MOTORSPORTS: Capps reflects on Kalitta's tragic death

By RICK HOFF - Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:56 PM PDT ∞

In this photo provided by Auto Imagery, team members of Scott Kalitta, stand on the starting line in honor of Kalitta, who died the day before from multiple injuries suffered in a violent top end crash during qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. The crew stood on the starting line as Robert Hight, who would have Scott Kalitta's opponent in the first round of eliminations idled down the track. (AP Photo/Auto Imagery, Inc. NHRA)

Ron Capps needed to go back to work Sunday, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Being strapped into a nitromethane-burning dragster powered by a 7,000-horsepower engine is tough enough. Driving that machine with a heavy heart makes it that more trying.

"Waking up Sunday morning was weird," Capps said earlier this week. "It was pretty difficult to hold the throttle down.

"But Scott would have wanted us all out there racing. Once I got the helmet on, I felt better."

Scott is Scott Kalitta, a member of one of drag racing's most successful and influential families. The sport lost a champion driver Saturday night when Kalitta was fatally injured in a horrific crash during Funny Car qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. He was 46.

Capps, a Carlsbad resident, has been close to the Kalitta family since beginning his NHRA career in 1995.

"I was a fan of Scott's when I was younger, and of course I was a fan of his dad's," said Capps, referring to longtime driver and team owner Connie Kalitta. "I started in Top Fuel, so I got to know Scott a little bit my first year. I drove Top Fuel in '95 and '96, and the Kalittas were winning everything."

Scott Kalitta won back-to-back Top Fuel season championships in 1994-95.

"I raced him a lot in Top Fuel those first few years," Capps recalled. "He was always in the top half (of the qualifying bracket), and I was always not. We got our butts kicked by them a lot."

But, as is typical with the NHRA, competition breeds friendships.

"I got to know a lot of guys on their crew," Capps said. "They took me under their wing. After that, I got to know Scott pretty good. All of the Kalittas are like family to me."

Scott Kalitta began his NHRA career in 1982, and his first career race was ironically at the same strip where he ran his final race. After racing a limited Top Fuel schedule for four years, Kalitta switched to Funny Car for five seasons. He then returned to a successful career in Top Fuel, winning two titles before retiring on two occasions. He returned to Funny Car racing in 2006.

"The first time I saw Scott as a Funny Car driver, I just thought to myself 'This is a Funny Car guy.' " Capps said. "Even when he was winning his championships in Top Fuel, I was always kidding him about coming back to Funny Car. He was the epitome of a Funny Car driver."

Kalitta's best showing this season came just two weeks before he died, when he reached the finals of the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago. Capps was Kalitta's first-round foe that weekend.

"Scott beat us in the first round, and when I heard that he won his semifinal, I called his crew guys to tell Scott good luck in the final," Capps said. "You always want to win for yourself and your team, but if you can't, Scott is one of those guys you always pull for."

Kalitta was competing in the fourth round of qualifying on Saturday, and his Toyota Solara was traveling at about 300 mph when it burst into flames just before the finish line. The flaming dragster continued down the track and then crashed and exploded seconds later.

"It's always been a short shutdown at that track," Capps said, referring to the portion of the track after the finish line that drivers use to slow their machines following a run. "It's a historic track, but there's just no room to slow down.

"Pennsylvania is also short, and Columbus was that way, so I'm glad we're going to Norwalk this week."

The NHRA season resumes this week at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, which replaced National Trail Raceway outside of Columbus on the NHRA schedule beginning last year.

It was announced on Monday that the New Jersey State Police and the NHRA will conduct separate invesitgations into the accident.

"So many things are up in the air," Capps said. "If the NHRA does its part, then I'll feel comfortable. The worst part would be if nothing happens. When Eric Medlin had his accident, we learned a bunch."

Medlin was killed in March of 2007 during Funny Car testing for John Force's team. Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, survived a fiery crash of his own last fall in Dallas.

"John Force had a terrible accident, and he made it through, in part because of what we learned from Eric's crash," Capps said. "Blaine Johnson was a good friend of mine, and I still have his pictures all over the house."

Johnson was leading the Top Fuel standings in August of 1996 when he was killed in a crash at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. His engine exploded as he reached the finish line, and his out-of-control dragster slammed into a guardrail apex, which was part of an opening for safety vehicles to enter the track.

"After Blaine died, safer gates and guardrails were put in," Capps said. "I know I speak for a lot of the other drivers that the best thing that could come out of Scott's tragedy is that we learn from it.

"Scott would be upset if we didn't."

Contact staff writer Rick Hoff a rhoff@nctimes.com or (760) 740-3545.

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