Dave Grubnic still remembers the sting of waiting out several days of rain delays at Reading in 2007, only to learn -- via phone call from Graham Light, NHRA’s sneior vice-president of racing operations -- that he had been bumped from the Countdown field. As Grubnic awaits the 2010 results at Brainerd, this year’s cutoff event, he looked back to that time but put his effort to hold off hard-charging Terry McMillen all in perspective.
 

Dave Grubnic still remembers the sting of waiting out several days of rain delays at Reading in 2007, only to learn -- via phone call from Graham Light, NHRA’s sneior vice-president of racing operations -- that he had been bumped from the Countdown field. As Grubnic awaits the 2010 results at Brainerd, this year’s cutoff event, he looked back to that time but put his effort to hold off hard-charging Terry McMillen all in perspective.
 
“You can't let it get to you. You just got to go and do your job. We're going to stick to our game plan of what we always do, and that's qualify well, get the car qualified, hopefully go rounds.  Worrying about it, changing stuff or getting involved, it really can't change the situation,” the Montana resident by way of Brisbane, Australia, said. “If we don't make it, Terry does, as Terry said, we go over and congratulate Terry and move on to the next event. I don't see any other way to do it. We do the same job we do every week, which is we give it our best and we give it our all.
 
“We get asked a lot if we're going to do anything different or change or procedure or what we do at the start line or how we drive the car. Realistically we don't. We can't. It's not all of a sudden I can't come up with 110 percent or 100 percent, go up to Connie (team owner Kalitta) and say, ‘I've only been giving it 50% at all these previous events.’ You always give it your best. That's the only thing you can do. We'll have to go to Brainerd and see how it all turns out.”
 
In the scheme of things, it’s a drag race. It’s Grubnic’s dearly held job, but he said, “What we're talking about here, I've said this in another interviews as well, it's not a catastrophe. Last year there were people losing their houses, people struggling with other issues. It's something we have to work through. You take the good with the bad.”
 
BOUNTY HUNTER STILL HUNTING - Top Fuel driver Dave Grubnic said he’s thrilled to be back in a dragster for team owner Connie Kalitta full time, after only five races in 2009 following a top-10 finish in 2008. “Connie, he decided he wanted to run it again, then just recently announced full-time. In short, yes, it's thrilling and it's great and it's wonderful to be back out there. But ultimately we still got to find funding for the car,” Grubnic said. “It's still unsponsored for next year. We still have to sort of keep searching. I'd love to put something on the car that's obviously a three-to-five-year deal. Again, that's absolutely fabulous. And that's all Connie Kalitta. I don't think there's anybody that's put more of his own personal money than he has over the years and I'm very thankful and grateful for that.”