With a favorable forecast from the weather man and a race car that has been getting everyone's attention lately with stellar performances on the 1,000-ft. drag strip, Arend is confident that he and the DHL team have great odds of picking up their 2nd NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series national event win this weekend in Nevada.

"We've definitely got one of the cars to beat this weekend in Vegas," Arend, a 46-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., said. "The weather is supposed to be great this weekend and the race track at The Strip is always top-notch so we're looking forward to tuning up the DHL Funny Car to run some really quick laps.

"Our DHL Toyota has made some huge strides in performance over the past couple of events. We've won five of the last eight (elimination) rounds so we're going to put all of our chips on the table in Vegas and try to win big."

Arend will join many other stars of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tonight in the Fremont Street Experience for a Fan Fest and autograph session from 6 - 8 p.m. The Fan Fest will take place on the 3rd St. section of Fremont Street near the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, FitzGerald Casino and Hotel and the Fremont Hotel and Casino.

Arend picked up an emotional victory earlier this month in Memphis, his first win with Kalitta Motorsports since joining the team last August. Arend, a native Canadian, has two NHRA career Funny Car victories (Reading, Pa., 1996). He is married to Windy, and they have a daughter, Jenna, 9.

Event Schedule
The Las Vegas NHRA Nationals begin Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 1:30 p.m. (PT) and 4:00 p.m. and again on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 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 Las Vegas NHRA Nationals is the 23rd of 24 national events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

ESPN2 TV Schedule
10/31/2009 - Qualifying - 11:30:00 PM-1:30:00 AM (ET)
11/01/2009 - Eliminations - 7:30:00 PM-10:30:00 PM (ET)
11/13/2009 - Repeat Eliminations - 2:00:00 AM-4:00:00 AM (ET)

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