"We've made enough deposits in the luck bank so far this year, so it's time to starting making some withdraws," Arend, a 46-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., said. "Our DHL car's performances on the race track have steadily gotten better throughout the year, but we've had some bad luck in some close races. Hopefully this weekend in Brainerd will be the turnaround we've been looking for."

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.

Native Australian Dave Grubnic will return to racing action for Kalitta Motorsports this weekend in Brainerd behind the wheel of the DHL-branded Top Fuel dragster. 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.

"I'm really excited to get back to driving a race car," Grubnic, a resident of Ennis, Mont., said. "I've always considered it to be an honor to drive for Connie (Kalitta, team owner and drag racing legend) and I'm glad I can do it again."

Longtime Kalitta Motorsports mechanic James Riola will assist Kalitta as crew chief on Grubnic's race car. Grubnic's 8,000-horsepower 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 "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta scored one of his 10 career event victories in Brainerd in 1985 with the Top Fuel title. Connie is celebrating his 50th year of NHRA drag racing in 2009.

Event Schedule
The NHRA Nationals in Brainerd begin Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 3:30 p.m. (CT) and 6:15 p.m. and again on Saturday at noon 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 event in Minnesota is the 16th of 24 national events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

ESPN2 TV Schedule
8/15 - Qualifying: 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (ET)
8/16 - Eliminations: 10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
8/19 - Repeat Eliminations: 2:30 a.m. - 4:30 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. 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.

Jeff Arend drives the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car for the team while Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta, drives the No. 50 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 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://www.teamkalitta.com

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

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

Courtesy of Todd Myers