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Baytown: Dave Grubnic preview
"Aussie Dave" Grubnic heads to NHRA's Houston event to amend memories Houston, Tex., April 6, 2005 - Native Australian and NHRA fan-favorite "Aussie Dave" Grubnic gets a glint in his eye and smiles even more than he normally does when the subject ...
Edited: Apr 8, 2005, 4:38 AM
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"Aussie Dave" Grubnic heads to NHRA's Houston event to amend memories
Houston, Tex., April 6, 2005 - Native Australian and NHRA fan-favorite "Aussie Dave" Grubnic gets a glint in his eye and smiles even more than he normally does when the subject of Houston Raceway Park comes up. After all, it was at HRP in 1998 that the driver of the electric blue flame-decorated Zantrex-3 Top Fuel dragster made his first trip to the final round of an NHRA national event.
As the stars of NHRA drag racing descend to Southeast Texas this weekend for the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, April 8-10, at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex., just outside the Houston city limits, Dave, 42, is anxious to return to the place of his first final with expectations of going to the winner's circle this time for more than one reason.
"I have unfinished business in Houston," 2004 Budweiser Shootout (Las Vegas 2) winner Dave said. "I've been trying to finish that business for seven years now.
"Seriously, I'm eager to get to the track and go racing. Right now my memories of HRP are from 1998, so I want to win there now to add to those memories before they fade away. I am getting older, you know.
"Our Zantrex-3 team is more than ready to get our first win, so I want it for them more than anything. Houston will be just fine with me to do that."
Kalitta Motorsports team driver Dave has made seven final-round appearances in his 11-year career but has yet to score his first NHRA national event win. His career-best elapsed time is 4.448 sec., and his career-best speed is 333.58 mph. He is currently 3rd in championship points (207), just 24 points shy of the lead.
The O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals begins Friday, April 8, for the Top Fuel class with two qualifying sessions. Two more qualifying sessions follow on Saturday. The top sixteen qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations.
The O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals is the fourth of 23 national events in the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Kalitta Motorsports is the only full-time three-car Top Fuel drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) POWERade Drag Racing Series. The racing operation was started in 1959 by now legendary drag racer and team owner Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. His son Scott Kalitta drives the Mac Tools/Jesse James dragster. Scott's cousin, Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta drives the flagship dragster for Mac Tools. Native Australian David Grubnic drives the third dragster under the banner of Zantrex-3.
Connie serves as crew chief for all three Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by co-crew chiefs Rahn Tobler (Mac Tools dragster), Jim Oberhofer (Mac Tools/Jesse James dragster) and Jon Oberhofer (Zantrex-3 dragster).
Associate sponsors on all three race cars include Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies and Fischer Honda.
-www.kalittaracing.com
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