For a man that made so many headlines as a Top Fuel dragster tuner, Mike Kloeber appears to be settling into his new challenge of Funny Car crew chief just fine.

“We started basically right around the first of November and we really got to working in earnest right after Thanksgiving, but we're still not done yet,” Kloeber said. “It's a lot of hard work and I couldn't be happier to get the car down the race track.”

Not only did Kloeber and co-crew chief Chris Cunningham guide rookie driver Bob Tasca III down the track, but also provided the impetus for a first round victory. As different as the combinations are for a Funny Car as opposed to a Top Fuel dragster, the tuning duo drew on Kloeber’s Top Fuel experience.

For a man that made so many headlines as a Top Fuel dragster tuner, Mike Kloeber appears to be settling into his new challenge of Funny Car crew chief just fine. (Auto Imageryy)

For a man that made so many headlines as a Top Fuel dragster tuner, Mike Kloeber appears to be settling into his new challenge of Funny Car crew chief just fine.

“We started basically right around the first of November and we really got to working in earnest right after Thanksgiving, but we're still not done yet,” Kloeber said. “It's a lot of hard work and I couldn't be happier to get the car down the race track.”

Not only did Kloeber and co-crew chief Chris Cunningham guide rookie driver Bob Tasca III down the track, but also provided the impetus for a first round victory. As different as the combinations are for a Funny Car as opposed to a Top Fuel dragster, the tuning duo drew on Kloeber’s Top Fuel experience.

“This thing, it shook so bad for so many runs in testing that I thought maybe we need to treat this thing like a dragster and it went down the track,” Kloeber said. “That's what we tried, something a little bit closer to what I've been running in the dragster.  Chris was behind me 100% and he helped me figure out all the differences and together we came up with a real good setup for that run so I couldn't be any happier right now.”

For all the problems encountered in testing, Kloeber said the differences between a Funny Cars and dragsters are substantial. Bear in mind that Kloeber worked for many seasons as a crew man for Don Prudhomme on his flopper and later for Jim Epler when he ran the first 300-mph lap.
 
“The motor part, the clutch part, buying all the parts- that's all the same,” said Kloeber. “The body's an incredible amount of work.  The scary part of it is, for me, what it cost to buy a body, put tint in it, and put vinyl on it you could go buy a new dragster so it’s really expensive.  Funny Cars, I have forgotten truthfully how much work they are.  They’re a lot more work than a Top Fuel car.”

Kloeber spent nearly eight years with Clay Millican as the tuner for a team that won seven IHRA championships. He was released from the team last summer.

Such a move is not uncommon in the rough and tumble world of nitro tuners. A similar scenario exists with head coaches in the National Football League where a change of scenery is needed often to invoke a fresh start.
 
“I think that's part of life,” said Kloeber. “In today's age you don't go to work sweeping the floors and end up running the joint anymore usually you have to move and skip around.  I don't know if it's just today's age or what not for me. 

“The Ford people expect an awful lot out of this.  The Tasca Family is very successful. They expect to win, this is not just a really happy to be here kind of thing.  This is kind of a win deal, we want you to win.  We're paying you to win and Ford's paying us to win so we're going to do our best to see to it that we follow our marching orders.”

Getting the Motorcraft car to the finish line rates a good measure of having fun. At least qualifying this weekend was fun.
 
“Well the run that got us in the field was a lot of fun compared to the other 17 runs where we didn't get down the track worth a hoot so yeah it's fun right now but you could go up there and smoke the tires and be just as frustrated in a couple of hours,” added Kloeber.  “That's what drag racing is all about.”