Kloeber is a 20 plus year veteran of the sport and has worked with many of the top names in drag racing including Don Prudhomme, Tom McEwen, Ed McCulloch and he was the crew chief for Jim Epler when he became the first Funny Car to run over 300 MPH at Topeka in '94.

 

Kloeber has spent the past eight years as crew chief for Clay Millican's Top Fuel team, tuning him to 50 IHRA national event titles and six world championships and the IHRA world record at 4.48 seconds.  Kloeber also has eight NHRA national event wins as a crew chief in both Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars.

 

"I'm very happy that Bob called me, this is the opportunity I've been waiting for," Kloeber said.  "I've known Bob for a long time and he's a real racer at heart.  He's a really good driver, he's won races in the past, he knows what it takes to win and I hope that I can help him and his team achieve their goal of doing well at his home-town race in Charlotte."

 

Gilbertson is as equally enthusiastic as Kloeber is about him joining the team.

 

"Mike is a can-do guy and I know that I've made the right choice," Gilbertson added.  "It's going to be a big weekend for us as we're debuting a new sponsor at the nicest track in the world in our home town and I have all the confidence in the world that Mike will get the car down the track, get us qualified and hopefully go some rounds on Sunday and become a spoiler in the points chase."