GAINESVILLE, Fla., (March 17, 2013) - Native Australian David Grubnic, a 50-year old resident of Bozeman, Mont., had an exciting announcement to start the race weekend, with OPTIMA Batteries extending their sponsorship with Kalitta Motorsports and partnering with Advance Auto Parts. Unfortunately, the track proved very tricky in the early runs of the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., which gave Grubnic his first round one loss of the season.
Grubnic ran sub 3.9-second runs in the final three qualifying sessions, leading to his best run, a 3.848-second run in the last session on Saturday afternoon. That slotted him 11th for Sunday. His first round matchup was with Spencer Massey, who had taken out Grubnic’s teammate in the first round in the previous race in Phoenix. Grubnic had owned two previous round wins against Massey before Sunday’s matchup.
Grubnic and Massey were the seventh pair down the track in the first round of eliminations, and it looked like “Grubby” would get his third straight first round victory to start the season. He was leading at the 60 foot and 330 foot marks, however, the car started heading towards the center line and Grubnic was forced to lift.
“You bet, we were looking for a much better outcome this weekend,” Grubnic said. “We were in the left lane in round one and from my experience in that lane in qualifying I knew the Optima Batteries/Advance Auto Parts dragster tended to move toward the center so I was lining up with the car aimed slightly toward the wall to compensate. For whatever reason, I didn’t compensate as much as I did in qualifying and the car reminded me that it’s a beast. It pulled me toward the centerline and I tried as hard as I could to get it corrected, but it moved out of the groove and started spinning the tires. I learned my lesson today.”
Even after Grubnic’s round one loss, due to his early success this season, the Optima Batteries/Advance Auto Parts team is still ranking in the top ten of the championship standings in tenth, just two points behind Brandon Bernstein in ninth. Grubnic will debut the Candlewood Suites Top Fuel dragster for 2013 at our next event, NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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Grubnic ran sub 3.9-second runs in the final three qualifying sessions, leading to his best run, a 3.848-second run in the last session on Saturday afternoon. That slotted him 11th for Sunday. His first round matchup was with Spencer Massey, who had taken out Grubnic’s teammate in the first round in the previous race in Phoenix. Grubnic had owned two previous round wins against Massey before Sunday’s matchup.
Grubnic and Massey were the seventh pair down the track in the first round of eliminations, and it looked like “Grubby” would get his third straight first round victory to start the season. He was leading at the 60 foot and 330 foot marks, however, the car started heading towards the center line and Grubnic was forced to lift.
“You bet, we were looking for a much better outcome this weekend,” Grubnic said. “We were in the left lane in round one and from my experience in that lane in qualifying I knew the Optima Batteries/Advance Auto Parts dragster tended to move toward the center so I was lining up with the car aimed slightly toward the wall to compensate. For whatever reason, I didn’t compensate as much as I did in qualifying and the car reminded me that it’s a beast. It pulled me toward the centerline and I tried as hard as I could to get it corrected, but it moved out of the groove and started spinning the tires. I learned my lesson today.”
Even after Grubnic’s round one loss, due to his early success this season, the Optima Batteries/Advance Auto Parts team is still ranking in the top ten of the championship standings in tenth, just two points behind Brandon Bernstein in ninth. Grubnic will debut the Candlewood Suites Top Fuel dragster for 2013 at our next event, NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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