The 2009 season appears on the horizon to be one of the leanest years in recent history for the Kalitta Motorsports operation. The loss of primary funding for the dragsters of Doug Kalitta and David Grubnic along with the failure to procure sponsorship for Hillary Will’s KB Racing, Kalitta Motorsports-managed dragster has the team facing the unenviable prospect of fielding a single Top Fuel dragster for 2009, albeit on a limited schedule.

Recently CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Jim Oberhofer, one of the front-men for the Kalitta Motorsports operation to discuss the future of the popular team amidst a worldwide drag racing crisis.

The 2009 season appears on the horizon to be one of the leanest years in recent history for the Kalitta Motorsports

operation. The loss of primary funding for the dragsters of Doug Kalitta and David Grubnic along with the failure to procure sponsorship for Hillary Will’s KB Racing, Kalitta Motorsports-managed dragster has the team facing the unenviable prospect of fielding a single Top Fuel dragster for 2009, albeit on a limited schedule.

Recently CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Jim Oberhofer, one of the front-men for the Kalitta Motorsports operation to discuss the future of the popular team amidst a worldwide drag racing crisis.


CP – THIS LOOKS TO BE A PRETTY LEAN TIME FOR KALITTA MOTORSPORTS. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR 2009?

JO – Some people think that Kalitta Motorsports has an endless supply of money and that is just not true, just like with Ken Black. Everyone thinks they have more money than they know what to do with and it is just not true.

Right now we will be running Scott’s Funny Car full-time carrying the DHL colors with Jeff Arend driving at all 24 events in 2009. We will determine how often we race Doug’s car on a race-by-race basis.

There are a lot of people who don’t understand the relationship that Connie Kalittas company Kalitta Air has with DHL. Kalitta Air is one of DHL’s largest customers in the world. The DHL sponsorship of the Funny Car is somewhat of a perk for Connie but something that DHL uses to entertain their U.S. customers. We work mainly with the people at DHL Global and they have been great to our team. Our intentions are to go out and run the Funny Car as hard as we can and contend for a championship.

You know I have sat back and read the comments of some of the fans and those against the 1000 foot racing but I don’t think everyone understands the exact reasons that we went to 1000 feet. I think if the people who are against 1000 feet saw the wreckage and the other things I have seen from Scott's accident they might change their opinion. If these people knew what Connie and Scott's family is going through right now they might change their opinion. The 1000 foot rule was done strictly in the name of safety. Connie Kalitta is the most hardcore drag racer on earth and he was and is a major supporter of 1000 feet 

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CP – WITH THE CONFIRMATIONS OF DAVE GRUBNIC AND HILLARY WILL BEING PARKED DUE TO LACK OF PRIMARY FUNDING FOR 2009, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DOUG KALITTA WITH THE LOSS OF MAC TOOLS?

JO – Obviously, the loss of Mac Tools as a primary sponsor is a huge blow to this team. They’ve been with us since 2001 and have been a great partner. We knew that Mac Tools’ involvement was going to change for 2009 but this is going to make things even more difficult than we anticipated.

Funding will be tricky for Doug’s car in 2009. The good news is that we have many longtime partners like Red Line Oil and Technicoat and others who will help.

Obviously Connie will help through his business Kalitta Air but we are going to have to watch how we run the car and what we spend on it. We may have to sit out runs. We want to do what we can to keep Kalitta Airs involvement to a minimum. Maybe we can pick up a couple of one race deals that can help keep Doug’s car out there. It’s going to be tough.

The one thing we can’t do is compromise the way we are going to run Scotts Funny Car, That wouldn’t be fair to DHL or the Funny Car team.


CP - WHAT HAPPENED THERE? IT APPEARED THAT YOU GUYS WERE OKAY WITH A REDUCED SCHEDULE OF 10 RACES AND THE NEXT THING THAT WE SEE IS A STATEMENT FROM MAC TOOLS ENDING THE ASSOCIATION ….

JO – Mac Tools has been struggling lately with the economy and they have been trying awful hard to keep our program alive. 2008 was the final year of our contract and both Kalitta Motorsports and Mac Tools were working hard to put something together for 2009. We thought we were heading in a positive direction.

But, the bottom line is that if Mac Tools isn’t selling tools it makes it hard for them to be a primary sponsor on a Top Fuel Dragster. With each day that the economy got worse, it made it a bigger challenge for Mac Tools continuing as a primary sponsor on Doug’s car.

 

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CP –KALITTA MOTORSPORTS HAS ALWAYS FOUND A WAY TO RACE WHEN THE SPONSOR DOLLARS JUST WEREN’T THERE. THIS SEASON IS LARGELY DIFFERENT. IS CONNIE’S HEART STILL IN DRAG RACING FOLLOWING SCOTT’S DEATH?

