Mike Neff and his Old Spice Ford Mustang had to battle one of the toughest Funny Car fields, Mother Nature and a surprise mechanical problem in the final round at Bristol Dragway en route to an upset loss to Melanie Troxel.

As the Old Spice Ford Mustang pulled up to stage Neff’s team was unable to lift his Mustang body. As a result crew chief John Medlen was unable to make critical engine adjustments to his BOSS 500 Ford motor. At the top end Neff’s Mustang erupted in flames as Troxel pedaled and drove past him. Mike Neff and his Old Spice Ford Mustang had to battle one of the toughest Funny Car fields,

Mother Nature and a surprise mechanical problem in the final round at Bristol Dragway en route to an upset loss to Melanie Troxel.

As the Old Spice Ford Mustang pulled up to stage Neff’s team was unable to lift his Mustang body. As a result crew chief John Medlen was unable to make critical engine adjustments to his BOSS 500 Ford motor. At the top end Neff’s Mustang erupted in flames as Troxel pedaled and drove past him.

“I’m saying let’s go! Let’s go! Rick Stewart is in front of us motioning to go but when we couldn’t get the body up (crew chief John) Medlen couldn’t get in there and arm all the switches which I didn’t know he armed those things. I’m just saying go let’s go. So naturally none of the system worked and that is why it backfired,” said an exasperated Neff.

“I am happy for Melanie but for something like that to keep us from having a good drag race is too bad. Congratulations to Melanie and for Old Spice and Ford that is what makes it so frustrating. We have been running so good we should have been able to make a good run right there. It just didn’t go that way. We’ll get them next time.”

MEDLEN'S QUICK STUDY - Neff had every reason to get rattled before his low qualifying effort on Friday evening. After all, the

tradition mandates the average rookie will lose focus.

Neff has proven to be a well above average rookie.

“We warmed the car before the run and it was only running on one mag,” Neff said. “We changed the coil and that wasn’t it. We went down the line troubleshooting.”

The culprit was a bad generator.

“You always want everything to run smooth, and it can add stress to an already tough situation,” Neff admitted.

Neff responded with Friday evening’s 4.783 elapsed time at 321.04 miles per hour. Just one session early, he’d led the Funny Cars with a 4.809.

Credit John Medlen with the accelerated success and Neff's decision to drive and only drive.

Neff, once a championship crew chief, said he’s settled into the role of driving and rarely offers input to Medlen. If asked he’ll tell, but otherwise he chooses to maintain his role as driver. However, he couldn’t help but recall his days as a tuner with the atmospheric conditions on Friday.

“I loved those kinds of conditions,” Neff said. “When you’re a crew chief, you’re licking your chops. You want to throw everything you have at it. Those moments made it fun to be a crew chief.”

Neff is over the experience now.

“I leave most everything to John, but we do talk and we’ll bounce off ideas,” Neff said. “We’re on the same page and agree with the way we do things, but he’s the crew chief and the boss. I let him do his thing. If he’s got any questions, he’ll ask. You can hurt a guy as much as you can help if you start chirping in there and steering them in a direction they really don’t want to follow. He’s a great crew chief and there’s no need for me to get in the way.”