Kalitta Motorsports

HOMETOWN:	Ypsilanti, Mich.	FIRST NHRA NATIONAL EVENT:	1959
BIRTH DATE:	February 24, 1938	FIRST NHRA NATIONAL EVENT WIN:	1967
SPOUSE:	Single	FINAL ROUNDS/WINS:	22/10
BEST ELAPSED TIME:	4.584	BEST SPEED:	314.61

A lot more than the elapsed times have changed since the days when Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta raced a 1951 Willys on an abandoned Michigan airstrip for pink slips. One of only a handful of racers from the early days still active in the sport, he has had a front row seat for some of the more significant developments that have helped to shape the sport of drag racing. While semis and 8,000-horsepower nitromethane-burning machines have replaced flatbed trailers and front-motored dragsters, one thing remains the same – Connie’s desire to win.

In addition to 22 NHRA national event final rounds with 10 wins as a driver, Connie also has five season championships to his credit. The first came in 1977 when he served as crew chief for Shirley Muldowney when she became the first, and as yet the only, female Top Fuel champion in NHRA history. He earned the next two, 1979 and 1982, when he drove to IHRA championships. The last two came as team owner of Kalitta Motorsports when his late son, Scott Kalitta (1962-2008), drove to the NHRA titles in 1994 and 1995. Nephew Doug, now the driver of the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, earned Connie a team owner championship when he drove his Kalitta Flying Service entry to the 1994 USAC National Sprint Car Championship.

Connie has had many great moments on the track during this career. He went to his first NHRA final at the 1963 Winternationals where he was runner-up. He came back to win the event in 1967 and has been runner-up three times since then. It was also at the Winternationals in 1989 that he became the first person to break the 290-mph barrier. He was the runner-up for the coveted U.S. Nationals title in 1982 and 1984 before finally winning the event in 1994. It was at the 1964 U.S. Nationals that Connie recorded the first 200-mph run at Indianapolis Raceway Park when he ran 200.00 mph in qualifying. Also in 1994, he won the prestigious Gatornationals by defeating son Scott in the first-ever father-and-son Top Fuel final in NHRA history. These are just some of the achievements that earned him a spot in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America into which he was inducted in 1992. His efforts in the sport continue to be acknowledged. He was also inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame on March 14, 2002.

The same force that drives him to excel on the track also drives him to excel in the skies. It was in the early 1960s that Kalitta first got involved in flying. He had a one-plane flying service where he served as booking agent, freight loader and pilot. By the time he sold the company in 1997, it was a worldwide operation with over 100 aircraft in the fleet. While the pressures of running that type of operation can be enormous, the rewards are gratifying. During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991, the company flew over 600 missions for the military, the second largest number of cargo-only flights during the effort. Kalitta traveled to the White House on behalf of his employees to receive their accolades in a meeting with President Bush. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, when airports were closed and all flights were grounded, there was one plane in the sky that night that was not an F-16 fighter. It was a Kalitta Air 747 hauling relief supplies from the West coast to aid disaster workers.

When there is a break in flying, members of the Kalitta Air fleet go to the movies from time to time. Kalitta aircraft have been made into “movie stars” via such motion pictures as “Liar, Liar”, “Air Force One“, “Drop Zone”, “Executive Decision”, and “The Sum of all Fears”. While you can’t see the familiar red and gold stripes as the aircraft are in “make-up”, if you can read the tail number and it ends in CK, it’s probably one of Connie’s planes. Also, Kalitta is one of the few charter companies used to move the “Phantom of the Opera” set from city to city.

In the mid-1980s when arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi was forced to liquidate his assets, Donald Trump got the yacht and Connie got the DC-8. When the plane landed at Willow Run Airport the rear and aft doors of the plane were opened and employees walked through the gold-fixtured, fiber-optic carpeted flying penthouse. The plane was then stripped of its lavishness and used for hauling cargo.

Connie’s dedication to his companies earned him the 1993 Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year award and 1994 Air Cargo Man of the Year honors. When he is not at the track, Connie keeps busy running Kalitta Leasing and Kalitta Air. Based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Air transports cargo worldwide utilizing B-747 airplanes, while Kalitta Leasing specializes in buying, selling and leasing aircraft and aircraft related equipment.