JO – It’s certainly a major factor because for the last twenty-five to thirty years Connie raced because it was a time that he could spend with his family. That meant time with his son Scott and later on time with his grandsons, Corey and Collin. He also got to spend time with his nephew Doug and his brother Doug Sr. Now both Scott and Doug Sr. are gone and it makes it tough for him but he does love drag racing. It would have been easy for Connie to just park everything following Scott’s death and I think everyone would have understood.

I know things have changed for Connie quite a bit but he still does have a passion for drag racing. His role at the race track has changed over the last year with his being on the board of PRO. He is involved in a lot of the politics now which is something he was never involved in. Sometimes I think coming to the track has become aggravating for him.

Connie has always worked hard so he can race. The economy has been hard on his business. He used to do about 15 trips a week out of Hong Kong and now that is down to about 3. People just aren’t buying things and with that nobody is shipping anything. Kalitta Air has gone through its share of layoffs over the last couple of months. In the past Connie would never lay off people but he is almost 71 years old and I just don’t think he is going to risk everything like he has in the past. He is doing what he can do to make sure Kalitta Air survives.


CP – YOU ARE PRETTY PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT CONNIE KALITTA HAS DONE FOR DRAG RACING …

JO – Connie has done so much for me and my family and for the sport of drag racing. Here is a man who I would put up against anyone in terms of how much of his own money he has spent in drag racing. I don’t think there is anyone who can hold a candle to him. He just isn’t in the sport for a few years then goes away.

Sometimes I think the sport has taken advantage of Connie. Sometimes I think most people just assume he is always going to be out there. I think the NHRA just takes for granted that Connie is always going to have a car running out there whether or not he has a sponsor. I wouldn’t blame Connie if he parked Doug’s car because of lack of sponsorship.

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CP – DO YOU FEEL AS IF THERE ARE THOSE WHO DIDN’T TAKE CONNIE SERIOUS ABOUT RACING?

JO – I know people who have believed such a thing and they are dead wrong. He is very serious. Just because he doesn’t make a living drag racing doesn’t mean he isn’t as serious as someone who does. If you take a look at the facility that we have and the equipment that we have you would know that Connie is serious. Kalitta Motorsports is a business and Connie is a man that spends millions of dollars each year even though there are sponsors names on his cars. He wants to make sure that he gives his sponsors the best of everything. Connie isn’t looking to get rich off of drag racing, he looks for enough money to cover payroll and parts. We look at doing what we can to be fair with a sponsor. Connie is out here supporting this sport and like I said before I think people just take him for granted.

If you took guys like Connie Kalitta, Don Schumacher, Ken Black, Jim Head and many others who support this sport out of their own pocket out of this sport it would be very different. You would have maybe 10 to 12 nitro teams out there racing who could make a little money or break even. If you have only 10 to 12 nitro teams competing then maybe you would have no sport.

CP – DID IT BOTHER YOU THAT MAC TOOLS DROPPED KALITTA MOTORSPORTS YET RETAINED THE NHRA SPONSORSHIP OF THE U.S. NATIONALS?

JO – No, it doesn’t because you have a company like Mac Tools and they honor their contracts. They have a contract in place with the NHRA to sponsor that event. Trust me when I say that if the NHRA contract with Mac Tools to sponsor the U.S. Nationals was up at the end of 2008, Mac Tools would not have been back for 2009. I am 99.9% sure that wouldn’t happen.

I know some people want to sit there and question why we are losing our primary deal and they (NHRA) are keeping their sponsorship but it is strictly a deal where a contract is in place and Mac Tools will honor it. Unfortunately for us, our contract ended in 2008. If our contract ended in 2009, we’d be fine.

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CP – DO YOU THINK THE NHRA IS DOING ANYTHING TO BRING RELIEF TO THE TEAMS?

JO – No. Unfortunately I don’t see NHRA acknowledging what is going on. It is almost like they (NHRA) are turning their heads away hoping this problem goes away. It’s not going away. Many teams are in real trouble. We could lose 5 Top Fuel Teams that finished in the top ten in 2008 and a few more that went to all the events. I also don’t think there is enough being done for our fans.

If I was NHRA, I would be trying to figure out a way to help our fans. We are a source of entertainment. We are not a necessity for anybody. Your average family doesn’t have to go to a drag race. People are cutting back everywhere.

NHRA Drag Racing is one of many sources of entertainment. Maybe a family might want to go to three forms of entertainment this year but their budget will only allow them to go to one. We need to do whatever we can to make sure that an NHRA Drag Race is the best option available.

