Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gainesville the right spot for Kalitta to get first win

Thursday, March 24, 2005 | 10:35 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Doug Kalitta picked an opportune time to get his season into gear.

Kalitta, who had failed to win a round in the first two events of the 2005 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season, won all four rounds Sunday in Gainesville, Fla., and captured the Top Fuel title at the 36th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals -- an event backed by Kalitta's car sponsor.

"This win will be one I'll remember for a long time," Kalitta said after outpedaling Larry Dixon in the final. "We were struggling. Once we got the monkey off our back and won the first round (Sunday), we just carried that momentum -- and a little luck -- through the rest of eliminations.

"To get the win here in Gainesville at our sponsor's event makes this win even more special. I can't think of any better way to break a slump."

The victory, Kalitta's second at Gainesville and 20th of his career, allowed Kalitta to move from ninth to fifth in the Top Fuel standings, only 44 points behind front-running Tony Schumacher after the third of 23 events.

"To win this race is phenomenal," Kalitta said. "There's so much history with this race. I came here just wondering what it would take to get back in the mix (of the championship chase) and I guess this will go a long way towards helping us out."

BACK ON TOP: Whit Bazemore moved into the top spot in the Funny Car standings with his first career Gatornationals.

It turned out to be a special weekend for Bazemore, who still was celebrating the birth of his first child eight days earlier.

"It's huge," Bazemore said of his first victory at Gainesville. "The place has a lot of personal feelings for me. It's incredible to win the Gatornationals. It's like a Pomona, an Englishtown or even Indy; it's right up there. It's one of the classics."

Bazemore holds a slim 9-point lead over John Force, who suffered an engine failure in the semifinals.

OFF THE SCHNEID: After struggling through the first two races of the season, the KB Racing Pro Stock team finally broke through with a victory Sunday at the Gatornationals.

It wasn't two-time defending Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson who picked up the team's first victory of the season. Jason Line, in his second full season as Anderson's teammate, defeated Dave Connolly in the final for his fifth career victory. Las Vegas businessman Ken Black owns the two-car team.

Anderson, who 27 of 46 Pro Stock races in 2003 and 2004, lost in the second round at Gainesville but said he was thrilled for his teammate and the direction in which the team is headed.

"I'm just very proud of Jason," Anderson said. "I thought we had a great run going with my car -- and we did. We did a great job this weekend but the driver didn't do his job (in the) second round. I'll take the heat for this one and we'll move on, but we'll move on with confidence.

"We know what we had this weekend was pretty stout and we've got a great chance to win the next race. We feel a whole lot better than we did the first couple of races and I think we're on the upswing here."

AT THE STRIP: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the first points events of the 2005 Jerry's Nugget Championship Drag Racing Series and the Meadow Gold Junior Dragster Series this weekend.

Also on tap at The Strip are an open test-and-tune and "Midnight Mayhem" for street-legal cars Friday and "Motorcycle Madness Street Bike Grudge Drags" on Saturday.

A complete schedule of events can be found at www.lvmsstrip.com.