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Reading: Dave Grubnic preview
Getting off the "Big Bump" the goal for Dave Grubnic and the DHL team in Reading READING, Pa., (Aug. 13, 2008) -- Native Australian Dave Grubnic, driver of the bright yellow, nitro-fueled, 8,000-horsepower DHL Top Fuel dragster, is hoping that he ...
Published: Aug 14, 2008, 4:45 PM
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Getting off the "Big Bump" the goal for Dave Grubnic and the DHL team in Reading
READING, Pa., (Aug. 13, 2008) -- Native Australian Dave Grubnic, driver of the bright yellow, nitro-fueled, 8,000-horsepower DHL Top Fuel dragster, is hoping that he and his DHL team can deliver a victory to possibly eliminate their precarious points position this weekend, Aug. 14-17, at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.
In drag racing "the bump spot" typically refers to the driver that is provisionally qualified in the No. 16 position because of the possible peril that driver faces by being bumped out of the 16-car final eliminations field. For Grubnic and the DHL dragster team, the Big Bump that hunts them now is not 16th; it's 10th.
Grubnic is currently in 10th place in POWERade championship points. Only the top ten pro drivers in points in their respective classes will be eligible for the 2008 Countdown to the Championship -- Countdown to 1 that begins at the 19th event in Concord, N.C. Grubnic is just 13 points ahead of the driver in 11th position. The event in Reading is the 17th event.
Last year, Grubnic and his team were in position to get the last position in the Countdown "playoffs", but were knocked out of contention in the final qualifying event (Reading) and missed the Countdown by only three points.
"Well, here we go again with remnants of last year's Countdown," Grubnic, a 46-year old resident of Ennis, Mont., said. "We were knocked out by a mere few points last year and that was a big let down. Right now, I feel like we're being attacked by a pack of point-hungry wolves, and we have two chooses -- Go hide behind a rock or come out swinging with everything we've got and that's exactly what Connie (Kalitta, crew chief, team owner and drag racing legend) and the DHL team is going to do.
"Our entire Kalitta Motorsports team has been through so much strife this year that it's almost unbelievable, but it has made us all so much tougher. I can guarantee you that this team will not be knocked out without a tremendous fight."
Grubnic's next elimination-round win will be the 150th of his 14-year Top Fuel career.
-credit: km
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