Hello everyone from the right tip of the Volunteer State. For those of you that don’t know, I am from the fine state of Tennessee. I was born and raised on the left side near Memphis. I’ve lived in the great white north now for almost two years now near the Kalitta Motorsports World Headquarters in Ypsilanti, but I am always happy to return to my birth state. I just wished they would turn the heat down a little!

Well, here we are in the third round of our six-round bout with the travel gods, which they will win! I thought it was about time I caught you avid blog fans up on some of the happenings with Team Kalitta. As I’m sure most of you know, we lost a dear member of our team’s family last week with the passing of Doug Kalitta, Sr. I was privileged enough to know him over these past few years in my tenure with Kalitta Motorsports, and I am so grateful to have. He was the most vibrant soul I can ever remember dealing with in my 36 years on this Earth. His smile was more than infectious; it was contagious because of the way he interacted with you. It was impossible not to walk away from a conversation with Senior without smiling or laughing, but I, like everyone else, usually did both. He will be forever missed.



Senior’s funeral and the proximity of the Norwalk event to our race shop had our building buzzing with drag racing personalities earlier this week. Cameron Evans, the son of the late, great NHRA TV personality Steve Evans and the marketing guru at Red Line Oil, stopped by for a shop visit as well as Don “the Snake” Prudhomme, “Waterbed” Fred Miller, Alan Reinhart, and the Technicoat “Cowboys”, Bob and Glen. Cameron, Ben Marshall, Reinhart and Dave Grubnic all made a visit over to Kalitta Air’s 747 simulator (see also the “Flying the friendly (if faux) skies” blog from Wednesday, March 14, 2007). They got a couple of hours of flying time in with one of Connie’s pilots and everyone had a blast!

Tuesday night was the annual Rick Fischer (of Fischer Honda fame) fireworks extravaganza out at his home in Brighton, Mich. Now, I’m not talking a few sparklers and some roman candles here folks. Rick’s fireworks show rivals the shows that some major cities put on. This year was the biggest and best I’ve seen. Thanks to Rick for showing us all a great time and helping us celebrate our country’s independence! And, thanks to the lovely and talented Miss Hillary Will for contributing the accompanying photo! Isn’t that a cool shot?



Wednesday, the Cowboys, the O-Bros, Grubby, Ben, Doug Kalitta and I all went to chase the little white ball around at the golf course across the street from the shop. I’d like to tell you that I shot better than I did, but let’s just say I have a century’s worth of practice to do! Cowboy Glen took the honors of having the best game, 87, and he was playing with rented clubs. We would have all been in even bigger trouble if he had his own clubs! We all had a great time. Doug rode in the cart with me all day and had me laughing the entire time. Doug is such a funny guy. It was really good to have him out there with us. I’m sure this past week has been really hard on him, Josie, Mitchell, Avery and the whole Kalitta family, so I’m glad he got a chance to relax a bit.

That’s all for now. See you at the drags!



Todd has left the building.