Impressive health care benefits, insurance, and a 401k are another area Kalitta members point to as proof of how well Connie treats them. Or take this: Kalitta has two crew houses in which he helps pay the rent on when folks relocate to work for him. Once part of the organization – or family, as it comes to feel like – every individual can learn and advance their position.
Doug Kalitta keeps up the family tradition from inside the cockpit. Image by Toyota Racing
“We wouldn’t work so hard for him if it was just, say, Ford Motor company [because] you’d just be an employee, no one is going to know you,” says Stone. “And this isn’t a place where you get a pat on the back every day for doing a good job, but you know he appreciates you because he takes care of us. We are so lucky with what we have and the benefits we have, and he’s always been so adamant about say our health insurance benefits being affordable; he’s amazing when it comes to that. Nobody has the benefits that we do.”
“He has such a passion for the sport that he’ll do whatever it takes,” he says. “He wants to leave the sport better than he came on it, and he came on in the very early years of it, and he wants to make it better. When Blaine Johnson crashed (and lost his life in ’96), Connie flew his wife out to Indy on his jet. And there’s times where he’s helped other racers with tune-ups. There was one year in Indy where we had a line of people at our trailer and we’re trying to run the car and he’s got a line of people wanting his help.
“So he’s always willing to lend a hand with anybody or anything, and a lot of people don’t understand that or don’t get that. They don’t see that side of him. The only part they see is the rough and gruff side, which that’s not really the Connie I know.”
Adds Todd, “I feel like the average person that doesn’t know Connie. You hear the horror stories and see him on TV and he comes off as a grumpy old man, but once you’re here and around him he’s easy going, he’s passionate about drag racing. He’s a lighthearted guy and he gives his heart and soul to drag racing.”
All four teams have won this year with Langdon, Crampton, and Kalitta taking home multiple victories. Such results extend the streak Kalitta Motorsports has going, which is that the team has won at least four races in each of the last six seasons.
Not surprising. It is clear through many conversations that no one wants to let their legendary owner down.
“He does so much for us,” says Jenks. “I used to watch him when I was six years old and growing up, you know Connie Kalitta, and then when you get to work for him, it’s like, you just don’t want to let this guy down. He’s given you everything – he’s given you every tool to be successful and the last thing I know I want to do is let him down because he’s given us all the resources.”
Only Pomona remains on the 2019 schedule and will close out this 60th anniversary for Kalitta and company. Each team wants to win at all costs, Todd admits, and they set a high standard for themselves. At the starting line, Todd wants to “rip the other person’s head off” and believes that the mentality for everyone at Kalitta Motorsports.
“I don’t want [the competition] to take us lightly,” says Jenks. “They know damn well that we’re there to win and we’re there to outrun them. Connie will tell you that. Connie will be the first to tell you there’s no way I’m going to get outrun, so he’s going to go out there and try to set the pace or he’s going to blow the tires off. Unfortunately, a lot of times he blows the tires off, but he goes up there with the mindset we are not getting outran.”
For this group and its one-of-a-kind leader, it’s always going to be about what their passion, dedication, and loyalty will lead to next.
“Well,” says Connie Kalitta, “I’m going to buy some more airplanes, the team is going to win some more races, and maybe a championship or two.”
Kalitta Motorsports,
NHRA