Native Australian Dave Grubnic and his Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel team will have some extra, if not intimidating, incentive to do well at this weekend’s, Oct. 25-28, annual running of the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
World-renowned mixed-martial arts champion Dan Henderson will represent Endothil-CR and Oxydrene at the event in Las Vegas, Oct. 27-28, 2007 and will join “Aussie” Dave and his team at “The Strip” during that time. Henderson owns more major tournament titles than any other athlete in MMA history.
The reigning PRIDE Welterweight world champion and two-time Olympian, Henderson, 37, made MMA history on February 24, 2007, when he knocked out Wanderlei Silva to claim the Middleweight world title. Henderson is the first athlete in major MMA competition history to hold two weight-division crowns simultaneously.
Grubnic will drive the 7,000+ horsepower Endothil-CR/Oxydrene Top Fuel dragster during Saturday and Sunday’s races, including the special event Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout on Saturday. The dragster will assume its normal electric blue and black Zantrex-3 colors during Friday’s competition.
Nate Leavitt, spokesperson for Endothil and Oxydrene, says, “Let’s face it, bodybuilding has evolved. Today it’s all about being quick, tough, and strong. People don’t respect ‘muscle-bound freaks.’ People respect guys who can handle themselves. And that requires quickness, toughness, and strength. That’s why products like Endothil and Oxydrene are becoming popular with top mixed martial arts champions like Dangerous Dan Henderson. They’re using Endothil for strength, and Oxydrene for endurance and stamina. Why? Because Endothil makes you stronger…a lot stronger…without steroids or hormone precursors, and Oxydrene has the ability to increase oxygen saturation of blood and tissue, thereby increasing time to exhaustion while decreasing time of recovery. In other words, Endothil and Oxydrene provide you the strength, power, speed, and endurance to keep going. Because if you can’t last, you’ll never be the last man standing.”
Grubnic will once again participate in Saturday’s special race-within-a-race, the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout. The lucrative $100,000 winner’s paycheck will go to one of eight Top Fuel drivers who qualified for the prestigious and exclusive annual Las Vegas event. Grubnic won the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout in his first attempt in 2004.
“Wow. What an exciting weekend we have lined up for the great fans of NHRA drag racing,” Grubnic, a 45-year old resident of Ennis, Mont., said. “First of all, having Dan Henderson with us and representing the Endothil®-CR and Oxydrene® brands is a huge honor for all of us at Kalitta Motorsports. I’m sure all of the race fans will really enjoy this partnership as well.
“Second, we get to run for the big money in the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout again. Winning the Shootout in 2004 is definitely a highlight of my career. So, hopefully for Dan and Endothil®-CR and Oxydrene® we can get our second Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout win this year.”
In early 2004, Grubnic was hired to drive for Kalitta Motorsports. Since joining Team Kalitta, Grubnic has posted consecutive top-five championship points finishes. 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.
The ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals begins Friday for the Nitro-fueled classes with one qualifying session at 2:00 p.m. (PT). One more qualifying session follows on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Two more qualifying opportunities take place Saturday at 1:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The top sixteen qualified cars will race Sunday in final eliminations beginning at 11:00 a.m.
The first round of the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout will begin at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
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