Being a rookie is all about familiarizing oneself with their surroundings and taking note of the various experiences and emotions along the pathway of education.

Let the record reflect that crew chief turned driver Mike Neff has experienced the thrill of winning rounds and reaching the finals. He’s also experienced the downside such as fires and DNQs.

He takes the fires seriously and knows they are a part of racing he must accept. The DNQs, now that’s a different story.

“Not qualifying just sucks,” Neff said. “I feel worse for [crew chief] John Medlen. It’s a lot worse being the crew chief and not qualifying than it is a driver, (but) it sucks any way you look at it.”

Nothing says learning like a Funny Car minus a steering wheel …

Being a rookie is all about familiarizing oneself with their surroundings and taking note of the various experiences and emotions along the pathway of education.

Let the record reflect that crew chief turned driver Mike Neff has experienced the thrill of winning rounds and reaching the finals. He’s also experienced the downside such as fires and DNQs.

He takes the fires seriously and knows they are a part of racing he must accept. The DNQs, now that’s a different story.

“Not qualifying just sucks,” Neff said. “I feel worse for [crew chief] John Medlen. It’s a lot worse being the crew chief and not qualifying than it is a driver, (but) it sucks any way you look at it.”

 

In the first run the steering wheel fell off so I had to lift. John (Force) told me the same thing had happened to Eric Medlen once too. Luckily it wasn’t going any faster than it was. It was only going about 100 mph. It came off and whoosh my hands came up over my head. I was like whoa. I looked up and the thing wasn’t going straight. It was going towards the wall. I had to keep it off the wall so I pushed (the steering wheel) just enough to get a tooth to grab and I got just enough to turn it away from the wall.

Even if Neff had qualified for the NHRA Summernationals in Topeka, KS, he might have had a soured outlook on the event based on everything that transpired.

Neff knew the weekend was going to be a tough one when during his first round qualifying session his steering wheel came off in his hands.

“In the first run the steering wheel fell off so I had to lift. John (Force) told me the same thing had happened to Eric Medlen once too. Luckily it wasn’t going any faster than it was. It was only going about 100 mph,” said the unflappable Neff. “It came off and whoosh my hands came up over my head. I was like whoa. I looked up and the thing wasn’t going straight. It was going towards the wall. I had to keep it off the wall so I pushed (the steering wheel) just enough to get a tooth to grab and I got just enough to turn it away from the wall.”

For the next three qualifying runs his Old Spice team battled high heat and tricky track conditions, never really getting a handle on the racing surface. By the end of the day on Saturday he was on the outside looking in but still philosophical about his chance heading to Chicago and Route 66 Raceway.

“This was just a tough weekend. We never really got a handle on the tune-up. I know we will have it straightened out by Chicago,” said Neff. “We just had a problem with dropped cylinders at the hit of the throttle. We ran down there on seven cylinders. We were definitely hoping for better than that but it is a little tricky out there”

Neff had moved up from 14th to 7th place in the Funny Car points standings on the strength of back-to-back final round appearances. His Old Spice Ford Mustang was the toast of the NASCAR circuit following a spectacular burn-out prior to the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.

Prior to Topeka, Neff was one of only five drivers to have qualified for every NHRA event so far this season. He also had the longest qualifying streak at John Force Racing.

The Topeka misfortune was the first time in ten starts that the former world champion crew chief failed to crack the top 16 Funny Car field as a driver at an event.

Speaking of firsts, Neff will be racing this weekend at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., for the first time in his career.

“We’re going through everything right now.  We don’t have an answer yet of why it’s putting cylinders out (but) we’ll get them in Chicago.  We’ll have ‘er fixed by then.  Between me and Medlen, we’ll get it figured out,” added Neff.

Neff is fighting valiantly to become just the second racer to win pro championships as both crew chief and driver.  The only person to have accomplished that feat is Dick LaHaie, who won a Top Fuel title as a driver in 1987 and as crew chief to Scott Kalitta in 1994 and 1995.