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It was late in June, during the summer of 2006, and Del Worsham was facing a tough decision of both the personal, as well as personnel, varieties. Having run his third Funny Car on the NHRA tour up until that point, with Mike Ashley driving and Mark Oswald tuning, Worsham found himself stuck in a quandary after Ashley left the program one race earlier than Worsham had expected. Should he immediately park the car, or should he put another driver in the seat to run a St. Louis race in which he had originally planned to run all three cars?
Worsham's final decision involved putting Jeff Arend in the driver's seat, while also putting the team's "Madman Murray" body on the car, to help promote the Murray's Discount Auto chain, which had just been purchased by CSK Auto. It was a combination that lined up perfectly, and Arend went right out onto the blisteringly hot Gateway International track and made the show. Now, about 10 months later, Arend and Worsham are back, but the situation has changed. Jeff Arend is now the driver of the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, and he's quick to look back on that hot summer weekend as a turning point for his career.
"Del wasn't sure what to do last year, but he asked me about driving the car and I was honored to say yes," Arend said. "We had the car, the team, and the Murray's body, so it was just a matter of all showing up to see what we could accomplish. Del and I have known each other for more than a decade, but we'd never raced together, so I was happy to show him what I could do, and it was a ton of fun to be a part of Worsham Racing for that one weekend.
"This past winter, when it came time for Del to decide what direction to take with the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car, I think my one-race audition probably helped me. Instead of him thinking 'I'm pretty sure Jeff can do a good job for us,' he had at least one race of real evidence to go by. As it's turned out, this has been the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't even put into words how great it is to be a part of this organization. I think it's working out better than either of us anticipated."
To that end, one need only look at the current NHRA statistics to see the evidence of Arend's claim. While such stars as John Force (20th place,) and Tommy Johnson (15th place) are still struggling to find even their first round wins, and other luminaries like Cruz Pedregon, Jack Beckman, Gary Densham, Tim Wilkerson, and Kenny Bernstein have yet to hit a consistent stride, Arend and Worsham are currently sitting 7th and 9th respectively, though the points sheet is as tight a newly made bed in a 4-star hotel.
"You can say it's too early to look at the points, but anyone who says that for real is lying," Arend said. "We all look at the points, believe me. And, with the new playoff format coming into play, it's even more important to know where you stand. It hasn't been a flawless start for us, in that Del missed the show at the first two races and our blue team went four straight races without a round win after opening the season with a semi-final, but both teams have kept their focus and we haven't let anything get us down.
"Right now, we're 7th in the points, but we're only a bit more than five rounds ahead of Force, and there are 12 other teams between his and ours. There are 11 races left to go before the 'Countdown' system cuts down to the top eight cars, and if you think Force isn't going to bust his way into that group, and all those other guys aren't going to be trying to stay ahead of him, you're absolutely kidding yourself. So, even now, in the seventh race of the season, every point is huge and every round is gigantic. In effect, if you plan to be running for the championship, the season is already one-third over. We have to keep our focus, and keep building on what we're doing right."
Arend and his crew can certainly look back on last weekend's event, in Atlanta, as another example of doing some things very right. During the lone night qualifying session, under the lights on Friday, Arend powered to a 4.712-second lap, clicking through the beams at 327.66 mph. Both marks were new career bests, and Arend ended up qualifying in the No. 3 spot for the race, his best starting position on the young season.
"We're still learning a lot, we're still getting better, and we've just added the new Impala body to the mix, so that's why I'm so enthusiastic right now," Arend said. "You can look at the stats and see we lost in the first round for four straight races, but the real truth is that we were in the field at all four of those races, and a lot of big names have been missing the cut lately. On top of that, we lost a couple of those by mere inches, so it's not like we were out there handing races away. We've been pretty good all year, and I think we're on the verge of being very good."
Being very good in St. Louis, this year, will require every team to adjust their tune-ups to newfound conditions, as this year's trip into the shadow of the Gateway Arch will be the tour's first such visit during early May. There will be no more 105-degree scorchers at the end of June, but there will also be no firm "book" on how to tune for the St. Louis event.
"Yeah, you can throw the old data out the window," Arend said. "It's going to be great to run in St. Louis in May, and we're all pretty interested in just how good this track can be. A couple of years ago, they actually had to flood the track with water right before the race began, to try to cool it off a little. We won't need to do that this year, and I expect we'll see every track record completely demolished.
"Other than that, I'm just looking forward to running well, making the show, and winning some rounds. The track is right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, so any team that wants to celebrate a good weekend will have no problem finding a bunch of good places to go do just that. Count me in."
And count the blue CSK team in the running, both this weekend and throughout the summer.
