Backstretch Motorsports

You never think about it. It all happens so fast.

It was a ‘freak accident’ , a moment in time, where everything had to happen in just the right way for everything to go so tragically wrong. And now, Scott Kalitta is gone too soon.

He was in the show.

He qualified for his last event on his last pass of the last round of the day. I would like to think he knew that before …

The violence of the crash was like something unseen before, still everyone watched hoping.

It was very clear that something horrible, something unthinkable had happened. The stunned crowd was silent, drivers began scrambling to see and to find out.

With each moment that passed as the NHRA Safety Safari worked diligently to remove Kallita from what was left of his DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car; the word began to spread.

Scott Kalitta was gone.

Scott Kalitta, 46, died at the same track where his career began in 1982., the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., in the Funny Cars where he belonged,

He was cut from the cloth, from one the most famous families the sport has ever known. There was a time where at any given track the name Kalitta was feared. You couldn’t beat them. Last thing any competitor wanted to see was a Kalitta dragster staging in the opposite lane.

Kalitta’s father, Connie Kalitta, was one of the sport’s founding fathers in the 1950s and ’60s, building and driving an infamous string of front-engined Top Fuel dragsters bearing the name “Bounty Hunter.” Connie Kalitta was a no-compromise, no-excuses, no-retreat, hard-nosed competitor who raced to win and did whatever was necessary to accomplish that.

Scott Kalitta was no different. He was tough, un-compromising, a champion racer. He had two Top Fuel NHRA championships under his belt.

He took time away from the sport to be with his family. To raise his sons. To run the thriving Kalitta Air transport business.

And he wanted the feel of a drag car at 300+ MPH again. He was a drag racer. It is what drove him to return.

These men and women that strap into these hurtling pieces of machinery know the possibilties. They know the dangers exist.

They feel the pain, and understand the loss of one of their own. The fight the fears, they will cry the tears. But they will race.

It’s a passion that cannot be explained.

Come tomorrow, they’ll be back doing what they love, each with a sense of renewal, and new battle cry; “Let’s win this one for Scott”.

There are always the issues that come up after something like this tragic event happens. There will be the reviews of safety specialists that will analyze this catastrophe, with fine tooth comb. And with that will come new safety features and findings that will make Kalitta’s fellow competitors safer.

I think they would trade every finding for just another chance to side up in the staging lane against one of the toughest racers the drag racing fraternity has ever known.

So long, Scott.