NHRA News: Grubnic stays stateside to prepare for second run (12/26/2000)

Grubnic stays stateside to prepare for second run

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/26/2000

"I learned the nuances of each facility and I think I'll be able to apply a lot of that knowledge to our next visit."
-- Dave Grubnic

While his country celebrates the post-Christmas tradition of Boxing Day, Australian drag racing ace Dave Grubnic will bide his time in the snowy reaches of Montana at team owner John Mitchell's Montana Express race shop packing for what he hopes will be his second full season on the NHRA tour.

After six years of spotty competition, Grubnic, 38, entered the Top Fuel fray full-time in 2000 and worked his way up to a respectable 10th place finish in the Winston championship points standings. His 10 elimination-round wins in the 23 races for which he qualified all set career-best marks and helped him to his best ever finish.

Now he hopes the attention he received in 2000, from both his positive and negative performances -- Grubnic's ghastly wreck in Gainesville, Fla., is still making the rounds on tabloid TV, both in America and "Down Under" in Australia -- will help draw the attention of a title sponsor looking for worldwide exposure.

"We knew the first year would be a real grinder and it was," Grubnic said in his delightful Australian cantor. "It's pretty draining to run the whole year. Draining, but awfully exciting as well. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

"I usually jump back home for a break over the Christmas and New Year holiday but we just had too much to do and not enough time to do it in so I gave it a pass. Dad's not happy one bit but I think he understands.

"I'll miss the trip. It's warm back home -- you know it's summertime there and all that -- and I'm up to my neck in snow here. It's a killer; I never even saw snow until I came up here. But I just felt that staying committed to the cause is more important this time through."

For now, Mitchell has committed plenty to the team's second full-time assault, although Grubnic knows they will soon reach a point where outside help will become a necessity.

The team took delivery of two brand new Brad Hadman chassis near the end of the 2000 campaign and began preparing the cars for battle as soon as they returned from Hollywood after the Winston Awards Ceremony. They also have 16 new blocks ready for action.

"John's always been big on putting all of his money into the car," Grubnic said. "He runs the team and he's the crew chief so he knows what he needs better than anyone. We've kept the same crew together as well, which is crucial. Jim Brissette came on board last year as a technical advisor and he'll be back again, working basically as co-crew chief. He's a tremendously talented guy.

"The team is great. I think everyone proved that after the Gainesville wreck. We had a rear tire shred and it took the wing off when I was going pretty fast. The car was really mucked up (Grubnic was uninjured) but the boys back-halved it right there at the track and had the car ready to go as if nothing had happened. I knew then we had a group.

"John's bought all this stuff, you should see it all lined up here at the shop, but it wouldn't mean a thing if we only had orangutans to put it together. If there is one thing I learned over the years is you absolutely must have quality people around you. Otherwise everything you do is useless. It takes a team."

On a personal level, Grubnic readily admits his first full run down the entire NHRA schedule was a real learning experience.

"There were a lot of tracks I had never been to before," he said, "and believe me everyone is different. I'd say I gained a lot of track savvy this time around. I learned the nuances of each facility and I think I'll be able to apply a lot of that knowledge to our next visit."

The next big hurdle for Grubnic and Co. is to see if they actually will return to every race.

"The current plan is to hit the first few races and see how we do," Grubnic said. "The way I look at it is that we need to earn our right to go forward at that point. We have to produce results right away."

Like many fledgling teams, the Montana Express operation, so named because of Mitchell's love of the state, lacks the major-league funding of the teams contending for the Winston championship.

"We were extremely pleased to finish the year in the top 10 especially when you match up our budget to many of the other teams," Grubnic said. "At the same time, we know that to move up we'll need to spend more money. That will take a sponsor.

"I know that right now we're a fantastic bargain. We have all the stuff we need to get started. We just need the extra backing that will allow us to step on it and win some races. I know we're a good deal for somebody; I just need to find that perfect match out there.

"The NHRA will really shoot up next year as far as sponsorship exposure goes. The new TV deal is great and we should be able to earn plenty of time in front of the camera, preferably winning races and not turning the car around like we did in Florida.

"I just hope we can keep this going. I had to miss my Christmas trip so now I hope I can look back at the end of next season and say it was well worth the effort."

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