There are few things in this world that can slow down racers.        
Broken parts and equipment malfunctions can end a driver’s day prematurely. Adverse weather conditions can put a damper on and even delay a motorsports event.
But nothing will stop a driver in his tracks like the death of a fellow competitor.
And that’s just what the sudden, tragic death of Scott Kalitta did this weekend in Englishtown, N.J.
The quarter-mile fell silent under the early summer sun Saturday evening, the nitro-burning monsters taken quietly from the staging lanes. The thrashing and tuning and wrench turning in the pits came to a standstill. And grown women and men who live to wrestle 8,000-horsepower machines down the track at more than 300 miles per hour stood still in shock and grief at the news of Kalitta’s passing.

As word of the tragedy spread throughout Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, crews and team members tried to cope with the loss of another member of the NHRA family, taking solace in the fact that their friend died doing what he loved — and looking for some way to get through the remainder of the weekend, including race day.

As word of the tragedy spread throughout Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, crews and team members tried to cope with the loss of another member of the NHRA family, taking solace in the fact that their friend died doing what he loved — and looking for some way to get through the remainder of the weekend, including race day.
“You start out by being shocked, then you’re in denial, then you want to blame somebody or something. Then you come to the realization that we drive race cars that go 330 miles an hour, and we do that every weekend,” Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi said during an interview with ESPN’s Dave Rieff Saturday evening. “Probably the hardest part of it all was a phone call I had a little while ago with my son telling him that Scott’s not coming back.”
Fellow Funny Car veteran Jerry Toliver echoed the sentiments of Scelzi, who was visibly upset and unable to continue his portion of the interview.
“We’re racers. We’re racers at heart. We love what we do. This is very dangerous; there’s no doubt about that,” Toliver said. “We’ve lost many friends, and today we lost an extremely good friend.
“There’s no way to explain how much sorrow you have for the family, how difficult it is to accept, but it is what it is. Scotty’s gone, and we’re going to love him forever. We’ll always remember him from our last moments.
“You never think it’s going to happen to you, and God forbid it happens to anybody, but when it happens, it strikes you hard,” Toliver said. “There’s a fraternity here with Funny Car drivers, with any kind of race car drivers — dragster drivers, Funny Car drivers, even Pro Stock guys. We care about each other, we love each other. Scotty was a very good friend of mine… I’ll always remember him, I’ll always love him.
“The pain is for us that are still living. He went out doing what he wanted to do. If you got to check out, that’s the way I want to check out. I want to do it that way; I don’t want to suffer. Just let me go doing what I love to do, and that’s racing a race car.”
Across the pits in the Pro Stock area, KB Racing’s Greg Anderson addressed his race-day duties with a solemn, heavy heart.
“We are professionals at this, and it’s what we have to do,” Anderson said Sunday. “The immediate reaction is to go put your head in the sand and grieve…The show will go on. We’ll grieve tomorrow, I guess.”
Funny Car point-leader Tim Wilkerson took little joy as he powered his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala to his third victory of the season. His thoughts were focused on the Kalitta family, including Scott’s father, Connie, and his own son, Dan, who is an aspiring drag racer himself.
“For all fathers, today was a tough day, but whoever said that life goes on was absolutely right. We all reflect on how tough and how fragile life is,” Wilkerson said as he held his Wally Sunday evening. “In the coming weeks, I think that Connie will need all of us. He’s a pretty strong individual, but I think he’ll need us and we’ll be there for him. I invited the whole DHL crew (Kalitta’s team) to join me in the winner’s circle and I’m going to give them all a big hug.”
Questions surrounding the two-time Top Fuel champ’s fatal crash have already been raised. Some may never be answered. But hopefully, something can be learned from this latest tragedy — just as safety improvements have been made since Eric Medlen’s fatal crash last March and John Force’s horrific incident in Dallas in September. If one life can be saved from some nugget of information garnered from this horrible event in Englishtown, perhaps that might be a little consolation for those mourning the loss of a great friend and a tough competitor.
Now, the NHRA family, brought together once again by another tragic loss, must soldier on and head to its next event in Norwalk, Ohio, just as Kalitta would do if he were still alive. Though some may not know yet how they will get through such a terrible loss, even a heavy-hearted Wilkerson had these words of encouragement for everyone affected by Kalitta’s passing: “with a little faith, we will.”