Championship Drag Racing

O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals
Dallas, Texas
(Sept. 23-26)

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Jeff Arend CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Pre-race

Dallas, Sunday: Jeff Arend lost in the opening round of eliminations at the 19th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. Arend was beaten by John Force for the third time this season and will now head to Route 66 Raceway in Chicago, the same track where he made the quickest and fastest run of his career earlier this year.

Arend entered Sunday's eliminations in the No. 16 position after qualifying for his 14th race of the season with 4.932 at 312.93 mph. The Canadian born racer was faced with the task of racing No. 1 qualifier John Force during the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

The weather remained dry and warm for race day, with only a few clouds in the sky. Arend and Force were the fourth pair of Funny Cars to battle it out during the opening round of eliminations. Arend, who has left the starting line first almost 65-percent of the time this season, got the jump on Force at the flash of green with .073 to .084 reaction time. Unfortunately, the CMKXtreme Machine slowed to a 5.292 at 238.05 mph and Force drove around Arend for the victory with a 4.883 at 318.54 mph.

"We were behind from the beginning after missing the first round of qualifying Friday," said Arend, "but we were still able to put the CMKXtreme Machine in the show. The 4.93 was one of the quicker Funny Car bump spots of the season, so that gives you an indication of how good the track was."

The CMKXtreme Machine slowed to a 5.29 against Force after the motor spit out a spark plug on the launch. "We went up there against Force just looking to get down the track and run a mid-4.90 and let him make a mistake," Arend said. "But he didn't make a mistake, he ran low E.T. and top speed of the first round. The CMKX car shot a spark plug out of the head and was only running on seven cylinders, that's why it slowed down so much."

Dallas, Saturday: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend ran his qualifying streak to 12 races on Saturday at the 19th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals in Texas. It was the 14th time this season that Arend has qualified the CMKXtreme Machine Corvette for an NHRA national event. The 41-year-old Canadian native grabbed the No. 16 position and will face No. 1 qualifier, John Force, during the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

It took a trip to Texas for the teams on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour to find enough dry weather to finally go racing. All four rounds of professional qualifying were completed without interruption at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals.

The CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car suffered mechanical problems following the burnout during the opening qualifying session Friday afternoon. Arend's motor went silent as he was backing up and the team quickly returned to the pit area to diagnose the problem and prepare for the evening qualifying session.

Arend returned for the Friday night qualifying session and took his first shot at the all-concrete Texas Motorplex quarter-mile. The CMKXtreme Machine posted a 4.995 at 306.67 mph and Arend finished the first day of qualifying in the No. 14 position. The CMKX team would have two more chances to improve their qualifying position Saturday afternoon.

Racing resumed on Saturday at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals with temperatures in the low 80-degree range and a heavy cloud cover obscuring the sun for most of the day. Although Arend improved on his second qualifying attempt with a 4.986 at 301.00 mph, he dropped two positions on the ladder to the No. 16 spot. The CMKXtreme team had one chance remaining to move off of the bump spot and secure a better position in the field for Sunday's eliminations.

Arend improved again on his final qualifying effort. The former NHRA Funny Car national event champion rocketed to a 4.932 at 312.93 mph and briefly held the No. 13 spot, but fell to 16th by the end of the session. Arend will square off against John Force during the first round of eliminations for the third time this season.

"Missing the first qualifying session hurt us a lot," said Arend at the end of qualifying. "The Texas Motorplex is one of the best tracks that we've run on this year. We set it up to run hard during the Friday night session but it ended up slipping the clutch because the track was so good the tires didn't spin at all. That kind of put us behind the eight ball. We came out today and tried to step on it a little bit at a time and improve on each run," Arend added. "The CMKX car is making plenty of power, we're just trying to dial the clutch in. On our last qualifying run everything started coming together and the 4.93 was just what we were looking for, so we're pretty happy."

When asked about the daunting task of racing against John Force in the first round Arend replied, "I think we'll have something for Force tomorrow. He's the guy I like to race the most because if you lose you're supposed to, and if you beat him it's an upset."

Dallas, pre-race: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend will travel to Texas for this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals hoping for much drier racing conditions than the team encountered one week ago on their visit to Reading, Pa.

Arend and the crew of the CMKXtreme Machine Corvette plan on using the all concrete quarter-mile at the infamous Texas Motorplex to extend Arend's current 11-race qualifying streak and continue their push toward a top 15 finish in the season-ending POWERade point standings.

The CMKX team left soggy Pennsylvania after the rain from Hurricane Ivan postponed the Lucas Oil Nationals for three weeks. The CMKX team will return to Maple Grove Raceway to complete the event October 8-10. The postponement turns the current three-race swing into a month on the road and gives all of the teams one less weekend off to prepare for the crucial final two races of the season in Las Vegas and Pomona.

Arend has been on his game on the starting line this season. The Canadian native has owned the better reaction time 65-percent of the time during eliminations this year and is currently ranked fourth in that category among the top 16 Funny Car drivers on the POWERade Drag Racing Series tour.

"It's exciting now that the tour is returning to the tracks with better air because I know we have a solid 4.80 racecar," Arend said from his California home. "Paul Smith and the guys on the crew have been working relentlessly on the CMKXtreme Funny Car since April and they've provided me with a consistent ride all season. I want to thank Urban Casavant and everyone at CMKX for their continued support both on and off the track. I also want to send a special thank you out to Vinny and Debbie and Jimmy and Lila from V.F. Trucking Co. Inc. and to Ed Margaretich, who may join us in Dallas. Texas would be as good a place as anywhere for a well deserved victory."

The 19th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals will mark Arend's 37th career start in Funny Car and his third appearance at the Texas Motorplex. Arend advanced to the quarterfinals in his first visit to the Motorplex during his rookie season in 1995, upsetting low qualifier Cruz Pedregon, and he returned to qualify 12th in 1996, losing in the first round to Al Hofmann.