Is Australian Dave Grubnic the sport's next Top Fuel star?
Ron Capps, Tony and Frank Pederegon, and
Larry Dixon make up the impressive list of fuel-racing stars who have
been linked with John Mitchells's successful string of Montana
Express alcohol and fuel burning dragsters. Now Australian Dave Grubnic
hopes to add his name to the fraternity that is leading Top Fuel and Funny
Car racing into the 21st century.
" Sure, I hope to be as successful as those guys, but I
don't look at what John's former drivers have done and feel like there's any
added pressure to be like them," said the personable, easygoing native of
Brisbane, Queensland." I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best
driver I can be, and I feel the only standards I have to live up to are my
own."
Certainly, no one questions Grubnic's desire to succeed
in drag racing. He fell in love with the sport as a teenager after attending
a Funny Car match race in his homeland, and in 1991, he moved to the United
States to pursue his dream of becoming a racer and hooked up with his countrymen,
brothers Phil and Chris McGee.
" Drag racing is very popular in Australia, but there
aren't a lot of cars or sponsorship dollars, so it's very difficult to succeed,"
said Grubnic. " My goal was to race in America, anyway, so I decided to make
the big move here. the first time I went to a dragstrip, I told myself, " I
am going to do this." I may eventually want to settle down and have a family,
and I knew that if I didn't get (racing) out of my system, it would probably
come back to haunt me."
After moving to Los Angeles, Grubnic drove the McGee
brothers blown-fuel lakester on dry-lake beds and ran more than 260 mph on a
1.3 mile course before achieving similar speeds in the quarter-mile at the
wheel of the McGees' unique quad-cam Top Fuel dragster.
" I guess they figured if I could drive 260 mph on dirt,
then I could handle a Top Fuel car," recalled Grubnic. " And actually, they're
not too different because they both have a tendency to get loose and move
around, so the experience of driving the lakester was a good one."
Grubnic also vividly remembers his first run in the McGee
car during a test session at Los Angeles County Raceway one weekend.
" The first time I smashed the throttle, everything
disappeared. It was absolutely wild," he recalled. "(Fellow Top Fuel driver)
Robert Reehl was there that night, and he told me that after about 10
runs, I'd get used to the acceleration, and he was right. You just have to
believe that you can do it. I'd say that the secret to this is a combination
of confidence in your ability and respect for the car."
Following his stint in the McGee car, Grubnic spent a
year driving Bill Blomgren's Team Geronimo Top Fueler before moving
to Ennis, Montana, to drive Mitchell's car for the 1998 season. Mitchell
had actually considered parking the car this year, but with the arrival of
Grubnic and crew chief Richard Hogan, he made a renewed committment
to be competitive.
" I had my eye on Dave as a driver last year, but he
was committed to the Geronimo team," said Mitchell. " When he became available
this year, I didn't hesitate to put him in the car. I saw he and Richard as
two guys who could help us get turned around. We'd always had fun racing,
but I knew that in order to compete with people like (Team Winston's)
Alan Johnson we needed to be more serious about what we were doing."
After qualifying solidly at the season's first two events,
the Montana Express team came of age at the Mac Tools Gatorantionals
with a stunning 4.573 in a first-round upset of Cory McClenathan.
amazingly, Grubnic's progressive times on that run were quicker than those
of Joe Amato, who ran a blistering 4.523 at more than 322
mph in the next pair.
" Prior to that run, I remember talking to Richard, and
he didn't seem worried about racing Cory at all," Grubnic recalled. " He
knew that we could run with the McDonald's team.
" When I left, the car carried the front end at just the
right height, and I never saw Cory, even though the car nosed over a little at
the finish line. When Amato ran 4.52 in the same round, his eighth-mile time
was 3.044, and ours was 3.041, and I believe we were a little
quicker at the 1000-foot mark as well. It was a pretty special day for us."
Things would only get better. Grubnic backed up his
performance in Gainesville with a runner-up finish at the Pennzoil Nationals
in Houston. Grubnic didn't sneak up on anyone at that event, but he did beat
Bruce Sarver, Amato and Mike Dunn before losing to McClenathan
and the McDonald's car in the final round.
Despite his recent success, Grubnic won't contend for
the 1998 Winston Top Fuel crown, simply because the team had committed to a
15-race schedule and isn't likely to deviate from it, regardless of its level
of success.
" It's difficult to run a part-time schedule, but for now,
I believe we're doing the right thing," said Mitchell. " It's hard to find
quality crew members who want to live in Montana, and I'd rather run 15 races
where we can be a contender than go to all of them and just struggle along.
If we had a sponsor that insisted we go to all the events, that would be a
different story. But as long as I'm funding the team out of my wallet, we feel
this is the best approach."
Despite missing a number of events, Mitchell and Grubnic
still believe a Top 10 finish is within their grasp.
" Of course, my ultimate goal is to be the Winston
champion," said Grubnic. " But right now, I'm very happy to be where I am. I
can't say enough good things about John and Paulette Mitchell, Richard Hogan
and the rest of our crew. I have total confidence in them, and I believe that
any time we go to the races, we are capable of winning, which is all anyone
can ask for."
" I've seen a remarkable difference in our team since
Dave got here, and I know the fans and the people who've met him really love
him," Mitchell added. "Larry Dixon, Tony and Frank Pedregon, Ron Capps, and
I are all still good friends, and I'm very happy to see how well they've done,
but I'd like to see Dave become a star for our team."
