Scott Kalitta

Kalitta made his home in Snead Island, Florida, with wife, Kathy (married November, 1990) and two sons, Colin and Corey.

[2] For 2006, Kalitta returned to Funny Car in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, but did not have as much success as he had in Top Fuel the previous two years.

Kalitta's 2007 Funny Car season was rather uneventful, as he qualified for 16 of 23 events[2] in his DHL-sponsored Solara, and missed the inaugural NHRA Countdown to the Championship.

[2] In 2008, he made his 36th and last final-round appearance at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, losing to Tony Pedregon in the final, two weeks before his death.

[3] On June 21, 2008, Kalitta was fatally injured during the final round of qualifying for the 2008 Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.

According to the New Jersey State Police official news release, evidence discovered in Kalitta's lane revealed that he had applied mechanical braking and maintained steering control of the vehicle throughout the 2,235-foot-long (681 m) "shutdown" portion of the racetrack.

The vehicle continued forward and hit a piece of heavy equipment, which was positioned outside the "run-off" area by the ESPN television crew.

A review of information provided by Delphi, which was recorded by accelerometers mounted to the vehicle, revealed multiple impacts producing over 100 g, with some approaching or exceeding 200 g.[5] He was transported to the Old Bridge Division of Raritan Bay Medical Center, and was pronounced dead on arrival.

[1] Post mortem toxicological analysis of blood obtained from Scott Kalitta during his autopsy revealed the presence of ethanol at a level of 23 mg/dl.

The next day, in what would have been his opening elimination round event, the entire Kalitta team stood on the starting line on his designated side of the dragstrip as Robert Hight, who would have been his opponent, idled his car down the quarter-mile track as a sign of respect.

On July 2, 2008, the NHRA shortened Top Fuel and Funny Car races to 1,000 feet (305 m) in response to the ongoing investigation,[8] and extra safety measures were placed at all tracks, including padded retaining walls at the end of sand traps, replacing the polymer nets held up by concrete posts.

Although several NHRA drivers have expressed their displeasure at the introduction of the new sensor, they admit that it should reduce, if not eliminate, the circumstances that led to Kalitta's death.