Jerry Toliver managed to squeeze out a faint chuckle. It was a bit more than a faint chuckle, maybe, as happiness is being strictly rationed this week around the National Hot Rod Association.
Whatever you want to call it, Toliver’s abbreviated laugh occurred when he was asked Wednesday whether he would climb back into his funny car this weekend for the first NHRA event since Scott Kalitta was killed.
“Absolutely,” Toliver said. “Scott would have wanted it that way. And it’s part of the healing process because, if I make a good pass, it will be like, ‘That’s for you, buddy.’ ”
Kalitta, 46, died after a crash during qualifying last Saturday at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J.
His funny car exploded about 1,000 feet into his quarter-mile pass. He was traveling about 300 miles per hour at the time.
Nobody knows for sure, but it looked like the concussion from the nitromethane-fueled explosion injured Kalitta because he never made an attempt to slow down the car. It crashed in a violent impact at the end of the drag strip.
Kalitta’s was the second fatal crash in a funny car in as many years, as Eric Medlen died last March in Florida. In addition, there have been a couple of other recent scary crashes — involving John Force and Tony Pedregon — which easily could have been fatal.
Those on the outside of the drag racing sport wonder why anyone would climb into a car after witnessing such wrecks. Those on the inside usually answer the same way.
“It’s my job,” Toliver said. “I love my job. We’re human beings and any time there is a death it hurts. But if you get in an accident on the way to the market, that’s not going to keep you from getting back in your car.”
Kalitta had a wife and kids. Toliver has a family.
Asked of his family’s thoughts about climbing back in the funny car after a fatal wreck in his sport, Toliver said he talked to them late Saturday night. They called him and, “There was no mention by them about ‘Don’t get back in the car.’
“My family has been around racing all of their lives. My brother, Kevin, was a doctor for the NHRA. We understand this sport. We accept it. Periodically, tragedy rears its ugly head, but my family loves me and they know I love what I’m doing,” Toliver said.
On Wednesday, the Kalitta family issued its first reaction to last weekend’s death.
“Kalitta Motorsports will carry on and continue to race because that’s what we do, and we feel certain Scott would want us to, but we obviously will never be the same, nor should we be,” the family, led by the legendary drag racer Connie Kalitta, said in the statement. “Scott will always be with us in everything we do, as a team and as individuals. His spirit shall forever remain indelible and untarnished.”
Acceptance of the potential for tragedy in racing does not mean that it does not affect the lives of those in and around the sport.
Jack Beckman was preparing to stage in the same lane behind Kalitta when the crash occurred. Beckman never got to make his qualifying pass and — from the sound of it — that’s OK with him, even though it meant he didn’t qualify for Sunday’s eliminations.
“I am still one of the biggest drag-race fans. If we don’t do good and I have to leave early on a Sunday, I am always calling from the airport to find out who won. We TiVo all the races so I can come home and watch them,” he said. “I didn’t even know who won on Sunday. And it’s the first time that I could ever think of in my racing career where it didn’t actually seem all that important.
“After what happened on Saturday — we were the car behind Scott in the staging lanes — it just didn’t seem to matter. I’m sure for everybody who had to suit up, they still had a job to do, but it just didn’t feel the same.”
The NHRA circuit this weekend is in Norwalk, Ohio. Drivers will be back in their cars. Even the drivers for Kalitta Motorsports — Doug Kalitta, Dave Grubnic and Hillary Will — will be back.
They will be back and grieving, but they will be back.
They will be back, Kalitta Motorsports general manager Jim Oberhofer said, “because it’s what we do.”
Join the discussion
Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as violation" link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.