6/23/08

Six one-thousandths of a second. You can’t even envision such a miniscule amount of time.

But that was the difference between Mike winning his first national event for JFR and finishing runner-up to Tim Wilkerson in Sunday’s final.

Six one-thousandths of a second.

But, in all honesty, nobody could get too disappointed, upset, or down on themselves on Sunday after watching Scott Kalitta lose his life during qualifying on Saturday. I am fortunate in that I have only been on the premises twice when an NHRA driver has lost his life. In 2004, I was in Madison when Darrell Russell was killed in his Top Fuel Dragster. The fact that Scott Kalitta was in the other lane when Darrell crashed really gives me the shivers.

And now Scott is gone. In an instant, a guy who everyone liked and respected and came from one of the most renowned families in the sport was lost to us. I won’t try to be overly philosophical here, but I’ll just say that anyone who has kids and doesn’t savor and appreciate every possible moment of their lives on a daily basis should give themselves an attitude check.

I drove down to Englishtown with my two sons, Will, age 18, and Sean, age 12, and I was so psyched about having them along since they don’t get to attend the many races I travel to during the course of the season. It was fun introducing them to a lot of the drivers at the track, and of course, we stopped by John’s pit to see him—something we’ve done at a number of races since the boys were very young.

But the mood was somber and solemn and it was difficult to have any kind of meaningful conversation or talk about racing with so great a tragedy casting an atmosphere of gloom all around Raceway Park. Even the fans, many of whom only get to see one NHRA national event a year, appeared to have a lot of their enthusiasm and energy siphoned off as they were leaving the track Saturday evening. Everyone felt it.

By the time Sunday eliminations began, all thoughts were on Scott and the tribute that Robert offered to begin the first round was incredibly compelling. With everyone from Kalitta Racing standing at the starting line in the lane Scott would have been occupying, Robert staged his car and then slowly rolled down the track when the green came on. The crowd applauded appreciatively and it was quite an emotional moment to say the least.

I brought my sons down to Robert’s pit later in the day and expressed my admiration to him for what he did. He said it was the team’s decision and he felt the fans would approve of their tribute. I would have loved to have seen one of the JFR cars go on to win the race, but Mike missed by that ridiculously slim six one-thousandths of a second to Tim. So close…..

Ashley is still second in the points and John is third so the early-round defeats for both didn’t exact any damage on their point’s positions. We have a few days to regroup before Norwalk this coming weekend as the season charges forward to the Countdown to One. Let’s just say a prayer that everyone will be safe for the rest of the season and beyond and that JFR will continue to discover safety improvements which will help prevent any more racing tragedies for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, do what YOU can do to drive safely, with your seatbelt buckled and your eyes and ears open. Everyone at JFR will appreciate that!

More next week…