Hello blog readers,

My name is Clayton and I am a member of the Kalitta Motorsports team. I started out working on Scott’s dragster during 2004 and was moved to Doug’s midseason. I have worked on the clutch, cylinder heads, and now blowers and ignition. Now I shall tackle the daunting task of writing a blog. Our Public Relations Liaison has asked me to write about changes that have taken place over the winter and introduce new team members. The most notable of changes are the result of NHRA’s new rules for the 2008 season.

1. The new SFI spec for the back half of all dragsters. This change increases both the diameter of the top and bottom rails and the wall thickness. This change makes the car heavier which leads me into change number 2.

2. The minimum weight will be increased from 2,250 lbs. to 2,300 pounds. This is to compensate for the new chassis spec plus the weight of an Incident Data Recorder.

3. The Incident Data Recorder, affectionately known as the “Blue Box,” is a mandatory recorder being supplied by Ford Racing that shall be attached to all cars in Top Fuel and Funny Car. This is the equivalent of a “black box” used in airplanes. In the event of a crash this box records inputs from accelerometers mounted in the driver’s earplugs.

An accelerometer measures a change in velocity and gives you a direction for that change. From this you can calculate the amount of force the driver has sustained in the accident and the direction this force was applied. Last and most important you can now improve the driver’s cockpit to distribute these forces so that there is no injury to the driver. On behalf of Kalitta Motorsports and the Mac Tools team I would like to personally thank Ford Racing Technology for there continued support in making drag racing a safer sport.

Now to introduce the newbies on the Mac Tools Dragster team. Coming to you all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada and working on cylinder heads … Frank Dischbein (crowd goes wild!). Many of you may know Frank from his days of competing in his own Top Alcohol Dragster. Frank is responsible for building and maintaining all cylinder heads as well as rocker stands, head gaskets, intake manifolds, valve covers, and headers.

Last but not least we have Randy Shatzer from New Washington, Ohio. Randy is responsible for driving the transporter to the track, maintaining connecting rods, pistons, bearings, rings, wrist pins and all tire maintenance. Randy has worked for Joe Amato Racing and Tuttle Motorsports. Welcome back, Randy.

In closing I am looking forward to the 2008 NHRA drag racing season and hope to meet some of you blog readers along the way. See you soon, Clayton.