In the opening round of Sunday's eliminations in the Garden State, Arend paired up with Bob Tasca III. By the time the two drivers reached the 1,000-ft. marker less than 4.2 seconds later, Arend, by less than two inches, crossed the line as the runner-up. Arend now sees that race as a metaphor for his driving tenure at Kalitta Motorsports, and that has him more optimistic than ever going into this weekend's, June 25-28, annual running of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

"Ever since I joined Kalitta Motorsports last August we've been improving our performance," Arend, a 46-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., said. "The process has been slower than we want or anticipated, but our DHL car just keeps creeping up the performance ladder, and we know now that we are very close to where we need to be.

"Our entire team has worked so hard to make our race car improve. I can't say enough good things about the men that work on our crew and our crew chiefs, Jon "O" (Oberhofer) and Nicky (Boninfante), and our leader Connie (Kalitta, team owner and head tuner). I'm very confident that we'll get our first round-win together this weekend in Norwalk. We're all hungry for it and we're all ready to get one under our belts so we can get a lot more together."

Arend, a native Canadian, has 24 round-wins in his career and one NHRA Funny Car national event win to his credit - Reading, Pa., 1996. He is married to Windy, and they have a daughter, Jenna, 9.

In 2009, Kalitta Motorsports is celebrating 50 years of drag racing by team owner and drag racing legend Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. Over the past 50 years, Connie, who has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and as an owner, has dedicated unequalled amounts of time and resources to building one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing. Kalitta Motorsports has won five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.

Event Schedule<br> The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 4:30 p.m. (ET) and 7:30 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The top 16 qualified cars in each pro class will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Times and dates subject to change.

The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals is the 12th of 24 national events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

ESPN2 TV Schedule
6/27 - Qualifying: 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. (ET)
6/28 - Eliminations: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
7/01 - Repeat Eliminations: 3:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m.
Times and dates subject to change.

About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The racing operation was started in 1959 by legendary drag racer and team owner Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. Jeff Arend drives the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car for the team while Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta, drives the ROCKY Boots Top Fuel dragster entry. Connie serves as head tuner for both Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by crew chief Jim Oberhofer and assistant crew chief Troy Fasching on Doug's ROCKY Boots Top Fueler and by co-crew chiefs Jon Oberhofer and Nick Boninfante on the DHL Funny Car.

Associate sponsors on Kalitta Motorsports' race cars include Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies, Rocky Boots, Toyota, and Mac Tools.

For more info about Kalitta Motorsports, please visit http://wwww.teamkalitta.com

Follow Team Kalitta on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TeamKalitta

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kalitta

Courtesy of Todd Myers