First Fulltime Season for Kalitta Motorsports Headed in Right Direction …

Jeff Arend knew from the moment he was appointed as the temporary replacement driver for the late Scott Kalitta, the pressure of performing had the potential to be overwhelming. These were big shoes to fill and for Arend, accepting the challenge required his willingness to go forward in the same nature as the driver he was succeeding – wide open forward.

That kind of an attitude will always triumph with or without the win light illuminating after a run; at least that’s how Arend sees it. First Fulltime Season for Kalitta Motorsports Headed in Right Direction …

Jeff Arend knew from the moment he was appointed as the temporary replacement driver for the late Scott Kalitta, the pressure of performing had the potential to be overwhelming. These were big shoes to fill and for Arend, accepting the challenge required his willingness to go forward in the same nature as the driver he was succeeding – wide open forward.

That kind of an attitude will always triumph with or without the win light illuminating after a run; at least that’s how Arend sees it.

For Arend, his curved road to security straightened with the announcement he would be the only full-tour nitro driver for Team Kalitta in 2009, driving the DHL-sponsored entry. Arend is paired with two predominant Top Fuel tuners in Jon Oberhofer and Nicky Boninfante. Oberhofer and Boninfante came over from the Doug Kalitta dragster, which has been cut back to a limited schedule in 2009.

The team admittedly struggled in the two major pre-season tests. Making just one full pull in 18 attempts, the team turned negatives into positives which showed in the season opening Winternationals in Pomona.

“We had a problem in our clutch management system and we didn’t find it until after the Phoenix test,” Arend admitted. "The [clutch] system works now, but it is going to take a few runs to start getting a handle on it better. Once we get all of that dialed in, our team will do even better."

Resolving one issue doesn't automatically make for a perfect run and until a team has tested what they've changed the results are difficult to predict.

“We came into Pomona not really knowing what to expect," Arend said.

In the second pair of nitro cars to make a qualifying attempt and on an obviously green Pomona racing surface, Arend skated his way to the No. 10 spot with a safe 4.22 elapsed time. He lost in the first round to eventual semi-finalist Gary Densham, but the lead-off event has established a foundation the team can build on.

“The whole team worked well together,” Arend added. “I had a good light and pedaled the car well. Only one car really made a full run in the right lane and it was [eventual winner, Ron] Capps and he still had to pedal it. The conditions were pretty hard to tune for.