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POMONA, qualifying: The beginning of the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season kicked off this weekend at fabled Pomona Raceway in Southern California. The 45th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, the first of 23-races on the schedule that concludes back in Pomona in November.

Professional qualifying began Thursday afternoon with the Funny Cars running last. After a lengthy delay, a computer malfunction forced the Funny Car teams to use the right lane only. Arend’s blue Pontiac Firebird with one-race graphics advertising the reality television show, “The Trader”, made a strong run until half-track where Arend shut it off early as scheduled. The Canadian native recorded a 6.191 at 137.93 mph to finish the session qualified 10th.

“The Trader” is a reality show concept based on the real life activities of amateur and professional stock traders. The Trader Show places an emphasis on day traders. The show intends to show the world of the dynamics of these relatively new business characteristics. The Trader Show captures it all and shows the world the reality of life as a stock trader.

The racers and fans were greeted by rain when they arrived to Pomona Raceway on Friday. The NHRA Safety Safari and track workers worked diligently to try and dry the track through intermittent rain showers but eventually racing for the day was canceled.

Weather conditions improved on Saturday and the first professional qualifying session of the day began on schedule. Arend pulled to the starting line in left lane for his second attempt of the weekend. The beautiful blue Trader Pontiac Firebird scorched the Pomona quarter-mile to a 4.797 at 312.71 mph, a career-best elapsed time for Arend. The sensational run moved Arend into the No. 5 qualifying position with one session remaining.

Arend shut off early on his final attempt and finished qualifying in the No. 10 position, which pairs him up against Cruz Pedregon during the first round of Sunday’s eliminations.

“Considering that the 4.79 was the first full run on the car I was very excited,” said an ecstatic Arend after qualifying. “The car showed a lot of promise during testing but we changed a bunch of things for this race because we want to run better this year. We don’t want to just squeak into qualifying this season, our goal is to be a Top 10 contender. And we've got the parts and pieces to do it now.”

Arend was surprised with his quick qualifying success. “Obviously I thought it would take a race or two to get into the 70’s, but Paul Smith, Rick Cassel and the crew a did great job. It also shows how handicapped we were last season because the tune up isn’t all that different than last year and this car can take it and the one last year couldn't. I think its been a fantastic start to the new year, better than I would have expected, and think we're going to have a great season. At the end of last year when Urban Casavant and I agreed on a deal for 2005, I told him I was going to give him and the CMKX shareholders something to be excited about and I think we started pretty good here.”