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News
Releases Arend’s first visit to Thunder Mountain DENVER, Sunday: CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car driver Jeff Arend qualified for his eighth race of the season at the 25th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, but his weekend ended early after losing during the first round of eliminations. Arend remained solidly in the 16th position in the 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series point’s standings following the event. Arend, a former NHRA Funny Car national event champion, entered Sunday’s eliminations in the No. 11 qualifying position on the strength of a 5.038 at 300.46 mph. The Canadian born racer had trouble getting the CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car stopped on the top end during his final qualifying attempt and the special Go Fast adorned Pontiac Firebird went into the sand trap at the end of the track. Although the damage to the body was minimal, crew chief Paul Smith elected to use the team’s Corvette body during eliminations. The weather greeting the racers and fans at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals on Sunday was beautiful, with cloudless skies and temperatures in 80-degree range. Arend and first round opponent, Tommy Johnson Jr., were the sixth pair of Funny Cars to go down the track. Johnson had lane choice due to a quicker qualifying time and he chose the right lane. Arend drilled Johnson on the starting line with a .049 reaction time, the best light of the first round in Funny Car, but the CMKXtreme Machine shook the tires early in the run. Johnson roared by Arend to take the victory with low elapsed time of the first round, a 5.136 at 295.14 mph, to Arend’s 8.743 at 101.26 mph. “We went out there with the Corvette body today,” said Arend, “so we weren’t expecting the same down force at half track as we had with the Firebird. I got the jump on him off the starting line but the car started to shake a little bit and I pedaled it twice. When I saw him pulling away I just lifted off the throttle. We can’t seem to catch a break in the first round this season.” Arend added, “I like it here in Denver, this is a great track and the fans were just fantastic. We had tons of CMKX shareholders here this weekend. Urban Casavant had a party for all of them on Friday and that was a lot of fun. Many of them have never been to a drag race and they were very excited. It’s really neat to have my own little cheering section.” Arend and the CMKXtreme Machine will be racing again next weekend at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Seattle, Wash., July 23-25. CONTACT | |
