Fri, 25 Sep 2009, 01:46 PM ROCKY Boots returns to ride as primary sponsor for KALITTA in DALLAS

Courtesy of Todd Myers

ENNIS, Tex. -- ROCKY Boots (http://www.rockyboots.com) will once again adorn one of the world's quickest and fastest racing machines as the primary sponsor of Kalitta Motorsports' No. 50 Top Fuel dragster driven by drag racing veteran Doug Kalitta at this weekend's, Sept. 25-27, annual running of the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Tex., just a few miles south of Dallas.

ROCKY Boots served as the primary sponsor on Kalitta's nitro-fueled, 8,000-horsepower, 300+mph dragster at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event in Norwalk, Ohio, in June. ROCKY Boots began their partnership with Kalitta Motorsports at the beginning of the 2009 season as a full-time associate sponsor and as the Official Footwear of Kalitta Motorsports.

"We saw a tremendous amount of success with our partnership with Kalitta Motorsports in Norwalk, so when the opportunity arose for us to be the primary partner again in Dallas we jumped at the chance," said Chris Lorenzo, Marketing Manager for ROCKY Work. "We're looking forward to even more successes this weekend with Team Kalitta and hopefully that culminates with a trip to the winner's circle for the ROCKY Boots Top Fueler on Sunday."

"We're extremely excited about having ROCKY Boots back as a primary sponsor this weekend," Kalitta, a 45-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. "Everyone at ROCKY has been so great to us and we're happy to be able to help them with their marketing efforts in Dallas.

"Our race car was consistently good in Charlotte (previous event), and we're hopeful that continues this weekend. We're confident we can go some rounds and gain some valuable championship points in Dallas."

The Dallas event is the second in NHRA's six-event, season-finalizing "playoffs", the Countdown to 1. Kalitta is currently in the No. 9 points position, 120 points off of the lead. By making this season's Countdown to 1, Kalitta guarantees himself another top-ten finish in championship points, a fete he has incredibly accomplished in every season of his Top Fuel driving career which began with his Rookie of the Year award-winning season in 1998.

Kalitta won the event in Dallas in 2002. He was a runner-up finisher in 2001 and 1999.

Kalitta has 31 NHRA Top Fuel event victories in his career in 58 final-round appearances. He is married to Josie, and they have a son, Mitchell, 8, and a daughter, Avery, 6.

Event Schedule
The O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals begin Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 2:45 p.m. (CT) and 5:30 p.m. and again on Saturday at noon and 3:15 p.m. The top 16 qualified cars in each pro class will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Times and dates subject to change.

The O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals is the 20th of 24 national events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

ESPN2 TV Schedule
09/27/2009 - Qualifying - 12:15:00 AM - 2:15:00 AM ET
09/27/2009 - Repeat Qualifying - 1:00:00 PM - 3:00:00 PM ET
09/27/2009 - Eliminations - 7:00:00 PM - 10:00:00 PM ET
10/02/2009 - Repeat Eliminations - 1:30:00 AM - 3:30:00 AM ET

Times and dates subject to change.

About Kalitta Motorsports

Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. In 2009, Kalitta Motorsports is celebrating 50 years of drag racing by team owner and drag racing legend Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. Over the past 50 years, Connie, who has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and as an owner, has dedicated unequalled amounts of time and resources to building one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing. Kalitta Motorsports has won five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.

Jeff Arend drives the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car for the team while Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta, drives the No. 50 Top Fuel dragster entry. Connie serves as head tuner for both Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by crew chief Jim Oberhofer and assistant crew chief Troy Fasching on Doug's Top Fueler and by co-crew chiefs Jon Oberhofer and Nick Boninfante on the DHL Funny Car.

Associate sponsors on Kalitta Motorsports' race cars include Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies, Rocky Boots, Toyota, and Mac Tools.

For more info about Kalitta Motorsports, please visit http://www.teamkalitta.com

Follow Team Kalitta on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TeamKalitta

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kalitta

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