Warning to Larry Dixon: Do not leave Alan Johnson Racing to drive for Brady Kalivoda's team.

Kalivoda doesn't own a team right now. He might one day. But by his own admission, the former Top Fuel hopeful would be ill-suited to field a hot rod that someone else got to drive.
 
"I would be constantly trying to position myself to get back in the seat. Larry Dixon would go into the Sani-Can, and I'd run over and duct-tape it shut and say, 'Gee, I don't know what happened to Larry. But someone had to drive the car,' " Kalivoda joked on the eve of the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
 

Warning to Larry Dixon: Do not leave Alan Johnson Racing to drive for Brady Kalivoda's team.

 

Kalivoda doesn't own a team right now. He might one day. But by his own admission, the former Top Fuel hopeful would be ill-suited to field a hot rod that someone else got to drive.
 
"I would be constantly trying to position myself to get back in the seat. Larry Dixon would go into the Sani-Can, and I'd run over and duct-tape it shut and say, 'Gee, I don't know what happened to Larry. But someone had to drive the car,' " Kalivoda joked on the eve of the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
 
Kidding is appropriate for this son of late-1960s Northwest hot shoe Dick Kalivoda, who tested Jerry "The King" Ruth and Ed "The Ace" McCulloch with his "Joker" dragster. But his desire to return to the Top Fuel class is no joke.
 
"I'm not over it. I want to do it more than anything on the planet," said Kalivoda, 36, who lives in Phoenix and along with business partners owns a steadily growing window company there and has invested in real estate.
 
However, he was quick to say, "I'm not a resentful, woe-is-me kind of dude. If that's the energy that a person's putting out, then that's where he's going to stay. Life is what you make it. It's a journey.
 
"I have a go-getter attitude," he said, "and I feel fortunate to have done what I've done."
 
Under Tim and Renee Coghlan's Carthage, Miss.-based Coghlan Motorsports banner, Kalivoda attended four races in 2007, the last of which was that July at Bristol, Tenn. During that stint, he qualified No. 2 at Las Vegas and No. 3 at Atlanta and won a couple of rounds.
 
"They still want to race, too," he said. The Coghlans, he said, decided that if they held onto their equipment, it might be obsolete by the time they found a sponsor. So they sold their dragster and hauler.

Kalivoda, a magna cum laude graduate of Central Washington University, recognized that the way he is putting his accounting degree to excellent use simply marks a new phase of his education. Racing, too, is a business, and he said success principles are universal.
 
"I'm going to make it count, make it meaningful," he said of these years out of the cockpit.   
 
He also understands the economic climate that has left once-secure Top Fuel drivers Hot Rod Fuller, Dave Grubnic, Doug Herbert, Tommy Johnson Jr.,  J.R. Todd, Melanie Troxel, Bob Vandergriff, and Hillary Will out of the NHRA action this season.
 
As Kenny Bernstein seeks a new primary sponsor, as well, Kalivoda siad, "There's a great barometer (of the current financial situation). Has he faltered in any way? No. Has Brandon faltered in any way? No. If they're having difficulties, how is Brady Kalivoda supposed to do it?"
 
He vowed to find a way. Likely he'll have to form his own team, for he said he learned that "trying to make a living as a hired driver offers so little job security. It's not a meritocracy."
 
In the meantime, Kalivoda said he and wife Alexis, who just last week was graduated from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, "want to have kids, want to build a family."
 
Despite his insistence that "I'm a terrible spectator," Kalivoda said he plans to enjoy this weekend's event.
 
"I might just grab a Budweiser and a churro and sit in the stands," he said.
 
For right now, Kalivoda is content. At least he didn't mention anything about bringing any duct tape with him. 

 

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