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Zizzo sets Sunday rendezvous with Kalitta in Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  -- With day two of qualifying in the books at the O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park, Zizzo Racing finds itself in the 14th position, locked into Sunday eliminations with 2008 Countdown to the Championship contender Doug Kalitta.
"We're going to do what we always do - try real hard," T.J. Zizzo, driver of the PEAK/HERCULINER/O'Reilly Top Fuel Dragster said as he licked his fingers between bites of the world famous dry rub ribs at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous. "Doug is a great competitor. He's a great leaver. I'm just going to try and leave with him. We'll be OK."
When asked about his role as 'spoiler' or 'giant killer' for Sunday eliminations, Zizzo just chuckled. "He [Kalitta] has something like 27 Lear Jets. I've got a 1999 Honda. We just want to come out here and try real hard and give it our best shot and see how far we can go with it."
How far Zizzo goes on Sunday depends a lot on his crew and he's not short on confidence for his Illinois based team. "We've been a little more aggressive this weekend. We wanted to find the edge and we did that on our first pass Saturday when we smoked the tires."
Crew Chief Mike Kern agrees. "We just missed it by a little on that first pass. It didn't make it, but it almost did. We know right where that car wants to be Sunday."
"It was a fun day at the race track," Zizzo said. "All the O'Reilly people have been great to us. We're having a lot of fun with this PEAK Motor Oil deal. PEAK sent Mike Sargent, one of the brand managers for Old World Industries, down here. He's never been to one of these deals and now he's hooked."
Sargent, for his initiation into the world of NHRA Drag Racing, was thrown right into the action. "This is my first time out here," he said. "I've already been down in the trenches, getting dirty." Sargent was also part of the post qualifying celebration as he treated the team to those famous Memphis ribs. "I'm trying to figure out how I can go to every race next year." If he keeps feeding them, they'll make sure he never misses a race.
