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Jeff Arend clearly saved his best for last here in Pomona, entering the final session outside the 16-car field and needing to step up in a big way to secure a spot in the quickest field in Funny Car history. When Arend crossed the finish line, with a hurt motor, in 4.759 seconds, he not only lowered his best-ever number, he jumped from outside the field into the No. 11 spot, putting the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen / Erie Educational Services Monte Carlo into the field at this historic race. Arend changed both ends of his career bests this weekend, having earlier posted a new best-ever speed of 323.97. His previous best marks were 4.792 and 322.30 mph.
"This is bittersweet, obviously, because my teammate and boss (Del Worsham) got knocked out of the field by a couple of thousandths," Arend said. "I feel horrible for Del, and if I had any control over it I'd gladly take the DNQ on my side to let him race, but it just doesn't work that way and with this being the quickest field ever, it was going to be very tough on a few good teams. We had to come from outside the field on our last pass, while Del started the session 12th, so you can see that a lot of shuffling went on as the sun went down. We had to come up with a big one, and we did.
"The only downside was that we hurt it down there. It was zinging along, on its way to a much better number than the 4.75, when all of sudden it started to sound sour. If this had been one of the first three sessions, I probably would have lifted, but getting into the show from outside the field is the same as winning a round out here so I just thought to myself 'This is why I wear this fire suit and all this other stuff' and I kept my foot down. We beat it up pretty badly, but we got in and we'll be racing for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen, and Murray's, along with Erie Educational Services, Mac Tools, and all of our other great sponsors tomorrow.
"I'm going to do all I can to make Sunday a successful day for everyone here, and I want to thank my family and all of the people who have stuck with me and supported me all these years. We'll build on this, and Del will bounce back. The competition is huge out here, but we're here to fight it out with whoever lines up next to us."
LAST LAP "CAREER BEST" PUTS AREND IN QUICKEST FUNNY CAR FIELD
Jeff Arend clearly saved his best for last here in Pomona, entering the final session outside the 16-car field and needing to step up in a big way to secure a spot in the quickest field in Funny Car history. When Arend crossed the finish line, with a hurt motor, in 4.759 seconds, he not only lowered his best-ever number, he jumped from outside the field into the No. 11 spot, putting the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen / Erie Educational Services Monte Carlo into the field at this historic race. Arend changed both ends of his career bests this weekend, having earlier posted a new best-ever speed of 323.97. His previous best marks were 4.792 and 322.30 mph.
"This is bittersweet, obviously, because my teammate and boss (Del Worsham) got knocked out of the field by a couple of thousandths," Arend said. "I feel horrible for Del, and if I had any control over it I'd gladly take the DNQ on my side to let him race, but it just doesn't work that way and with this being the quickest field ever, it was going to be very tough on a few good teams. We had to come from outside the field on our last pass, while Del started the session 12th, so you can see that a lot of shuffling went on as the sun went down. We had to come up with a big one, and we did.
"The only downside was that we hurt it down there. It was zinging along, on its way to a much better number than the 4.75, when all of sudden it started to sound sour. If this had been one of the first three sessions, I probably would have lifted, but getting into the show from outside the field is the same as winning a round out here so I just thought to myself 'This is why I wear this fire suit and all this other stuff' and I kept my foot down. We beat it up pretty badly, but we got in and we'll be racing for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen, and Murray's, along with Erie Educational Services, Mac Tools, and all of our other great sponsors tomorrow.
"I'm going to do all I can to make Sunday a successful day for everyone here, and I want to thank my family and all of the people who have stuck with me and supported me all these years. We'll build on this, and Del will bounce back. The competition is huge out here, but we're here to fight it out with whoever lines up next to us."
