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News
Releases CMKXtreme Racing -
E-Town Pre-Race ENGLISHTOWN, pre-race: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend's whirlwind season will continue this weekend in New Jersey at the 35th annual K&N Filters NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Arend and crew chief Paul Smith have qualified five times in the last six races after assembling the team from scratch in just two weeks in late March. Arend is looking to capitalize on Smith's years of experience racing at Englishtown, one of the quickest and fastest quarter-mile tracks on the POWERade tour. Arend and Smith have proven the potency of their collaboration in the past when they took home the Wally at the 1996 Keystone Nationals. After Arend secured the sponsorship of CMKX Diamonds just prior to the Gatornationals this season, his first choice for crew chief of his new team was Smith. Despite starting from almost nothing, the CMKX team showed up in Las Vegas in early April ready to race. After rain interrupted Arend's relicensing process in Vegas the team headed to Houston, where Arend burst back onto the Funny Car scene by qualifying third with a career-best 4.878. Since returning to the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Arend has qualified for five national events, but he's still searching for that elusive first round win of the season. And there's good reason to believe that it could happen this weekend in Englishtown, where the Arend/Smith combination has enjoyed success in the past. The 41-year-old Canadian native set low e.t. of eliminations with a quarterfinal finish in just his second race in a fuel Funny Car in 1995. Arend has also competed in a handful of match races at the famous East Coast facility. "Englishtown is an awesome place to race and the fan's have been great every time we've shown up there," said Arend as he prepared for the event. "We finally got down the track with the brand new Goodyear tire in Columbus, so we plan to work with that tuneup and do our best to put a couple notches in the win column. There's a good chance that it's going to be hot and sticky and those are the kind of conditions where Paul excels. I'm confident that our first round win is just around the corner." CONTACT | |
