Brainerd: Scott Kalitta preview

Scott Kalitta and the DHL team hoping to harness power of positive thinking in Brainerd and beyond

BRAINERD, Minn., (Aug. 7, 2007) -- Scott Kalitta, driver of the bright yellow and red DHL Toyota Solara Nitro Funny Car, is positive that an optimistic outlook will help him and his team start producing NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series wins, beginning this weekend, Aug. 9-12, at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd Int'l Raceway in Brainerd, Minn.

"We have to keep thinking positively," Kalitta, a 45-year old resident of Palmetto, Fla., said. "We have struggled this year for sure, but we can't walk around mad all the time with our heads hanging down.

"It's up to all of us to keep the spirits up on our DHL team. Our crew works so hard to give me a fast race car, and it's so disappointing to them when we don't run like we know we can. We just have to keep reminding each other that we can only get better and we're still doing what we love to do."

This season the NHRA instituted the new Countdown to the Championship points system. Only the top eight in POWERade points after the first 17 national events will be allowed to vie for the season championship. This weekend's event is the 16th of the season.

Going into this weekend's event at Brainerd Int'l Raceway, Kalitta is in 16th place in points. He is 264 points shy of 8th place.

-credit: km