The second-generation competitor has made a successful return to NHRA drag racing, scoring a pair of top five qualifying efforts at the two POWERade Series national events. But it wasn't too long ago when most wondered if the Northwest native would ever return to the straight-line set. Even Kalivoda had some doubts.

"There's a tendency to want to (give up)," Kalivoda said. "But as soon as that thought enters your mind, and I'll speak kind of in the third person here, as an aspiring driver you just have to push (those thoughts) out, if you made a determination that this is what you want to do.

"That's what I have done. It's taken a lot of persistence to get to the point to be able to drive these things. It's taken a lot of hard work to get here. I've told a lot of folks that I'm not going to go away that easy. It took a lot persistence of knocking on doors to get back out here. So there's a tendency to want (to give up), but you just have to remain positive and put the next foot forward, and if you've decided you want to do this, you have to dedicate your life to it and do it."

Which is what Kalivoda has done.

For Brady Kalivoda, life is good these days
 

The second-generation competitor has made a successful return to NHRA drag racing, scoring a pair of top five qualifying efforts at the two POWERade Series national events. But it wasn't too long ago when most wondered if the Northwest native would ever return to the straight-line set. Even Kalivoda had some doubts.

"There's a tendency to want to (give up)," Kalivoda said. "But as soon as that thought enters your mind, and I'll speak kind of in the third person here, as an aspiring driver you just have to push (those thoughts) out, if you made a determination that this is what you want to do.

"That's what I have done. It's taken a lot of persistence to get to the point to be able to drive these things. It's taken a lot of hard work to get here. I've told a lot of folks that I'm not going to go away that easy. It took a lot persistence of knocking on doors to get back out here. So there's a tendency to want (to give up), but you just have to remain positive and put the next foot forward, and if you've decided you want to do this, you have to dedicate your life to it and do it."

Which is what Kalivoda has done.

The son of famed NHRA racer Dick Kalivoda grew up in the sport. But his baptism to NHRA drag racing came via the mechanical side. He served as a crew member for several top drivers, including Tom Hoover, Jim Head, Clay Millican, and Tony Schumacher. He then caught a break and moved into the driver's cockpit, driving for the Peek Bros. entry in 2002. He drove the Bill Miller Engineering dragster in 2004 and 2005, and showed his ability by qualifying for all of the 15 events the team entered.

But circumstances beyond his control pushed him out of the BME entry in early 2005. After spending the past two years competing in Germany, a new set of circumstances brought him back to POWERade Series drag racing.
 

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Those connections came together early last month when Kalivoda, with backing from former Pro Stock competitor George Marnell, landed the opportunity to drive the Coghlan Motorsports Top Fuel entry for the Summitracing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.

"It's outstanding and great to be back," Kalivoda said. "It takes a lot of work from a lot of people, and this whole deal just came together. Tim and Renee Coghlan put this team together, and they have an outstanding team, beginning with crew chief Keith Adams and all the guys; it's a veteran crew. This whole deal came together (prior to Las Vegas) with Marnell Masonry and Moorefield Construction - that's George Marnell, an outstanding racer in his own right who thought it would be fun to come and do this."

It gave Marnell a chance to get back in the game, albeit from an entirely different view then had been used to before.

"Drag racing has always been my love since I was a kid," Marnell said. "I actually got involved in (this deal with Coghlan Motorsports) through a business associated (Larry Moorefield). He called me and said, 'Listen, I have a young kid (Kalivoda) who really needs some help and I'm going to help him out a little bit and I'd really appreciate it if you could help, too.'

"I thought it would be a fun deal, especially (with the team debuting at Las Vegas). So I got involved, and it really was exciting and I had a blast."

At Las Vegas Kalivoda and crew turned some heads when the Coghlan Motorsports entry dipped into the 4.4-second barrier with a 4.490 pass at 329.42 mph to earn Kalivoda a career-best No. 2 starting position. For a minute, Marnell felt like he was competing again, and in a different way, he was.

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"It was very similar to when I was racing," Marnell said. "I've never been on that side of it before. I was always the one who was involved first hand. But I've never sat back and looked at it from that perspective before. I thought it was great. It was a lot of fun. It put a lot more interest in the game for us. It was almost like getting back in the game."

Kalivoda, with help from The Pearl River Resort and Casino in Choctaw, Miss., then followed it up with another stout qualifying effort at Atlanta, securing the No. 3 spot with a very solid 4.519. The team followed up by advancing to the second round of eliminations.

"It's just great," Kalivoda said. "But as cool as it is, I'm just standing on the pedal. It's really all the work that the guys on this team do. It's so special. It's outstanding. Up until (this season) my career-best starting position was eighth. It's just great. It's long been my dream to do this and (the past two events) have been a dream."

And the hope is to continue those good feelings. For now, the team's next scheduled event is the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., later this month. But Kalivoda says the team is eyeing a full pull in 2008, if they can find the funding.

"We're really putting together the 2008 program now," said Kalivoda, who is 1-2 during eliminations in the two events the team has entered. "A function of that is remaining visible and staying out here, in the meantime. It's much easier to go to these Fortune 500 companies with some ESPN footage from the track and showing what you can do instead of showing them a bunch of pictures and saying, 'This is what it looks like. Trust us and we'll represent you well and do good.'

"Not that it's easy (to get sponsorship), but it's easier when you're out here showing them what you can do. So the intention for the remainder of (2007) is to pick and choose (events to compete in) and build momentum for 2008."

There's no doubt Kalivoda will do his part.