KALITTA MOTORSPORTS
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Event 10 of 24
Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, Ill.
June 5-8, 2008
Media Contact: Todd Myers
tmyers@kalittaracing.com
Team DHL heads to Joliet to race at Route 66 Raceway
JOLIET, Ill., (June 3, 2008) – This weekend, June 5-8, Team DHL drag racing drivers Dave Grubnic and Scott Kalitta hope to bring home title trophies in their respective quarter-mile classes at the annual running of the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., just a few miles south of the Chicago city limits.
Native Australian Grubnic, a 45-year old resident of Ennis, Mont., drives the bright yellow and red, 8,000-horsepower DHL Top Fuel dragster for Kalitta Motorsports. His teammate, Kalitta, a 46-year old resident of Palmetto, Fla., drives the nitro-fueled DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car.
Grubnic is the track record-holder at Route 66 Raceway for speed, 333.58 mph (Oct., 2004). Kalitta won the Top Fuel title trophy in Joliet in 2005.
At the previous event last weekend in Topeka, Kan., Grubnic and the DHL dragster team qualified their entry in the No. 13 position for eliminations (4.690 sec., 303.78 mph). After losing valuable traction on the drag strip, Grubnic was defeated in round one by Antron Brown, 8.328 sec., 89.43 mph to 4.612 sec., 294.50 mph. Kalitta and the DHL Funny Car team failed to qualify for the 16-car Funny Car field in Topeka.
Grubnic is currently in 9th place in POWERade Top Fuel championship points, while Kalitta is in 19th place in Funny Car points.
In early 2004, Grubnic was hired to drive for legendary team owner Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta and Kalitta Motorsports. In the fall of ‘04, Grubnic won the lucrative and coveted Budweiser Shootout in Las Vegas, becoming only the fourth driver in the special event's history to win its $100,000 prize in his first attempt. Grubnic picked up an emotional first NHRA national event win in May, 2005 in Topeka, Kans., to become the first non-native North American to win a Top Fuel trophy. He has one other event victory to date, the 2006 running of the famed Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Kalitta is the son of team owner and drag racing legend Conrad “Connie” Kalitta. He returned to the Funny Car class in 2006 after many successful years at the helm of a Top Fuel dragster. He won the NHRA Top Fuel World Championship in 1994 and 1995 as well as 17 NHRA national event trophies, but got his first professional NHRA national event win under the carbon fiber canopy of a Funny Car in Houston in 1989.
The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals begins Friday for the nitro-fueled classes with two qualifying sessions at 3:30 p.m. (CT) and 7:00 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. The top sixteen qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.
All times and dates subject to change.
The Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals is the 10th of 24 national events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) POWERade Drag Racing Series. The racing operation was started in 1959 by now legendary drag racer and team owner Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta. His son, Scott Kalitta, drives the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car. Scott's cousin, Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta drives the flagship Top Fuel dragster for Mac Tools. Native Australian Dave Grubnic drives the DHL Top Fuel dragster, while Hillary Will drives the Ken Black-owned and Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster.
Connie serves as head tuner for all Team Kalitta entries. He is assisted by crew chiefs Jim Oberhofer (KB Racing, LLC dragster), Jon Oberhofer (Mac Tools dragster co-crew chief), and Richard Hogan (Mac Tools dragster co-crew chief). Connie serves as crew chief on the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car with assistance from co-crew chief Glenn Mikres and as the crew chief on the DHL dragster with assistance from co-crew chief James Riola.
Associate sponsors on all Kalitta Motorsports' race cars include Mac Tools, Red Line Oil, Summit Racing Equipment, Technicoat Companies, K2M, and Toyota.