I’ll introduce the rest of the team to you in alphabetical order.

Next would be Jason Davis. He was bleeding the clutch system when I caught up with him the other day. Most of the time when you see him at the shop or at a race, he is doing something having to do with the clutch. He is the “clutch guy” on our KB Racing Dragster. He makes sure we have six clutches serviced and ready to begin each race. He said for each run we make, it takes about 80 minutes worth of time away from the car, per clutch setup. That doesn’t include the time taking the clutch in and out. We made 196 runs last year so clutch work kept Jason busy. The work can be day in the trailer at races or at the shop.

Most recently he did the clutch on the winning dragster that Scott Kalitta drove in Australia. Not only did he do the clutch, but he helped on the motor too, which he doesn’t usually have time for at races in the states. Jason said he really enjoyed their trip down under and he wouldn’t mind living there one day. He now resides in Belleville, Mich., and is originally from Miamisburg, Ohio.

Scott Finnis’s job on our team probably couldn’t be more different than Jason’s. At the races, Scott does one side of the cylinder heads. In Michigan, he doesn’t even work in the same part of the shop. Most of the time, he works in the Kalitta machine room with Jim Becker, Bryan Landry and Dave Griffiths. Scott has also been learning about, and running the new CNC. When most of the team is on the road traveling, Scott stays working in the shop, doing a lot of fabricating. Then he flies into the races on Friday with Connie and Doug Kalitta and flies home with them on Sunday night.

Scott used to work on Doug’s sprint car team. He started out as a truck washer, stayed with the team for five years, and was a contributing team member when they won the sprint car World championship in 1994. By 1998, he was recruited to work on Connie’s dragster and has been drag racing ever since. Scott and his wife, Andrea, have a son named Cola and a daughter named Lola.

Chris Glass, who is in charge of short blocks and doing the bottom end for our team, just added to his family. He and his wife, Lisa, had a baby girl last November. He was a little nervous at our last race in Pomona, because he was in California and Lisa was in Michigan ready to have the baby at any time. Kylie, waited for Chris and was born on the 18th. The three of them reside in Livonia, Mich.

Chris is working on getting his CDL license so he can drive either our KB 18-wheeler or the support truck and trailer. He now has a permit and his first driving experience for the new license will be to drive to Vegas for testing (with two other team members in the rig as well). On typical days at the shop, Chris is in the motor room assembling motors. He likes to keep eight motors ready at all times. We keep six in the trailer, one in the car, and one in the support trailer. He does spend a lot of time on the phone ordering parts. Jim Becker orders the cranks and blocks, but Chris orders the other stuff for all the KB top fuel motors.

So there’s a little bit about Jason, Scott, and Chris. That doesn’t even scratch the surface on talking about all the work that they do. I keep hoping one of them will write a blog. Jason actually said he would write one about their Australia experience but they’re pretty busy right now. Tomorrow, I’ll include James Holifield, Mike LaJoice, and Mac Savage.