Funny Car racer Scott Kalitta dies in accident
By David Mirsky

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/23/08 – Scott Kalitta’s car had burst into flames and exploded while making a qualifying run at the quarter mile track at 300 m.p.h. Katilla succumbed to injuries he suffered as his Funny Car burst into flames at the NHRA Supernationals at the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.

The safety crew was able to extract Kalitta from the wreckage. At a local hospital, he was pronounced dead a couple of hours later from his injuries.  Kalitta, 46, was a successful second-generation driver who had won many races, and two championships in his career.  His father, Connie Kalitta was also championship racer in NHRA.  Scott Kalitta is survived by his wife, Kathy, and two young sons, Corey and Colin.

Ferrari’s Massa wins third time

Formula 1 driver, Felipe Massa drove his Ferrari to his third checkered flag of the season, winning the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, and taking the points lead away from BMW driver, Robert Kubica in doing so. It was a flawlessly run race, only one car had not finished the race on this super fast, and super smooth track in France.

Massa’s team mate, and current World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen’s prancing horse finished more than 14 seconds behind Massa and just ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota.  In five years of Formula 1 racing, this was only the second time Toyota had won a podium finish.  Toyota is still waiting for their first Formula 1 win, spending more than $400 million a year competing against Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes, and BMW.

McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, started his race from the 6th row, and could do no better than finishing the race in 10th place.  Two weeks ago in Montreal, Hamilton rear-ended Kimi in the pit lane while he had been stopped when the safety car had been activated to the track. Hamilton was penalized a ten position penalty for ignoring the red light, causing the accident that ended Kimi Raikkonen’s race day.

The British Grand Prix from Silverstone will run in 2 weeks time.

NASCAR racer Kyle Busch wins Sprint Cup in wine country

NASCAR took their show to California’s beautiful wine country at the Infineon race track in Sonoma County for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. This is one of the rare road courses in the NASCAR schedule, as opposed to frequent oval races. Current points leader, Kyle Busch, took his fifth Sprint Cup race of the season for Joe Gibbs racing.

Last year’s winner, Juan Pablo Montoya finished in the top ten in a car that was sliding all over the track.  David Gilliland took second place with former champ, Jeff Gordon ending the race in third. One of the race’s highlights was Aussie, Marcos Ambrose’s very first Sprint Cup race. Ambrose had been running in the top five for most of the race until incidental contact from another car ended his day. Marcos, a family man, is one of the most talented and well liked drivers in NASCAR racing.

As always at Infineon, fuel management is one of the primary factors each racing team has to take into consideration, and this year was no exception.  The racing is so tight on this track, that a green light pit stop can easily set you back 10 positions, and the hopes for a win.

Indy Car racer Dan Wheldon wins Indy 250 on birthday

Birthday boy Dan Wheldon  took the Target-Gnassi  car to the winner’s circle today Indy Car travelled to The Iowa Corn Indy 250 at the Iowa Speedway, which has seen some horrific weather recently. Japan’s Hedeki Mutoh took second followed by Marco Andretti. Mutoh’s second place finish is the highest placed finish in Indy Car by a Japanese driver.

To really make this a great weekend, Wheldon donated his winner’s purse to several relief funds to benefit the people of the area who were affected by the recent floods.  Wheldon’s team mate and the rest of the Target-Gnassi team donated an additional $50,000.00.  Are these great guys or what?  And by the way…all racing series, drivers  sponsors, track owners, just about everyone associated with racing  have long been more than generous with charities, and rarely do they publicize their involvement. Thank you all for your dedication.