<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Prior to this season, Jeff Arend had never lost a race on a hole shot. He ended that streak in Dallas, when Tommy Johnson took the win light with a slower time than Arend's. Prior to this season, Jeff Arend had never fouled at the start of an eliminations round. He ended that streak today, red-lighting away a sure win over Tony Pedregon, who smoked the tires and limped across the finish line in 7.499 seconds. It's been a rough stretch of racing for the popular driver of the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, but you'll never find Arend ducking the issue or making excuses.
"Totally my fault, and I still have no idea why it happened," Arend said. "I was not pushing the tree, and I've never guessed at the line in my life. I went up there knowing we had a car that just loved going down this hot race track, while almost everyone else was losing traction, and I knew we had the car that could win this race. I even told myself I didn't have to have a great light, just a good one. We staged, I went through my normal rituals, and I got ready to go. All of a sudden, my right foot just went down, as if it had a mind of its own. It was bizarre, and I really can't explain it. I blew it, and I
didn't just blow it for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen, I blew it for my guys who worked their butts off and gave me a fantastic race car. I let myself down, and I let all of them down. It stinks."
What didn't stink was Arend's performance up until then, as well as the performance of his race car and his team. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, at the jam-packed Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Arend simply posted consecutive runs of 4.808, 4.799, 4.862, and 4.807 to land in the No. 10 spot on race day. At some events, a No. 10 position may be considered sub-par, but here in Las Vegas it represented a major accomplishment, as 25 Funny Car teams were on the property and the spread in E.T. between the No. 1 spot (Robert Hight, at 4.763) and the No. 21 position (Jon Capps at 4.898) was only 13-hundredths of a second. Five drivers, including Tommy Johnson, Kenny Bernstein, and Tim Wilkerson, ran in the 4.80s but failed to make the show. This trip to Las Vegas, presided over by Grand Marshall Hulk Hogan, was truly a world championship-style wrestling match.
"We just had an incredible car all weekend, and it's a good thing because this was about as crazy a field of Funny Cars I can remember," Arend said. "There have been lower bump spots, and there have been races where the top spot was a lot lower than this, but it just seemed like the competition to get into this field was as fierce as I've ever seen. Teams were making very good runs, getting in the field, and then getting bumped right back out. It was very stressful, let me tell you. Once we were in, and knew we'd be racing on Sunday, it felt like winning a round!"
Arend's No. 10 spot earned him a first-round date with rookie driver Mike Neff, who was making his professional debut at the wheel of John Force's fourth car. Neff is slated to take over the driving duties in the former Eric Medlen car next year, but recently earned his license and made his first start here, grabbing the No. 7 position in very impressive fashion. Rookie or not, Arend was not taking him lightly.
"I watched him run, and Mike looks like he can be as good as he wants to be in this sport," Arend commented. "He's cool, he keeps the car straight, and he left right on time during every qualifying run. Hey, if a guy shows up at his first race driving a car he put together with some buddies, you wouldn't give them much of a chance, but Mike is a world-class tuner who is now driving a world-class car. He's instant trouble for this class.
"And you know, Ashley Force won her first-ever round of competition against me, in Gainesville, and John Force won his first round of the year against me, in St. Louis, so I was thinking there's no way I'm letting Mike Neff get his first today. It was hard not to think of that, though."
Arend had nothing to worry about, as it turned it. Neff posted yet another strong reaction time, a solid .082, but Arend was on the top of his game, leaving the line with a terrific .052. As the blue CSK Impala streaked down the quarter-mile with the quickest E.T. of round one, a superb 4.834, Neff had mechanical problems near half-track, exploding a motor, and Team CSK grabbed the win.
It was then on to round two, where Arend's opponents was Tony Pedregon and his new best friends were Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi, and Robert Hight.
Those three are in the final portion of the Countdown, along with Pedregon, and all three inexplicably lost in the opening round. To keep Pedregon from pulling away and making the championship almost surely his, they all needed Arend to take the win light.
As stated above, Arend had the car to do it. Pedregon smoked the tires and coasted across the line, while Arend shut-off early after realizing his transgression. The status of his friendship with Capps, Scelzi, and Hight remains to be seen.
"This is not a tragedy, by any means," Arend said. "Tragedies are on the news every night, and this was just a big drag race we wanted to win more than anything. Still, it hurts to know we could have impacted the Countdown so much, and could have clearly won this race, but the driver had a shaky right foot. I'm not sure how I can pay my crew guys back, but I did tell them it was on me, and then I got to work cleaning the car. We'll get 'em next week."
