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NHRA: Kalitta Wants to Pick Up a Habit at NHRA Pontiac Excitement Nationals

4 June 1998

HEBRON, Ohio - Former Winston Top Fuel Champion Scott Kalitta had a peculiar habit during four of his last five years of driving. It's a habit that his cousin Doug Kalitta would like to pick up during this week's (June 12-14) running of the NHRA Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing at National Trail Raceway.

For reasons unknown, Scott would not come into form until the running of this event. In 1993 all three of his final rounds came after racing here. In 1994 he won this event along with the next three to become the first Top Fuel driver ever to win four events in a row. He went on to the next two finals for a then record of six in a row and threw in another along the way for a total of seven final rounds with five wins. After winning this race in 1995 he went on to win five more events and runner-up in the Big Bud Shootout. In 1996 he went to three finals after this event; he won once and won his first Big Bud Shootout. As a result of this quirk, Scott, who retired at the end of last season, finished second in Winston points in 1993 and 1996, and won the Winston Top Fuel Championship in 1994 and 1995.

With Scott's retirement and team owner Connie Kalitta still on hiatus, Doug stepped in as the driver of the American International Airways/Kitty Hawk entry in January. The former midget and Sprint Car driver who won the 1994 USAC National Sprint Car Championship has adjusted very quickly to going straight. He has qualified for all but one of the nine events completed and was the runner-up at last month's Castrol Lone Star Nationals where he was the number two qualifier and held low elapsed time of the event with a career-best 4.629-second run. He has also maintained a spot in the Winston Top Ten for six of those events and is currently eighth. On the round-track Doug collected 14 wins in the midget and seven in the sprint car. He is eager to add his first Top Fuel win to the list.

Like his uncle and his cousin, Doug got into racing early. At the age of 9 he followed his father Doug Sr., into motorcycle racing and from there he went to go-carts. After serving as a crew member on Connie's team during most of the 1980s, Doug began driving the Kalitta Flying Service midget entry in 1990 and a year later took the wheel of the sprint car. -MORE- -2-

One of the youngest persons ever to receive a rating for a Learjet (he was 21 when he received his in 1985) Doug serves as vice president of Central and South American operations at American International Airways in Ypsilanti, Mich. A worldwide air cargo carrier, AIA merged with Dallas-based Kitty Hawk late last year to become Kitty Hawk, Inc., the seventh-largest cargo carrier in the world. Doug, 33, of Ann Arbor, Mich., also is a pilot for the company rated for DC-8 and Hawker aircraft in addition to the Learjet.

In addition to Scott's two wins he was also the number one qualifier in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Connie has been to three final rounds at this event. After claiming the number one qualifying spot in 1965, he finished runner-up to Maynard Rupp. In 1986 he took the win over Joe Amato and finished runner-up to Don Prudhomme in 1992. Former Funny Car and Top Fuel driver Ed McCulloch, the crew chief on the AIA/Kitty Hawk entry, was the Funny Car winner here in 1972.

Doug will get his first chance to add to the team's accomplishments when qualifying begins on Friday, June 12 with sessions at 3 and 7 p.m. Qualifying continues with two more sessions on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Final eliminations will begin at 11 a.m., Sunday, June 14. ABC will televise one hour of coverage from the Pontiac Excitement Nationals on Sunday, June 21 at 5 p.m. (EDT).