Team Kalitta is pleased to announce its newest multi-year associate partnership with Autodesk, Inc. Beginning this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, Autodesk branding will be featured on all four of Kalitta Motorsports’ top National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) entries and in the new CNC shop located in the teams’ headquarters in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Autodesk, Inc. first introduced its AutoCAD technology in 1982. Since then, they have become a leader in 3D design software. Autodesk’s technology reaches far beyond the race shop as they are leaders in the manufacturing, architecture, engineering and construction and media and entertainment industries, among others.
Kalitta Motorsports will be utilizing two Autodesk software solutions: Autodesk Inventor, which is 3D CAD software that offers professional-grade tools for 3D mechanical design, documentation and product simulation; and Autodesk Inventor HSM, which allows Kalitta Motorsports’ CNC team to rapidly produce machined parts designed in Inventor. The Inventor HSM software will also help the team to develop parts for the two Funny Car teams.
“Autodesk has the best software out there,” said Kalitta Motorsports CNC Shop Manager Tim Evans, who has 25 years of experience in motorsports engineering. “This new partnership and our team’s use of Inventor and Inventor HSM will help us deliver better designs and better cars in less time.”
This new partnership will bring Autodesk’s CAM logo to Kalitta Motorsports’ four championship contending machines. The drivers are as follows: Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster; J.R. Todd, driver of the SealMaster Top Fuel dragster; Del Worsham, driver of the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, and Alexis DeJoria, driver of the Tequila Patrón XO Café Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car. These drivers have brought home three rookie of the year trophies, nearly 80 victories and over 1,000 career round wins. All four currently retain positions among the top ten drivers in their classes.
In addition to the logos on the vehicles, large Autodesk banners will be also featured in the brand new CNC portion of the shop, which recently received five new HAAS machines.
“Autodesk is proud to offer its logo, software and expertise to the Kalitta Motorsports organization,” said Carl White, senior director of manufacturing engineering at Autodesk. “Our design and engineering software is a perfect fit for this kind of work and we are confident that this industry-leading team will use it to create vehicles that will drive innovation within the rest of the drag racing community.”
Throughout its decades of participation in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Kalitta Motorsports has been utilizing cutting-edge technology. From the first 200-mph run in a NHRA sanctioned race to countless wins and number one qualifiers, Kalitta Motorsports has a history of success. This partnership allows for new growth and further propels Kalitta Motorsports toward the goal of moving all portions of its program in-house.
“The competition in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues to get closer every week,” said Jim Oberhofer, Vice President of Operations, Kalitta Motorsports. “Our partnership with Autodesk and being able to use their decades of experience really could put our team over the top. We are excited to see how they can assist us with the growth of this new CNC portion of our shop and beyond.”
