Championship Drag Racing

Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals
Sonoma, CA
(July 27-29)

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Driver Profile

Dave Grubnic Optima Batteries dragster

Sonoma, prerace: Dave Grubnic, driver of the nitro-fueled, 330-mph, black and electric blue-flamed Zantrex-3 Top Fuel dragster, is eyeing this weekend’s annual running of the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., as the turning point of the Zantrex-3 team’s 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season.

“We really need a win this weekend in Sonoma,” Grubnic, a 44-year old resident of Ennis, Mont., said. “We’ve been up and down this year with our car’s consistency, but we’ve managed to stay up there in the points. A win this weekend for our Zantrex-3 team would be huge.

“Our car is right on the edge of being a race-in and race-out winner right now. Hopefully we’ll get that little extra bit of consistency this weekend in Sonoma to get us over that edge and start a year-end charge.”

Grubnic holds the track record for speed at Infineon Raceway, 331.36 mph – July 2006. He was the Top Fuel title runner-up in Sonoma in 2004 and in 2001.

This season the NHRA instituted the new Countdown to the Championship points system. Only the top eight in POWERade points after the first 17 national events will be allowed to vie for the season championship. This weekend’s event in Sonoma is the 15th of the season.

Grubnic is currently eighth in POWERade championship points. He is 51 points ahead of 9th place.

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