In a move reminiscent of
last year’s Whit Bazemore dismissal, Don Schumacher has demoted Mike “Zippy”
Neff to the role of “advisor” on the Mopar Oakley Dodge driven by Gary Scelzi.
Todd Okuhara will step away from the Jack Beckman operation to replace Neff.
Phil Shuler, Okahara’s
assistant, will assume the tuner role for Beckman.
“Todd and Phil have worked
together for about a year and Don wants to put them on their own to see if they
can handle it,” Neff said. “That way he’ll know for sure what he needs to do
for next year.”
Don Schumacher said there
was no demotion.
“There wasn’t a demotion,”
Schumacher said. “He’s going to be an advisor for both the Mopar Oakley, MTS and
Brut teams. With Mike’s decision to join John Force Racing, I needed to look
toward the future for what we are going to do going forward. It was time to
make an appropriate move in my mind. I wanted to put all three of my Funny Cars
in the best position to win a championship.”