NO LONGER A "MADMAN," AREND RETURNS TO ST. LOUIS, FLYING CSK BLUE
It was late in June, during the summer of 2006, and Del Worsham was facing a tough decision of both the personal, as well as personnel, varieties. Having run his third Funny Car on the NHRA tour up until that point, with Mike Ashley driving and Mark Oswald tuning, Worsham found himself stuck in a quandary after Ashley left the program one race earlier than Worsham had expected. Should he immediately park the car, or should he put another driver in the seat to run a St. Louis race in which he had originally planned to run all three cars?
Worsham's final decision involved putting Jeff Arend in the driver's seat, while also putting the team's "Madman Murray" body on the car, to help promote the Murray's Discount Auto chain, which had just been purchased by CSK Auto. It was a combination that lined up perfectly, and Arend went right out onto the blisteringly hot Gateway International track and made the show. Now, about 10 months later, Arend and Worsham are back, but the situation has changed. Jeff Arend is now the driver of the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, and he's quick to look back on that hot summer weekend as a turning point for his career.
"Del wasn't sure what to do last year, but he asked me about driving the car and I was honored to say yes," Arend said. "We had the car, the team, and the Murray's body, so it was just a matter of all showing up to see what we could accomplish. Del and I have known each other for more than a decade, but we'd never raced together, so I was happy to show him what I could do, and it was a ton of fun to be a part of Worsham Racing for that one weekend.
"This past winter, when it came time for Del to decide what direction to take with the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car, I think my one-race audition probably helped me. Instead of him thinking 'I'm pretty sure Jeff can do a good job for us,' he had at least one race of real evidence to go by. As it's turned out, this has been the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't even put into words how great it is to be a part of this organization. I think it's working out better than either of us anticipated."
To that end, one need only look at the current NHRA statistics to see the evidence of Arend's claim. While such stars as John Force (20th place,) and Tommy Johnson (15th place) are still struggling to find even their first round wins, and other luminaries like Cruz Pedregon, Jack Beckman, Gary Densham, Tim Wilkerson, and Kenny Bernstein have yet to hit a consistent stride, Arend and Worsham are currently sitting 7th and 9th respectively, though the points sheet is as tight a newly made bed in a 4-star hotel.
"You can say it's too early to look at the points, but anyone who says that for real is lying," Arend said. "We all look at the points, believe me. And, with the new playoff format coming into play, it's even more important to know where you stand. It hasn't been a flawless start for us, in that Del missed the show at the first two races and our blue team went four straight races without a round win after opening the season with a semi-final, but both teams have kept their focus and we haven't let anything get us down.
"Right now, we're 7th in the points, but we're only a bit more than five rounds ahead of Force, and there are 12 other teams between his and ours. There are 11 races left to go before the 'Countdown' system cuts down to the top eight cars, and if you think Force isn't going to bust his way into that group, and all those other guys aren't going to be trying to stay ahead of him, you're absolutely kidding yourself. So, even now, in the seventh race of the season, every point is huge and every round is gigantic. In effect, if you plan to be running for the championship, the season is already one-third over. We have to keep our focus, and keep building on what we're doing right."
Arend and his crew can certainly look back on last weekend's event, in Atlanta, as another example of doing some things very right. During the lone night qualifying session, under the lights on Friday, Arend powered to a 4.712-second lap, clicking through the beams at 327.66 mph. Both marks were new career bests, and Arend ended up qualifying in the No. 3 spot for the race, his best starting position on the young season.
"We're still learning a lot, we're still getting better, and we've just added the new Impala body to the mix, so that's why I'm so enthusiastic right now," Arend said. "You can look at the stats and see we lost in the first round for four straight races, but the real truth is that we were in the field at all four of those races, and a lot of big names have been missing the cut lately. On top of that, we lost a couple of those by mere inches, so it's not like we were out there handing races away. We've been pretty good all year, and I think we're on the verge of being very good."
Being very good in St. Louis, this year, will require every team to adjust their tune-ups to newfound conditions, as this year's trip into the shadow of the Gateway Arch will be the tour's first such visit during early May. There will be no more 105-degree scorchers at the end of June, but there will also be no firm "book" on how to tune for the St. Louis event.
"Yeah, you can throw the old data out the window," Arend said. "It's going to be great to run in St. Louis in May, and we're all pretty interested in just how good this track can be. A couple of years ago, they actually had to flood the track with water right before the race began, to try to cool it off a little. We won't need to do that this year, and I expect we'll see every track record completely demolished.
"Other than that, I'm just looking forward to running well, making the show, and winning some rounds. The track is right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, so any team that wants to celebrate a good weekend will have no problem finding a bunch of good places to go do just that. Count me in."
And count the blue CSK team in the running, both this weekend and throughout the summer.