AREND'S DAY ENDS WITH SECOND-ROUND FOUL
Prior to this season, Jeff Arend had never lost a race on a hole shot. He ended that streak in Dallas, when Tommy Johnson took the win light with a slower time than Arend's. Prior to this season, Jeff Arend had never fouled at the start of an eliminations round. He ended that streak today, red-lighting away a sure win over Tony Pedregon, who smoked the tires and limped across the finish line in 7.499 seconds. It's been a rough stretch of racing for the popular driver of the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, but you'll never find Arend ducking the issue or making excuses.
"Totally my fault, and I still have no idea why it happened," Arend said. "I was not pushing the tree, and I've never guessed at the line in my life. I went up there knowing we had a car that just loved going down this hot race track, while almost everyone else was losing traction, and I knew we had the car that could win this race. I even told myself I didn't have to have a great light, just a good one. We staged, I went through my normal rituals, and I got ready to go. All of a sudden, my right foot just went down, as if it had a mind of its own. It was bizarre, and I really can't explain it. I blew it, and I
didn't just blow it for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen, I blew it for my guys who worked their butts off and gave me a fantastic race car. I let myself down, and I let all of them down. It stinks."
What didn't stink was Arend's performance up until then, as well as the performance of his race car and his team. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, at the jam-packed Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Arend simply posted consecutive runs of 4.808, 4.799, 4.862, and 4.807 to land in the No. 10 spot on race day. At some events, a No. 10 position may be considered sub-par, but here in Las Vegas it represented a major accomplishment, as 25 Funny Car teams were on the property and the spread in E.T. between the No. 1 spot (Robert Hight, at 4.763) and the No. 21 position (Jon Capps at 4.898) was only 13-hundredths of a second. Five drivers, including Tommy Johnson, Kenny Bernstein, and Tim Wilkerson, ran in the 4.80s but failed to make the show. This trip to Las Vegas, presided over by Grand Marshall Hulk Hogan, was truly a world championship-style wrestling match.
"We just had an incredible car all weekend, and it's a good thing because this was about as crazy a field of Funny Cars I can remember," Arend said. "There have been lower bump spots, and there have been races where the top spot was a lot lower than this, but it just seemed like the competition to get into this field was as fierce as I've ever seen. Teams were making very good runs, getting in the field, and then getting bumped right back out. It was very stressful, let me tell you. Once we were in, and knew we'd be racing on Sunday, it felt like winning a round!"
Arend's No. 10 spot earned him a first-round date with rookie driver Mike Neff, who was making his professional debut at the wheel of John Force's fourth car. Neff is slated to take over the driving duties in the former Eric Medlen car next year, but recently earned his license and made his first start here, grabbing the No. 7 position in very impressive fashion. Rookie or not, Arend was not taking him lightly.
"I watched him run, and Mike looks like he can be as good as he wants to be in this sport," Arend commented. "He's cool, he keeps the car straight, and he left right on time during every qualifying run. Hey, if a guy shows up at his first race driving a car he put together with some buddies, you wouldn't give them much of a chance, but Mike is a world-class tuner who is now driving a world-class car. He's instant trouble for this class.
"And you know, Ashley Force won her first-ever round of competition against me, in Gainesville, and John Force won his first round of the year against me, in St. Louis, so I was thinking there's no way I'm letting Mike Neff get his first today. It was hard not to think of that, though."
Arend had nothing to worry about, as it turned it. Neff posted yet another strong reaction time, a solid .082, but Arend was on the top of his game, leaving the line with a terrific .052. As the blue CSK Impala streaked down the quarter-mile with the quickest E.T. of round one, a superb 4.834, Neff had mechanical problems near half-track, exploding a motor, and Team CSK grabbed the win.
It was then on to round two, where Arend's opponents was Tony Pedregon and his new best friends were Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi, and Robert Hight.
Those three are in the final portion of the Countdown, along with Pedregon, and all three inexplicably lost in the opening round. To keep Pedregon from pulling away and making the championship almost surely his, they all needed Arend to take the win light.
As stated above, Arend had the car to do it. Pedregon smoked the tires and coasted across the line, while Arend shut-off early after realizing his transgression. The status of his friendship with Capps, Scelzi, and Hight remains to be seen.
"This is not a tragedy, by any means," Arend said. "Tragedies are on the news every night, and this was just a big drag race we wanted to win more than anything. Still, it hurts to know we could have impacted the Countdown so much, and could have clearly won this race, but the driver had a shaky right foot. I'm not sure how I can pay my crew guys back, but I did tell them it was on me, and then I got to work cleaning the car. We'll get 'em next week."
