NORWALK — The tight community of drag racing said goodbye to a good friend and fellow driver in Scott Kalitta on Thursday evening. Kalitta was taken from the sport and his family in an accident at Englishtown, N.J., last weekend.

After the emotional week since Kalitta’s passing, the drivers honored him the best way they knew how, by climbing back in their cars and trying to qualify for this weekend’s NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

“That’s in the back of everybody’s minds,” said Pro Stock driver Dave Connolly of Elyria. “The Kalitta family, they’re a big part of the drag racing world. We lost a family member last weekend and it’s a shame.

“I see him as a lot more than just a drag racer. He’s also a son to Connie Kalitta and father to his two kids. I feel deeply for the whole family and hopefully they can get back on their feet.”

As the drivers settled into their cars and prepared for the 3:30 qualifying session, the race track experienced a problem with water forming puddles in the lanes. Before laying any rubber on the drag strip, the Funny Cars and Pro Stocks were sent back to the pit area to wait for maintenance to be done.

“It’s real frustrating,” said Connolly. “You come to a race and you would hope that everything is in tip-top shape for the national event because you’ve got 30-40,000 fans sitting in the stands and we’re unable to put on a show for them.

“We have enough things that (are) out of our control as far as Mother Nature. We don’t really need problems with the track like we’ve got today.”

The delay on the track turned into a larger-than-expected problem. After drilling small holes in the track to relieve some of the puddles, more moisture built up on the track.

What was initially expected to be a 10-minute stoppage quickly became a five-hour project that ended qualifying without getting the Pro Stocks, Funny Cars and Top Fuel cars on the track. Despite the hard work and diligence of the track staff who worked on the issue for the entire delay, every time the situation looked under control, a new problem emerged.

“Not only do we have the event, we have the K&N Horsepower Challenge — which is eight qualified cars from the previous season and this season,” said Connolly. “We’re looking at Mother Nature and it’s not looking too good for us. As long as they get the track ready, if the rain stops, we’ll get to race for $50,000.”

Earlier in the day, the Top Alcohol dragsters did get to run one session. North Ridgeville native Dave Weber earned a top-10 spot in qualifying in his first chance on the track.

“We’re up there,” Weber said. “We qualified No. 6 in our first pass. We should have two more qualifying passes, but with the conditions of the track and weather coming, there’s a real good chance we won’t get another one today.”

Weber turned into a prophet when the event was called shortly after 9:30 p.m.

Getting back on the track after nearly a decade-long absence was an accomplishment for Weber and his team.

“We didn’t make any changes,” Weber said of his car. “The driver, which is me, has had a little bit of difficulty adjusting to the higher speeds from what I drove eight years ago.

“I’m still relearning how to drive a racecar. (I came back because I’m) stupid, eager and crazy. I just love it.”

Contact Matt Florjancic at 319-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---