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Coming into the Topeka race, only four Funny Car drivers had been part of the race field at all of the first seven races. The list included mega-stars Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi, and Tony Pedregon, along with one other driver. That fourth racer was Jeff Arend, and in a recent on-line poll, 60% of the voters tabbed Arend to be the next of the group to miss a cut, with more than 11,000 voters clicking the button next to his name. Instead, this Topeka race saw two of the mega-stars miss the show, as Capps and Pedregon surprisingly came up short on a tricky track, while Arend made the field solidly in the No. 8 spot.
"Hey, the way I see it more than 7,600 people picked someone other than me, but the truth is we've been pretty motivated about this all weekend," Arend said. "It's just proving some people wrong, I guess, because we have a lot of pride over here and a lot of determination. I can hardly believe that Ron and Tony didn't make it, because I respect those guys a ton and they have great race cars, but that just shows how tough it is out here. We've been saying it all year, and it still applies, that the DNQ is going to bite everyone before this year is over. I don't know how long Gary and I can go before the bug bites us, but I know we're just going to keep doing what we do and we'll see how that shakes out. If either one of us goes all 23 without a DNQ, that ought to be worth some sort of special award, because it will be
an amazing accomplishment.
"We did the deed here by making a very good lap on Friday afternoon, when just about everyone was going out there unsure of the track, unsure of the weather, and unsure of what to do. We managed to get it down there, and that set us up for today because it was seriously tricky out there. I would not have wanted to come into today at the bottom of the sheet. Even though the bump spot ended up being a relatively soft 4.94, it still wasn't that easy to get to the finish line under power, and bumping your way in was a tough task. Our teammate, Del Worsham, did it and we're very happy about that."
Arend will face Scott Kalitta in round one.
AREND HANGS ON TO TOP-HALF SPOT, KEEPS QUALIFYING STREAK ALIVE
Coming into the Topeka race, only four Funny Car drivers had been part of the race field at all of the first seven races. The list included mega-stars Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi, and Tony Pedregon, along with one other driver. That fourth racer was Jeff Arend, and in a recent on-line poll, 60% of the voters tabbed Arend to be the next of the group to miss a cut, with more than 11,000 voters clicking the button next to his name. Instead, this Topeka race saw two of the mega-stars miss the show, as Capps and Pedregon surprisingly came up short on a tricky track, while Arend made the field solidly in the No. 8 spot.
"Hey, the way I see it more than 7,600 people picked someone other than me, but the truth is we've been pretty motivated about this all weekend," Arend said. "It's just proving some people wrong, I guess, because we have a lot of pride over here and a lot of determination. I can hardly believe that Ron and Tony didn't make it, because I respect those guys a ton and they have great race cars, but that just shows how tough it is out here. We've been saying it all year, and it still applies, that the DNQ is going to bite everyone before this year is over. I don't know how long Gary and I can go before the bug bites us, but I know we're just going to keep doing what we do and we'll see how that shakes out. If either one of us goes all 23 without a DNQ, that ought to be worth some sort of special award, because it will be
an amazing accomplishment.
"We did the deed here by making a very good lap on Friday afternoon, when just about everyone was going out there unsure of the track, unsure of the weather, and unsure of what to do. We managed to get it down there, and that set us up for today because it was seriously tricky out there. I would not have wanted to come into today at the bottom of the sheet. Even though the bump spot ended up being a relatively soft 4.94, it still wasn't that easy to get to the finish line under power, and bumping your way in was a tough task. Our teammate, Del Worsham, did it and we're very happy about that."
Arend will face Scott Kalitta in round one.
