NHRA: Neff Steals Show At Qualifying

BRISTOL, Tenn. — It’s not often that a racer can beat the daughter of his boss, but Mike Neff knows the feeling.

The veteran tuner, in his first full season driving for legendary John Force, is atop the Funny Car charts after the first two rounds of qualifying in the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Under overcast skies and chilly temperatures Friday night, Neff posted a run of 4.783 seconds at 321.04 miles per hour. That was good enough to top veteran Jim Head, who countered with a pass of 4.785 at 323.89 in the opposite lane.

“To be able to come to one of my favorite places and run this well, that’s a really great feeling,” Neff said.

Ashley Force, daughter of John Force, held the top spot before Neff with Friday’s top speed of 324.98. Earlier this season at Atlanta, Force became the first woman to ever win an NHRA Funny Car race.

Neff worked for many years as a tuner, serving as crew chief in 2005 for the world championship Funny Car driven by Gary Scelzi. Neff has also tuned cars for the Larry Minor and Joe Gibbs teams.

“It’s exciting to drive, there’s no other way to explain it,” Neff said. “You don’t ever know what’s going to happen when you step on the gas. As long as you drive one of these cars, you will feel that way.’’

While other drivers were fretting Friday, the well-prepared Neff was smiling.

“These are my favorite conditions to run in,” Neff said. “As a crew chief, you are licking your chips and figuring out how to load your car up to make it as quick as possible. That’s really part of being a crew chief.”

Despite his vast experience, Neff now leaves the tuning decisions to crew chief John Medlen. The two made major changes on their car before the first qualifying session Friday afternoon.

“John and I have discussed a lot of things since we’ve been together. We’re on the same page,” Neff said.

Force actually had to start her car three times between rounds in an effort to find a successful combination.

“It was stressful, but I’m proud of my team,” Force said.

Fan favorite John Force currently ranks seventh in the 21-car Funny Car field.

The other highlight in the Funny Car session was the near wheelstand executed by Jerry Toliver.

Drivers and crew chiefs in all three pro divisions spent the entire day guessing and hoping under the tricky conditions.

Experience was also a factor in Top Fuel ranks as five-time world champion Tony Schumacher posted the top time with a pass 4.502 seconds on the final run of the night. Schumacher, who unveiled a new paint scheme honoring the United States Army Friday, has a well-earned reputation for running well at night.

“Plain and simple, we’ve got a great team and great crew chief in Alan Johnson,” Schumacher said. “To be honest, this was a strange day. The numbers that were coming up clearly were not what people were going for, including us.

“While today was a little more difficult than we thought, we’ve had two good runs now and don’t expect Alan to make another mediocre run [Saturday]. He’s going to be pulling everything out.”

David Grubnic (4.526, 311.85), Doug Kalitta and Top Fuel newcomer Antron Brown trail Schumacher in qualifying. Brown generated the top speed at 330.15 mph.

The Pro Stock session was full of drama. After several drivers were forced to wrestle their ill-handling cars, Kurt Johnson posted a new elapsed time track record of 6.687 seconds at 206.16 in the final Pro Stock pass of the session.

“We didn’t really know what to expect,” said Johnson, who has 28 career poles. “We kind of threw everything at our car and it hooked up.”

Warren Johnson, Kurt’s father, delivered the top seed Friday at 206.57 mph. Both Johnsons tested at Bristol before the NHRA event at Atlanta late last month.

“That [test] was huge,” Kurt Johnson said. “The air then was pretty close to what we ran tonight, and we picked up our time every run.

“You have to look at the information and the track, then figure out what’s going on. It’s all about putting the whole package together. This shows that everybody in our shop is doing their homework. We’ve got the grinding-well going.”

Three-time world champion Greg Anderson had established a new track record (6.699) just before the Johnson run.
Kurt Johnson, who has been competing at Thunder Valley since 1979, offered high praise for Thunder Valley.

“I think we ran against Lee Edwards in the finals at 3 in the morning our first year here,” Johnson said. “This is the best track we’ve ever raced here at Bristol. It’s just a cool place to race with the mountains and echo.”

Dave Connolly, regarded as one of the best pure drivers in Pro Stock, was last in the 28-car field after his car newly sponsored car crossed the centerline Friday night. Meanwhile, the parachute came on the Todd Hoerner midway through his run.

Allen Johnson, of nearby Greeneville, Tenn., posted the 11th best time while former NBA player Tom Hammonds followed in 12th.

Pro qualifying resumes today at 12:30 p.m., with Pro Stock.

Notes: Four Pro Modified cars smashed the track speed and elapsed time record in Friday’s opening qualifying session. Defending event champion Josh Hernandez then broke both ends of the track record Friday night with a run of 5.950 at 241.11 mph.

agregory@bristolnews.com | (276) 669-2544