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Fast Finish for Jeff Arend
Bruce Biegler - November 14, 2007
 Canada's Jeff Arend finished up his latest NHRA fuel Funny Car driving assignment in rather impressive style during NHRA's recent season-ending AAA Auto Club Finals at Pomona California.
The former Toronto resident made what was his last apparent appearance as the driver for the Worsham Racing/C.S.K.-sponsored Chevy Impala. That team, which also features star driver Del Worsham, will race only one Funny Car on the tour in 2008, due to recently announced sponsorship cutbacks.
 Jeff made the very best of his final ride for the team at Pomona. For the 2nd time this season he qualified on the pole matching his notable effort during the NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis last summer. At Pomona, Jeff and his team came out of the gate flying as their 4.781 secs at 324.90 mph recorded during Thursday's first qualifying session withstood the test of time to remain #1.
During Sunday's final eliminations, Arend then put a bit of a temporary kink in the eventual World Championship title quest by Tony Pedregon when he beat him to the stripe in round one: 4.849 secs to 4.853 secs. Jeff was however eliminated in round two when his car overpowered the track racing against eventual runner-up Phil Burkhart Jr, who was driving John Force's Castrol High Mileage Ford Mustang.
"When the announcement came from the Worsham's team that there would be only one Funny Car in 2008 -- it caught me a bit off guard," admitted Jeff. "It came rather late so I really hadn't even thought about another driving job elsewhere. The Worsham's were so good to me. Del and I will be sitting down and talking soon -- if I can't find another ride I might be staying on with the team in another capacity."
The 2007 racing season saw Arend complete a lifelong dream. He was for the first time in his career able to compete for the entire season; from start to finish. He finished 11th in final NHRA POWERade Funny Car points.
 "Overall we had a great year with a lot of highlights," he added. "It seemed however we just couldn't catch a break when we needed it. I feel confident that with a couple hundredths here and there last season we could have easily been a top 5 five or six car. There is of course always a lot of what-ifs."
"I remain focused on doing what I can to continue racing," he revealed. "But funding is the big key."
Following the Pomona event Jeff accompanied DragRaceCanada to Palm Springs, California to play in our company's annual post-season golf outing held a couple of days later. As fate would have it, Jeff carded low ET of that event too. He fell just short of matching his "78" at Pomona with an "80".
(Bruce Biegler Photos)
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