Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie working on a motor
Connie
Connie with Doug
Connie with Scott
Connie with Scott
Connie with Scott
Connie interviewed
Connie at the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame
Connie after another win
Connie
Connie and J R Todd
Connie
Connie with Robbie Merrill and Sully Erna
Connie after a win
Connie with Doug
Connie with his drivers
Connie with the Greek Chris Karamesines at the 1986 Summernationals
Connie with his ride at the Nationals
Connie with his cars
Connie with his Funny Car
Connie with his fueler
Connie leaning on his Ford fueler
Connie with his car
Connie working on his car
Connie working on his car
Connie with his car
Connie with a fueler
Connie his car
Connie with the car
Connie with a car
Connie in the Bounty Hunter
Connie standing in his car
Connie in his Bounty Hunter
Connie in the car
Connie in one of his last races as a driver
Connie's Boss 429 Ford
Connie's Ford Fueler
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie
Connie's car with a Garlits similar car
Connie
Connie
Connie's original Bounty Hunter
Connie's beat up car
Connie
Connie >
Connie's car in Garlits museum
Connie's car in the museum
Connie's car at OCIR
One of Connie's first race cars
A Ford promo pic with Bill Ireland, Ed Terry, Gas Ronda, , Connie Kalitta, Mike Schmitt and Les Ritchey at Irwindale.
Bounty Hunter at an annual reunion
Connie's RE car
Another
And another
One more
Connie's funny
Another
Another
One more
Connie smokin' one
Connie launching
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie smokin'
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie at Indy 1966
Connie smokin' it
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Connie's Bounty Hunter
Scott
Doug
Doug
Scott
Doug
Doug
Doug
Doug
Doug
J R Todd and crew
The crew
Connie on the podium
1994 US Nationals where Connie won his last race as a driver
Another podium
Connie on a Winternationals podium
Connie at the 1965 AHRA Winternationals
Connie at Pomona
Connie against the Re-entry RE dragster
Connie against Joe Shubeck
Connie out first at Bristol
Connie holeshots Tommy Ivo at Fremont 1967
Connie leads Art Malone at the Winternationals
Kalitta Motorsports
Kalitta shop
Logos
Art work
Poster
Art
Legend
Poster
Fan card
Fan card
Art
If HOT ROD could crown a drag race king it would be Connie Kalitta. Why? Improbably, he’s the last man standing from the early days. He’s outlasted Don Garlits, Don Prudhome, Tommy Ivo, Ed McCulloch, Tom McEwen—all of the greats of drag racing. They have all retired, but Kalitta is still racing. And winning. And fielding not one but four cars—the Top Fuel dragsters of nephew Doug Kalitta and JR Todd, and the nitro Funny Cars of Del Worsham and Alexis Dejoria. His income is not derived from racing, but from his Ypsilanti, Michigan, cargo air services for the US government and private companies, though it originated from drag racing. More on that later. He won drag racing’s version of the Triple Crown by winning the 1967 NHRA, AHRA, and NASCAR Winternationals, back when NASCAR was dabbling in drag racing. With his winnings he bought a 310 Cessna and provided cargo delivery services to Ford Motor Company, who was sponsoring his Top Fuel dragster at the time, among others. This evolved to become one of the largest cargo plane services in the country, providing Kalitta the means to stay in drag racing. He and Don Schumacher are the only multi-car owners that don’t rely on racing for a living. He oversaw Shirley Muldowney’s first World Championship team in 1977. He quit racing for a time in the 1970s to focus on Kalitta Air, but in the 1980s he was back in the seat, and finished in the Top 10 seven years in that decade. 1999 was his last year of driving, when he beat his son Scott at the Gatornationals in the first-ever NHRA father-son Top Fuel final round. In 2008 he lost Scott to a fatal injury in a nitro Funny Car at Englishtown, NJ. Due to his strong conviction that Scott would want him to continue racing, he has done just that. HOT ROD has pursued Kalitta for over four years to wrangle this interview, as he doesn’t like to do them. But on this August day just prior to the Brainerd, Minnesota, races he was upbeat, forthcoming, and a willing participant at 78 years of age. At the end of the interview he said, “You know, I enjoyed this.”
Created 1/21/19
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