Scott Kalitta RIP

Drag racing lost a great racer, from a great racing family today.

Just heard this a little bit ago on the nascar countdown.

RIP

From the 2007 Winternationals

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2007 Joliet

Englishtown is my home track and almost a second home growing up. It hurts to know another life has been taken by the earth wall protecting pension road.

God bless Connie and the family, and the extended family that is the drag racing community.

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Taken at the Southern Nationals in Commece, Georgia 4-25- 2008

Another great person taken away from the sport. NHRA has lost to many in a short period of time. Prayers go out to the Kalitta family.

2007 Pre-Season Testing
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2008 NHRA Summit Nationals
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2006 Baytown, Texas. RIP Scott.

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Horrible accident! RIP Scott

Our prayers and thoughts go out to Conrad and the Kalitta family. Mabye this is the wrong time to say this but I feel that NHRA has lost too may drivers lately and maybe they need to open their eyes and really look at the situation and open their minds to the possibility of a 1000 ft track? That or more real estate? We go to Pomona for the races and when that track ends in sand, there is a street with traffic behind it-walkers, cycylists and cars! Then there is a golf course. What would have happened if Scott was at Pomona? It's a tragedy waiting to happen.

jerbear79 wrote in post #5770482
Our prayers and thoughts go out to Conrad and the Kalitta family. Mabye this is the wrong time to say this but I feel that NHRA has lost too may drivers lately and maybe they need to open their eyes and really look at the situation and open their minds to the possibility of a 1000 ft track? That or more real estate? We go to Pomona for the races and when that track ends in sand, there is a street with traffic behind it-walkers, cycylists and cars! Then there is a golf course. What would have happened if Scott was at Pomona? It's a tragedy waiting to happen.

Google Earth and Google Maps (search that site for "old bridge township raceway park") show there's also a public road behind the Englishtown gravel pit at the end of the strip. That's not uncommon for drag strips; the National Trail Raceway outside Columbus, Ohio has a similar situation.

Google Earth also shows that the drag strip is about the same length - 3,600 feet or so - as the airstrip next door. That leaves a couple of thousand feet for the cars to stop. Sadly, it's hard to think of any sort of conventional drag strip that would have allowed enough length for Kalitta's car to have stopped without running out of room.

Around 15-20 years ago, after another series of crashes in the nitro classes, the NHRA considered cutting the courses to 1,000 feet, but no changes were made. Instead, gearing and supercharger limits were imposed to slow the nitro cars. Also, there are stories that Kalitta's catastrophic engine failure happened at the 1,000-foot mark.

Been going to NHRA races since I was 4 or 5, and been a Kalitta Racing fan since then. Scott is truely going to be missed.

This is a picture I took of Scott dropping a cylinder during qualifying on Friday for the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN.....just a couple of months ago.

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Scott's last run. Englishtown 6-21-08

Man what an accident. Like everyone has said, my prayers go out to his family.

Beautiful shot StanNJ1!

That is a great shot, StanNJ1. Yet another blow to the NHRA family of drag racers. He will definitely be missed.

2008 Winternationals at Pomona