Since 2016, Jeff Arend has drove a handful of races behind the wheel of the nitro Funny Car owned by Peter and Helen Russo.

Arend will be in the cockpit of the Russo Funny Car again when he competes at the NHRA Toyota Nationals (Oct. 25-28) in Las Vegas and the Auto Club NHRA Nationals in Pomona (Nov. 8-11).

Arend last drove the Russo Funny Car at the spring race in early April at The Strip in Las Vegas. He just missed qualifying, coming in the No. 18 spot with a 4.202-second run at 288.83 mph.,

“Back then, the car was smoking the tires where it normally didn’t, and we didn’t understand why,” Arend said. “Then, we learned a couple of weeks after that (race) they changed the track prep at that race that we didn’t know about. I was wondering why the No. 1 qualifier was like 3.96 and not 3.86, but nothing really made any sense and we made a 4.20 run and we saw that was probably going to get bumped out so we put it halfway back to try and run 4.10, which is usually does with no problem and it smoked the tires for really no reason and we didn’t know why. Now we have a better idea what to do.”

Arend, a veteran nitro Funny Car pilot, has kept his skills sharp this season by competing in the Nostalgia ranks. He won a race in Boise, Idaho, and went to the semis twice.

“I’ve been driving that California Hustler Nostalgia car (owned by Don Nelson),” Arend said. “We just went to the Hot Rod Reunion (last weekend in Bakersfield, Calif., getting to the semifinals). It’s a lot of fun competing in the Nostalgia ranks. It’s more laid back. It’s like racing in the 1980s and 90s when everyone was helpful and friendly. You could hang around different people’s pits and have fun. Certainly not corporate as the NHRA stuff is.”

Arend acknowledged he’s upbeat about competing Vegas this weekend.

“I have a lot of friends who race, and I haven’t seen them for a while,” Arend said. “There’s really nothing like driving a Funny Car in NHRA’s big show. This will be a challenge and I would like to run well. We want to get the car down the track (in Vegas) consistently and run some 4.0s with it and if 4.0s are fast enough to qualify we will be happy.”

Driving a NHRA nitro Funny Car is quite different than driing a Nostalgia Funny Car, according to Arend.

“There’s a lot of room for error in Nostalgia car if you get it out of the groove, you can usually drive it back in,” he said. “With a big show car, if you get out of the groove, you start smoking the tires and your run is over. Not that a Nostalgia car is easy, but it is definitely easier than a competitive NHRA nitro Funny Car for sure.”

Arend has won four NHRA national events and has made nine career final rounds.