<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Considering the abbreviated schedule here in Seattle, at the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals, this post-race report may set a Team CSK standard for brevity, but it will also contain some of both garden varieties of good news and bad news. Mostly what this weekend in the Great Northwest featured were low clouds, drizzle, occasional moments of real rain, and a bit of racing.
It began when all of Friday was washed out by the expected wet weather, and Saturday threatened to be nothing but more of the same. Instead, the Funny Car contingent was able to finally post a full session during the early afternoon, on a track they had not yet set tire upon. When the tire smoke and clutch dust cleared, the qualifying sheet appeared to be, in large part, upside down. Regular front-runners Gary Scelzi, Jim Head, and Cruz Pedregon had been unable to negotiate the full quarter-mile, and they represented the entirety of the non-qualified driver list. John Force, meanwhile, was on the bump spot with a pedestrian 6.038, while Tony Pedregon and Jerry Toliver filled the 14th and 15th spots with times well over 5-seconds.
As for Jeff Arend, who was again driving the special edition Techron Impala, the single session left him right where he normally is, in the middle of the pack. His 4.894 was not quite a thing of perfect beauty, but it was strong and clean lap and it put him just inside the top half, in the 8th spot, while everyone waited to see if another session could be completed between the Seattle rain drops.
"It wasn't perfect, but it was a nice solid run and I think it would have made the show no matter what happened with the weather," Arend said. "Our goal was to get down there with a good lap, because the weather was very iffy and you just couldn't bank on coming back for another one. We even discussed the need to pedal the car or limp it down there, because of the 'Top 10 rule' and what that might mean if we only got the one session in. If the car smokes the tires on the first qualifying lap anywhere else, you'll usually just coast it down there, but this was different."
Different because of the possibility of the implementation of the aforementioned "Top 10 rule," which guarantees a spot in the field for any driver in the POWERade Top 10 when only one qualifying session is completed at a race. Having entered Seattle in 12th, Arend would have been a target for replacement had he landed further down the sheet. Instead, when the rains did return and the field was set, it was Toliver, Tim Wilkerson, and Gary Densham who were removed from a race field they might have made, so that Scelzi, Head, and Pedregon could be inserted.
Landing No. 8 for race day is always a tough assignment, as the 8 versus 9 match-up features the two cars with the most similar qualifying times. In this particular instance, it also matched up Arend with a car in the top three on the points sheet, as it was Mike Ashley who finished 9th after the lone qualifying lap.
Coming out to the track on a dreary Sunday, pessimism about being able to start this race was soon replaced with modest optimism, as the clouds stayed around but the ground stayed dry. Pulling to the line to face Ashley, Arend knew it was a big round for him and the Techron/CSK team.
"We don't usually have meetings before the first round, but we did get together this time, and we talked about how big this lap was going to be, and how important," Arend said. "We all knew it, and we were all focused on getting the car down the track. With only one lap on the board, and with all the rain, it was pretty much a guessing game as to how the track would be. Turns out, it was very good, and that wasn't what we had planned on."
Arend maintained his reputation for being a "leaver" by getting away from the line first, though both he and Ashley cut good lights and were off, nearly together, at the flash of amber. Arend's car did not exhibit any trace of the dreaded early tire smoke, but it instead rolled quickly into just the opposite, as it rattled and chattered with the equally dreaded tire shake. The talented driver pedaled the car quickly, which cleared up the shake and gave him a second chance at getting to the finish line under power but, unfortunately, Ashley's car left strong and clean and was soon out to a very large lead, not to mention what looked to be an easy win.
Just as Arend neared the 900-foot mark, while Ashley was cruising toward the finish line, two things happened simultaneously. Arend, knowing a pedaled car has a short fuse, lifted off the throttle to keep from blowing up his Impala, while Ashley felt the odd tug of an anchor being dropped. A mechanical malfunction had prematurely released the parachutes on his car at the 1,000-foot mark, slowing him dramatically while Arend headed for the finish line. At the stripe, though, it was Ashley, parachutes and all, taking the win.
"I gave it the slap just to get it out of the shake," Arend said. "You do that and hope the other guy has some sort of traction or motor problem, but he was just about immediately in my view, pulling away. I didn't want to blow the car up for no reason, and with my eyes on my lane, I wasn't paying attention to him at all. I just ran it down there to near the end, and when it was clear he wasn't going to smoke the tires, I did the right thing and lifted. I had no idea about the parachute thing until they told me afterward. We were all just really mad it shook. All of the guys on the team took it hard, the driver included. We'll move on, though, and take all this motivation with us to Sonoma."
Move on they will, as the tour finally nears the end of this six-race marathon. Jeff Arend, and his team, will head south to the Bay Area, aiming to exorcise the demon of shake which plagued them on a sodden Sunday in Seattle.
