	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 25, 2016

Doug Kalitta

Glendora, California

THE MODERATOR: Next up we are joined by Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster. Kalitta has won three consecutive Top Fuel races, Houston, Atlanta and Topeka, is the current Top Fuel points leader. It marks the first time in his storied career that he has won three consecutive events. Doug, when a team is on a streak like this, how hard is it to take a week off?

DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, you know, when you have four coming up, actually let the guys regroup a little bit after two in a row. I think the timing is good actually to take a weekend off, and with the holiday weekend and everything else. But we'll definitely be ready for Epping and the remaining -- and the other three races that we have in a row there. The guys are back at the shop now, and I'm a little bit behind. I was down at the office in Columbus and got in a little bit late there, guys.

Q. Congratulations on three in a row. That is pretty spectacular at that level to be able to do that, and then to have one of those three go down in the record books as one of the tightest races in the history of the NHRA, you've got to be feeling pretty good about yourself and the car.
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, you know, there's been a lot of drag racing over the years, and we're pretty proud of -- pretty lucky actually to end up having such a close race like that. But yeah, to have kind of a historical run like that or whatever you want to call it, to be that close with somebody was very cool in my book, and in my guys', as well.

Q. The last two weeks Jimbo has made no bones about how great of a fuel car driver you are. Does it tell you that to try to get you pumped up before the race, too, or does he just let the results speak for themselves?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, no, we're -- obviously we have meetings and whatnot, and we're all trying to pump one another up. But Jim is doing an incredible job with the car along with Troy and all the guys that work on that Mac Tools car. As long as I've been out there doing this kind of stuff, I mean, I'm just real fortunate to have such a great team at the moment. And then obviously winning these things aren't easy, so yeah, we've managed to pull off three in a row. It's crazy circumstances with all three of them probably, but we did manage to get three in a row, so we're hoping to definitely keep this momentum going.

Q. Is there anything extra special about when the tool trucks line up and you get the win light?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah. You know, Antron and his team, they've obviously got the No. 1 on their car, so it looks like they're running well. There's obviously a lot of good running cars in our class there. But yeah, you can't deny that, you've got two tool cars out there. That business is all about selling tools for both of our sponsors. Any time you can get by those guys, it's definitely a good day.

Q. Doug, you mentioned Jim and obviously how important he is to your team. I don't mean this negatively, but is he overlooked sometimes as one of the top tuners in the sport, or do you think he gets the recognition that he deserves?
DOUG KALITTA: I think he -- I actually think he does. Jim has been doing this a long time, and obviously he's very good at what he does. But yeah, we -- we're super proud of what he's done with my car, and obviously we have a total -- the four-car team with Kalitta Motorsports, and really building the team, his communication skills are very good. Building the team comes -- it's what he thrives to do is make Kalitta Motorsports obviously a competitive -- four competitive cars, and he surrounds himself with good people, and obviously that's what Connie is doing with having him in charge and everybody that he's agreed to put in place.

Jim and Connie work real well together I personally feel, and yeah, just -- he does a great job, and we're just hoping to get some great results out of the mark tools car this year with what we've done so far. We're pretty proud of that, and we want to be ready for those last six races and take a serious run at the championship. That's definitely our end goal here.

Q. Doug, you're a very quiet, very reserved individual. What was your heart and your mind telling you as you lined up at Topeka and you had to know deep inside, this could be my third in a row?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah. You know, usually when you're going rounds, you're real focused on just getting the win. To be honest with you, I really wasn't giving that a lot of thought. When you've got Antron Brown in the other lane and everybody's car is running good, you're just really trying to focus on the job at hand. Certainly when you get done with the run and you find out you won, then your mind starts shifting gears a little bit. But at the starting line it's all business, and we're just trying to get the win light. It was definitely an interesting race.

Like with Matt, the round before us, they both smoked the tires, so you don't give it a lot of thought, and you just hope obviously the thing is going to stay hooked up and get a good run in. But you kind of remind yourself that this thing could smoke the tires or whatever and to be ready. But that's kind of the mindset that you've got sitting there getting ready to go.

Q. Did you ever in your career think, I can win three in a row?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, certainly. We go to all these races thinking that we're going to win. That's the beauty part about working with my -- Jim and my group of guys there. They definitely see me as a car that can do it, it's just a matter of making it happen. But certainly winning three in a row is a huge thing for me and all the Mac Tools distributors and Brett Shaw and all the guys there at Mac. And Tommy, obviously, too. We all know how hard these things are to win, and we certainly take pride in it.

Q. So you've probably kept this one off your mind, but it could be four in a row at Epping. How has your performance been at Epping, and do you feel like you have a real chance at four in a row?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, Epping is -- actually it's a beautiful area. I think the first year we went there I was runner-up. So I was feeling pretty good about winning that day. The last couple years I don't think we've made it to the final there, but that's one of the places I haven't won at. It's on my list, my things-to-do list. Coincidentally it would be four in a row if we can do it there, so we'll go there -- obviously my car has been qualifying good, we'll take it one step at a time, get qualified good and go into race day and let it happen, see what happens.

Q. Doug, that final in Topeka, seeing the car go sideways, we talked to Matt a little bit about his final, but kind of walk us through that run. What goes through your mind? Were you looking almost straight at the guard wall, or do you think, well, I should just lift, or is it just do anything you can to get that car down the track?
DOUG KALITTA: Yeah, I mean, when you're doing all that stuff to try to get your car down and you don't see the other guy, I mean, you're still very hopeful that you're going to get the win. Certainly it's not ideal, and you're doing all you can do. But yeah, if you don't see the other guy, you've still got a chance, and you're doing all you can do to get it down there.

With my car, it left and went straight in the smoke. I managed to gather the thing back up and was going again, and then it broke loose again, which usually once you get the car hooked up, it usually doesn't blow the tires off two thirds of the way down the track, but it did. It was just one of those things, you're sideways and I did what I had to do to get it straightened out. But it actually did get a little further sideways than I've had it in the past and tried to keep going. But it seemed pretty comfortable, and I pulled it off. Yeah, it worked out okay.

And Antron, he seen what was going on, and obviously he had a head of steam, and it was a close race. But we were fortunate to get by those guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297