Pomona II: Kalitta Motorsports Saturday summary

Scott Kalitta qualifies No. 11 in Pomona; Teammates "Aussie Dave" Grubnic and Doug Kalitta qualify No. 12 and No. 13 respectively

Pomona, Calif., (Nov. 5, 2005) -- At the Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., Mac Tools/Jesse James Top Fuel dragster driver Scott Kalitta led the three-car Team Kalitta Top Fuel qualifying efforts for Sunday's 16-car field of final eliminations at Pomona Raceway.

Two-time Top Fuel World Champion (1994-1995) Scott, 43, qualified No. 11 (4.542 sec., 328.86 mph). He will race No. 6 qualifier Clay Millican in round one of eliminations. Scott is 4-3 versus Millican in elimination rounds in his career.

Scott, who won the opening event of the 2005 season, the Winternationals, in Pomona in February, and again in June in Joliet, Ill., is currently eighth in championship points.

Scott has 18 (17 Top Fuel, 1 Funny Car) NHRA national event victories in his 24-year career.

Grubnic, driver of the StriVectin-SD Top Fueler, qualified in the No. 12 (4.543 sec., 327.51 mph). He will race No. 5 qualifier Rod Fuller in round one of eliminations. Grubnic is 1-3 versus Fuller in his career.

Native Australian Grubnic, 43, made history May 29th in Topeka, Kans., by becoming the first non-North American to win an NHRA Top Fuel national event. The win in Topeka was Grubnic's first in his 11-year career.

Grubnic is currently in fourth place in championship points.

Two-time Top Fuel points runner-up (2003-2004) and Scott's cousin Doug qualified No. 13 with a best lap down the quarter-mile of 4.555 seconds at 326.24 mph. He will race No. 4 qualifier Brandon Bernstein in round one of eliminations. Doug is 5-5 versus Bernstein in eliminations in his career.

Doug, driver of the Mac Tools Top Fueler, enters final eliminations in third place in Top Fuel championship points. He is only eight points behind second place holder Larry Dixon.

Doug, 41, is an eight-year Top Fuel veteran and former USAC National Sprint Car Champion (1994). He owns 24 NHRA national event trophies. He has five wins, a career-best, so far in 2005 (Gainesville, Bristol, Tenn., Atlanta, Sonoma, Calif., and Brainerd).

The Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals is the 23rd of 23 national events in the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Sunday's final eliminations begin with the Top Fuel class at 11:00 a.m.

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