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Grubnic to make season debut for Kalitta Motorsports in Brainerd
Fri, 7 Aug 2009, 08:38 AM
Native Australian Dave Grubnic will return to the world quickest and fastest form of motorsports,
Top Fuel drag racing, at the wheel of a 300+ mph Kalitta Motorsports dragster at the annual running
of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series national event in Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 14-16, at
Brainerd Int' Raceway. Grubnic 8,000-horspower dragster will serve as a testing vehicle for the
team, and will also participate in the two NHRA events following the event in Minn., Reading,
Penn., and Indianapolis.
"Connie (Kalitta, team owner, tuner, and drag racing legend) has some things he wants to try out
and bringing Grubnic's car back out is the best way for him to do that, Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta
Motorsports general manager said. "NHRA limits our testing time, so having another car out there
racing will help us try some new things without compromising the performance of our two full-time
racers (Red Line Oil Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta and DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car
driven by Jeff Arend)."
Grubnic, 46, previously drove a Top Fueler for Kalitta Motorsports from 2004-2008, but he has been
sidelined so far this season due to budget constraints. He has two NHRA national event wins in 14
final round appearances in his 14-year Top Fuel career. In May, 2005, he became the first racer
born outside of North America to win an NHRA Top Fuel event. He currently resides in Ennis, Mont.
"I'm really excited to get back to driving a race car," Grubnic said. "I've always considered it to
be an honor to drive for Connie and I'm glad I can do it again and help him, even if it is on a
limited basis. I'm sure we'll get some new ideas and I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun." Longtime
Kalitta Motorsports race car mechanic James Riola will assist Kalitta as crew chief on Grubnic's
rail ride.
Courtesy of Todd Myers
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