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Atlanta: Doug Kalitta preview

Kalitta ready to rebound at Atlanta Dragway. Atlanta, GA, May 1, 2002 -- After qualifying third for this past weekend's Mac ToolsTM Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Doug Kalitta and the rest of the Mac Tools/Kalitta Motorsports team ...

Published: May 3, 2002, 6:40 PM

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Kalitta ready to rebound at Atlanta Dragway.

Atlanta, GA, May 1, 2002 -- After qualifying third for this past weekend's Mac ToolsTM Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Doug Kalitta and the rest of the Mac Tools/Kalitta Motorsports team went into eliminations on Sunday with high hopes of defending their event title. Unfortunately, wisps of smoke from the Mac Tools dragster's giant Goodyear rear tires ended their hopes early in a second round loss to Darrell Russell.

"We knew we had to make a great run against Russell," said Kalitta. "That team ran great all weekend and Team Kalitta prepared our race car to run very strong against them. We had just a little too much power in our Mac Tools dragster for the top end of the track and hazed the tires."

Team Kalitta knows that the tune-up in the Mac Tools dragster is a winning combination and they look forward to proving their merits this weekend as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series rolls into Commerce, Georgia just outside of Atlanta, for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, May 2-5.

Co-Crew Chief Jim Oberhofer said, "Our Mac Tools dragster is ready to win races. Unfortunately, variables such as weather conditions and track conditions are out of our control and those variables have kept us from getting the win light when we knew our Mac Tools dragster could perform better than our Top Fuel competitors.

The action at Atlanta Dragway heats up on Friday with the first two of four nitro qualifying sessions scheduled for 4:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. starts. The final two nitro qualifying sessions roll off the starting line at 11:15 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

After 6 of 23 National Events, Doug is 5th in NHRA POWERade Top Fuel Championship points.

Website updates begin on Friday, May 3. Please check the news and photo sections on www.kalittaracing.com to keep track of the Kalitta Motorsports/Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster team.

-km-

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