For Jim Oberhofer, crew chief of the Doug Kalitta-driven Top Fuel dragster for Kalitta Motorsports, the thought of watching, much less participating in, ballroom dancing used to be as appealing as racing cars in a circle. “Not in a million years did I ever think that I would be dancing,” Oberhofer recalled. “It looked as about as fun as watching them roundy-round boys go fast and turn left, and I’d rather watch paint dry in the rain than do that.”
 
Oberhofer’s still not a NASCAR fan these days, but his attitude toward ballroom dancing has taken a 180-degree heel turn. On July 31, during a break in the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule, Oberhofer and his wife Tammy were among dancers that dazzled a crowd of over 150 onlookers by dancing in a showcase at The Dance Pavilion near their home and the Kalitta Motorsports race shop in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Oberhofers performed for two minutes each with Jim displaying his Foxtrot prowess and Tammy wowing with her Waltz.

For Jim Oberhofer, crew chief of the Doug Kalitta-driven Top Fuel dragster for Kalitta Motorsports, the thought of watching, much less participating in, ballroom dancing used to be as appealing as racing cars in a circle. “Not in a million years did I ever think that I would be dancing,” Oberhofer recalled. “It looked as about as fun as watching them roundy-round boys go fast and turn left, and I’d rather watch paint dry in the rain than do that.”
 
Oberhofer’s still not a NASCAR fan these days, but his attitude toward ballroom dancing has taken a 180-degree heel turn. On July 31, during a break in the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule, Oberhofer and his wife Tammy were among dancers that dazzled a crowd of over 150 onlookers by dancing in a showcase at The Dance Pavilion near their home and the Kalitta Motorsports race shop in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Oberhofers performed for two minutes each with Jim displaying his Foxtrot prowess and Tammy wowing with her Waltz.
 
“It all started as an anniversary gift for Tammy,” Oberhofer continued. “She had been bugging me for years to do something like this, but I always managed to come up with another gift idea and get my way out of it. Finally, I broke down and bought us the lessons.”
 
The couple started taking lessons in January of this year after their 17th wedding anniversary last December 20th.  Almost as quickly as Kalitta’s Top Fueler, the most recent NHRA event winner in Denver, July 25, blisters down 1,000-ft. drag strips across the U.S., Oberhofer’s affinity for dancing was sudden and is still clearly evidenced by his graceful morning jaunts through the halls of Kalitta Motorsports’ offices showing off the moves he learned at The Dance Pavilion the afternoon prior.
 
“I never imagined it could be this much fun. We started taking lessons more frequently and Tammy and I both got individual instructors (Jim with Trish Stuckey and Tammy with Chad Brown).  We both love it. It’s a lot of fun and we’ve even got our daughter Ashley, 15, taking lessons now.”
 
“He’s come a long way,” Stuckey added. “When he first started he had absolutely no rhythm.”
 
The dancing lessons have not only enlightened Oberhofer’s cultural perspective, but have helped him lose an astonishing 70 pounds since the beginning of the year.
 
Although a Facebook fan page, “Get Jim Oberhofer to be on Dancing With the Stars”, has been set up to help promote his dancing endeavors, Oberhofer has no delusions of dancing grandeur…for the time being, anyway. “That might be cool to do sometime in the future, but I’m a long way away from that yet. Right now I’d better concentrate on getting our dragster in the winner’s circle a few more times this year and making a run at the championship and then perfecting my Rumba moves.”