense mountain of work that these racecars create, and running good or bad is irrelevant as far as the workload goes. The crew guys still have the same work to do, the crew chiefs still have to try and figure out how to make the cars quicker, and safer, the office still has to pay the bills, and the general manager still has to answer to the sponsors with a reason for the recent misfortunes of a DNQ or first-round loss. That’s a job that many of us wouldn’t want, I promise you. And, of course, let’s not leave the drivers out, as they still have to promote themselves, the team, and the sponsors even though they can’t say they won the last event and are leading the points. In other words, the beat does go on.



In closing, I think I’d like to pay tribute to something that I think we all forget sometimes when things aren’t perfect: The Human Spirit. After all, that’s what drives everything I’ve written above, isn’t it? Being more competitive, doing the work, promoting the teams, and paying the bills all comes from the human spirit. And I guess the question is: Is that sometimes the area we need to look at to get better? When you have the best of everything, and you are surrounded by the best people in your life, maybe at times a look in the mirror will do you good. I’ve done it, and it has helped me at times. So go give it a shot, and see if it works for you.



Take care blog readers, till next time they ask me to write again, I’m out of here, and back to work…

I’d also like to say hello to my family, Carol, Savannah & Brooke. You are my Human Spirit and I love you guys.