Mike Neff figured when he landed the driving gig for John Force Racing that his tuning talents would only be used on a roundtable basis, considering the job tuner was clearly John Medlen’s gig.

The 41-year old Neff never figured there’d come a day when he’d have to tune the car and drive it to the finish line.

It’s a challenge that’s both intriguing and demanding for Neff, but he’s doing what he’s got to do.

Two days before the NHRA Lucas Slick Mist Nationals in Phoenix, Az., Medlen was struck with chest pains and was admitted to an Indianapolis hospital where doctors inserted a stent in his heart.

Neff responded to the adversity with a stellar performance as both driver and tuner by recording the second quickest Funny Car time in provisional qualifying, a 4.050-second elapsed time at 309.06 miles per hour, the quickest amongst the John Force Racing team.

“I felt better with the last run and now I feel a lot better having gone down the track a couple of times, that helps with the confidence,” Neff said. “I’m realizing how much I did miss tuning because it has been a long time and I really did miss it. It is a whole lot of fun really. It’s a lot different than driving. The driving is exciting and you have your own little things you get excited about but tuning is something I have always enjoyed and the mental game with that.”

Tuning and driving leaves little room for second-guessing, especially when one is pressed into double-duty, as Neff was on Friday.

“The hard part really is to separate the two,” Neff explained. “When it’s time to drive, you have to quit thinking about the tuning you did and switch gears into the role of driver. This experience has been a lot of fun and fortunately, John Force, he’s real organized in the way he runs [his teams] so we’re basically just following the same plan that he would’ve been doing if John Medlen was here.”

Once Neff became immersed in the role of tuner, he quickly attacked the complexity of finding just the right tune-up for an above-average track temperature. It was as if he was still tuning for his last driver, Gary Scelzi.

Neff aced the challenge both inside and outside of the car.

“We had to make some adjustments that we hadn’t had to make all year,” Neff admitted. “We’ve changed a few things in the clutch and not really being aware of how that would affect it was a little thing. We felt like we were just guessing at some of it. But it’s been a great day, we just wanted to go down the track the first day and we did that. We have a great group of guys here and just a great team with John Force.”

Neff didn’t talk to Medlen today, but when he does he will have a lot to share. He believes his crew chief could return to action as soon as the event in Gainesville, Fla., next month.

“I did talk to him yesterday,” Neff proclaimed. “I got a text from his wife, I think they listened to it on the internet or something, they told me good job.”

Neff knows Friday’s success story wasn’t written by a one man effort.

“Everybody from every team pitched in, to make sure that we succeed. That’s real valuable,” Neff concluded.

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