AREND'S ASPIRATIONS "SHAKEN" IN ROUND ONE
Considering the abbreviated schedule here in Seattle, at the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals, this post-race report may set a Team CSK standard for brevity, but it will also contain some of both garden varieties of good news and bad news. Mostly what this weekend in the Great Northwest featured were low clouds, drizzle, occasional moments of real rain, and a bit of racing.
It began when all of Friday was washed out by the expected wet weather, and Saturday threatened to be nothing but more of the same. Instead, the Funny Car contingent was able to finally post a full session during the early afternoon, on a track they had not yet set tire upon. When the tire smoke and clutch dust cleared, the qualifying sheet appeared to be, in large part, upside down. Regular front-runners Gary Scelzi, Jim Head, and Cruz Pedregon had been unable to negotiate the full quarter-mile, and they represented the entirety of the non-qualified driver list. John Force, meanwhile, was on the bump spot with a pedestrian 6.038, while Tony Pedregon and Jerry Toliver filled the 14th and 15th spots with times well over 5-seconds.
As for Jeff Arend, who was again driving the special edition Techron Impala, the single session left him right where he normally is, in the middle of the pack. His 4.894 was not quite a thing of perfect beauty, but it was strong and clean lap and it put him just inside the top half, in the 8th spot, while everyone waited to see if another session could be completed between the Seattle rain drops.
"It wasn't perfect, but it was a nice solid run and I think it would have made the show no matter what happened with the weather," Arend said. "Our goal was to get down there with a good lap, because the weather was very iffy and you just couldn't bank on coming back for another one. We even discussed the need to pedal the car or limp it down there, because of the 'Top 10 rule' and what that might mean if we only got the one session in. If the car smokes the tires on the first qualifying lap anywhere else, you'll usually just coast it down there, but this was different."
Different because of the possibility of the implementation of the aforementioned "Top 10 rule," which guarantees a spot in the field for any driver in the POWERade Top 10 when only one qualifying session is completed at a race. Having entered Seattle in 12th, Arend would have been a target for replacement had he landed further down the sheet. Instead, when the rains did return and the field was set, it was Toliver, Tim Wilkerson, and Gary Densham who were removed from a race field they might have made, so that Scelzi, Head, and Pedregon could be inserted.
Landing No. 8 for race day is always a tough assignment, as the 8 versus 9 match-up features the two cars with the most similar qualifying times. In this particular instance, it also matched up Arend with a car in the top three on the points sheet, as it was Mike Ashley who finished 9th after the lone qualifying lap.
Coming out to the track on a dreary Sunday, pessimism about being able to start this race was soon replaced with modest optimism, as the clouds stayed around but the ground stayed dry. Pulling to the line to face Ashley, Arend knew it was a big round for him and the Techron/CSK team.
"We don't usually have meetings before the first round, but we did get together this time, and we talked about how big this lap was going to be, and how important," Arend said. "We all knew it, and we were all focused on getting the car down the track. With only one lap on the board, and with all the rain, it was pretty much a guessing game as to how the track would be. Turns out, it was very good, and that wasn't what we had planned on."
Arend maintained his reputation for being a "leaver" by getting away from the line first, though both he and Ashley cut good lights and were off, nearly together, at the flash of amber. Arend's car did not exhibit any trace of the dreaded early tire smoke, but it instead rolled quickly into just the opposite, as it rattled and chattered with the equally dreaded tire shake. The talented driver pedaled the car quickly, which cleared up the shake and gave him a second chance at getting to the finish line under power but, unfortunately, Ashley's car left strong and clean and was soon out to a very large lead, not to mention what looked to be an easy win.
Just as Arend neared the 900-foot mark, while Ashley was cruising toward the finish line, two things happened simultaneously. Arend, knowing a pedaled car has a short fuse, lifted off the throttle to keep from blowing up his Impala, while Ashley felt the odd tug of an anchor being dropped. A mechanical malfunction had prematurely released the parachutes on his car at the 1,000-foot mark, slowing him dramatically while Arend headed for the finish line. At the stripe, though, it was Ashley, parachutes and all, taking the win.
"I gave it the slap just to get it out of the shake," Arend said. "You do that and hope the other guy has some sort of traction or motor problem, but he was just about immediately in my view, pulling away. I didn't want to blow the car up for no reason, and with my eyes on my lane, I wasn't paying attention to him at all. I just ran it down there to near the end, and when it was clear he wasn't going to smoke the tires, I did the right thing and lifted. I had no idea about the parachute thing until they told me afterward. We were all just really mad it shook. All of the guys on the team took it hard, the driver included. We'll move on, though, and take all this motivation with us to Sonoma."
Move on they will, as the tour finally nears the end of this six-race marathon. Jeff Arend, and his team, will head south to the Bay Area, aiming to exorcise the demon of shake which plagued them on a sodden Sunday in Seattle.
