Wed, 30 Sep 2009, 11:32 PM Arend and the DHL Team are Ready to Play it Cool in Memphis

Courtesy of Todd Myers

MILLINGTON, Tenn. -- Jeff Arend, driver of the bright yellow, nitro-fueled DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car, is looking forward to cool conditions and powerful performances this weekend, Oct. 2-4, at the annual running of the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn., just a few miles from the Memphis city limits.

With a slight chance of precipitation early in the weekend, the remainder of the local meteorological prognostications calls for sunny skies and cool temperatures, highs in the lower 70s and upper 60s.

"The forecast for this weekend in Memphis looks awesome right now," Arend, a 46-year old resident of San Dimas, Calif., said. "Our DHL Funny Car team is really excited about the possibility of running some big numbers in Memphis. A cooler track means that we can get better traction and tune up the motor to be more aggressive, so it should be a lot of fun this weekend."

Arend, a native Canadian, has 26 round-wins in his career. He is married to Windy, and they have a daughter, Jenna, 9.

Event Schedule
The O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals begin Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 3:00 p.m. (CT) and 5:30 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 O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals is the 21st of 24 national events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

ESPN2 TV Schedule
10/03/2009 - Qualifying - 10:30:00 PM - 12:30:00 AM ET
10/04/2009 - Eliminations - 7:00:00 PM - 10:00:00 PM ET
10/08/2009 - Repeat Eliminations - 3:30:00 AM - 5:30:00 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