NHRA News: Grubnic wins Budweiser Shootout (10/30/2004)

Grubnic's first win not a Wally, but a big check

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
10/30/2004

Dave Grubnic

Australian racer Dave Grubnic will always remember his first win in NHRA competition as it came with the sport's single largest payout – $100,000. Grubnic beat Larry Dixon in the final-round of the 20th annual Budweiser Shootout Saturday to break a 10-year winless streak in grand fashion.

Grubnic's Zantrex-3 car was virtually unchallenged in the final as he zipped from one end of The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the other in 4.501 seconds at 328.46 mph, while Dixon disappeared in a cloud of tire smoke just off the launching pad.

"This is fantastic," Grubnic said. "To go out there and finally win one after racing to so many finals (seven career runner-up finishes) only to come up short is very, very gratifying, to say the least.

"I've had so many races it seems where we looked like we were going to win and then you'd see someone's nose sneak past you at the end. This time I never saw or heard Larry and when I went through the scoreboards and saw my win light come on I realized we'd finally done it. The first thing I did was get on the radio and tell my crew chief, 'We just won a hundred thousand dollars.' What a thrill.

"Thanks to Bud for putting up the money. Thanks to Connie Kalitta for giving me this ride. Thanks to Mac Tools and Technicoat and Zantrex-3, all the people who have supported me for 10 years. They should all share in this win.

Racers Edge Photography

"We started the with three cars out of the eight in the field but the other two lost in Round 1 so I was out there alone. Ultimately, only one driver and team can win and today it was us."

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Grubnic escaped potential disaster in the opening round when he recovered from a rash of tire spin to beat teammate Scott Kalitta with a 4.91. Scott was unable to regain traction after smoking his tires a few hundred feet into the run. Grubnic's rail then posted an impressive 4.550 to remove POWERade champion Tony Schumacher from the equation and advance him to the finals with lane choice.

Beginning the day as the lone wildcard entry, Dixon's Miller Lite dragster proved it belonged among the sport's elite teams with a pair of mid-4.5 second passes in wins over low qualifier Doug Kalitta and beer rival Brandon Bernstein.

Budweiser, the Official Beer of the NHRA, provided a total purse of $235,000 for this year's Shootout event. In addition to Grubnic's top prize of $100,000, Dixon earned $15,000 for his runner-up finish, Bernstein and Schumacher pocketed $6,000 each for reaching the semifinals, and first-round finishers D. Kalitta, Cory McClenathan, Doug Herbert, and S. Kalitta took home $5,000 apiece just for making the show. Budweiser also paid the No. 1 qualifier at each national event from the previous 22 national events a $4,000 bonus.

As an added potential windfall, Grubnic can also claim a $50,000 "Double-Up" bonus from the NHRA should he win Sunday's ACDelco Nationals as well.

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