You have to put people in the stands. NHRA should take a look a cutting the events back to two days or cutting ticket prices. NHRA needs to reach out to their fans and potential new fans and say “We understand the financial hardships you are experiencing today. We want to do what we can to help so that you can have some form of entertainment during these hard times”. Cutting ticket prices would go a long way in my opinion.

Cutting an event back to two days would save the teams a ton of money with travel expenses. It would also save our fans money with their travel expenses. Right now I just don’t see anything being done to help out the teams or the fans, without either there is no NHRA.

DID YOU SEE A DEFINITE IMPROVEMENT ON THE CONDITION OF MOTORSPORTS FOR 2010?

JO – We would like to have a positive outlook on 2010. We are working with IMG and they feel that 2010 could be a good year in regards to sponsorships.

I believe that there are companies that have money but no one is willing to take a chance right now. No one wants to be accountable for making the decision to spend a few million dollars on a race car sponsorship not knowing if it is going to work. I think there are a lot of companies that watched our sport in 2008 and there will be more watching in 2009. We hope that in 2010 these companies will get involved and be a part of our team or the sport. I think you will see companies who can’t afford NASCAR get involved in the NHRA over the next few years. It would be a real shame if drivers like Hillary and Grubnic continue to sit on the sidelines.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is still a good bargain for a company wishing to get involved with Motorsports. We want companies to think they are still buying a Cadillac even though they are only paying Yugo money. You don’t want companies feeling in the end that you get what you pay for. You want a potential sponsor to feel that a drag racing program far exceeds their expectations and it just doesn’t meet their needs. They say sometimes it is easier to find a sponsor than it is to keep one and that requires work and creativity from everyone involved. We want a sponsor to believe this is the best investment they have ever had.  This is where a partnership between the teams and the NHRA would help.

CP - ONE LAST QUESTION, YOU RECENTLY WENT TO AUSTRALIA WITH DRIVER HILLARY WILL AND THERE YOU RAN 1320 FEET THERE AS OPPOSED TO 1000 FOOT IN THE UNITED STATES. WHAT WERE YOUR FEELINGS?

JO – First thing, Jim Read graciously offered to allow us to run 1000 feet if we wanted to. I told him that we would run the 1320 because I didn’t want them to have to change everything just to accommodate us for just one race. I didn’t think much about it but as we got closer to running the race I thought about it more.

I do admit that I got a little nervous about going back to the quarter-mile. The reason we went to 1000 foot were safety issues because of what happened to Scott. The closer we got to the Aussie event the more nervous I got. When we made it down to Australia, Jim Read put some of my fears at ease with the things he had done with the race track. Jim Read and his crew at WSID did some real cool things with their sand trap that would be very cost effective for track owners here in the States. Any track that is balking at the cost of redoing their sand traps should take a look at what WSID did with theirs

We offered some suggestions to some other safety issues and Jim did everything we asked. Even though I was still a bit nervous I felt better about running the quarter-mile. I know one thing that last 320 feet took forever. I know that Hillary was ok with running the quarter mile, I just wanted to make sure she was safe.

We had every intention of running 4.50s at 330 mph but it just didn’t happen. Maybe it was Scott who made sure the track was over 140 degrees so we couldn’t run that good.

You know I have sat back and read the comments of some of the fans and those against the 1000 foot racing but I don’t think everyone understands the exact reasons that we went to 1000 feet. I think if the people who are against 1000 feet saw the wreckage and the other things I have seen from Scotts accident they might change their opinion. If these people knew what Connie and Scott's family is going through right now they might change their opinion. The 1000 foot rule was done strictly in the name of safety. Connie Kalitta is the most hardcore drag racer on earth and he was and is a major supporter of 1000 feet.

We can’t go back to 1320 feet unless tracks are fixed and we come up with a cost effective way to slow these cars down. A way that the team owners don’t have to shell out a half-million dollars.

My question is… what are we going to do with these tracks who haven’t attempted to fix their shutdown areas? If we go to Englishtown and they haven’t done anything with that race track, we will go back home. If any of the other teams had any balls they would do the same. I would love to go back to the 1320 but I sure as hell don’t want to do it if nothing has changed at facilities like Englishtown. Even if we slow the cars down these facilities need to be fixed.

I understand the outcry from the hardcore fans but there are many new fans who don’t know the difference, they just know that these cars are loud and fast. Drag Racing needs all sorts of fans, new and old but the main thing we need to do is keep our drivers safe. Until we can come up with a better solution I think running 1000 foot is our best option. Believe me I would like to see us running at the 1320 again and running 4.40s at 330mph but it can’t happen without these facilities making changes. We just can’t put our drivers at risk anymore. If you are a true hardcore drag racing fan then you will be patient, I know that I am.