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2008 Rookie of the Year Mike Neff drove his Ford Drive One Mustang to a semi-final finish at the 4th annual NHRA Virginia Nationals today. While he would have liked to have gotten his first career win as a driver his first round victory over Tony Pedregon was a satisfying substitute. At the time Pedregon was in third place in the Full Throttle Funny Car point standings and looking to make a move on Neff’s teammates Ashley Force Hood and Robert Hight who were sitting in first and second, respectively. Neff beat Pedregon in the first round freezing Pedregon with 2,314 point behind Force Hood and Hight. It was Neff’s first opening round win over Pedregon in five attempts.
“That was a real big run for us. He is up there in the points and you know how much your teammates are counting on you. To be able to take him out was huge. Not so much for us but for the rest of the team like Robert and Ashley. It was big and I am glad we were able to get down the track. The bottom line is we got the win light and that is all that matters,” said Neff.
The value of Neff’s win was magnified when Ashley Force Hood dropped her first round race with Jeff Arend. This was the second consecutive race Arend has trailered Force Hood. While the points leader was upset with the defeat she was pleased that the loss was not devastating to her championship plans.
“It is frustrating to see (Jeff) Arend in the other lane having trouble. I think it would have been easier to accept if he had just gone right down his lane. He was able to recover his car and go. I was all over the place and not very happy. We are really bummed because we had been to the semis every race of the Countdown and to go out in the first round is tough. That hasn’t happened too many times to us this season and you definitely don’t want it to happen in the Countdown,” said Force Hood.
“No scenario with this Mustang seems to be the same. I pedaled it (lifting off the throttle) last weekend and it hooked up and went. This weekend it wouldn’t hook up and go. There are so many different factors that play a part. That is why it is exciting. That is why you can never think that just by looking at the eliminations ladder you will know what is going to happen. The number one qualifier went out the first round and the number one and two people in points went out by the second round. There is still time to gain back rounds if you do well in qualifying and go rounds in Las Vegas and Pomona. We definitely don’t need to get into any slumps at this time of the year.”
With two races left in the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing season Force Hood knows that her success is also dependent on her competition faltering in some cases.
“The fortunate part is people around us got knocked out early as well like Tony (Pedregon) and (Jack) Beckman. It looks like all the hitters kind of struggled this weekend. That is strange that no one that came in on top ran away with anything. (Ron) Capps could have really hurt us if he would have won.”
In a John Force Racing versus John Force Racing first round match-up Robert Hight defeated team leader John Force. This was the second year in a row that Hight dispatched Force in the first round at Virginia Motorsports Park. The win gave Hight the points lead once Ashley Force Hood faltered in the first round. Unfortunately Hight was not able to extend his points lead when he fell in the second round to eventual finalist Tim Wilkerson.
“This track is very, very tricky. It is very good and it is so good you can’t get initial wheel slip. It is a fine line. You saw that last night with John’s Mustang blowing the tires off at the hit. My car almost did that now. We ran a 4.05 in the last session last night and the first round today we ran 4.10. It just got crazy upset in the second round. We have had the same trouble here over the years and we just haven’t figured it out like some of the other guys have,” said Hight who carries a thirteen point lead into Las Vegas.
“I am disappointed since we had a chance to distance ourselves and we let some guys back in here. If we would have just kept pace we would not have let them back in. We have had good success in Las Vegas and Pomona. The next two weeks will be very important for us to get everything prepared and do our jobs right so we give ourselves the best opportunity to win.”
In the race Force tried to get every advantage versus Hight considering Hight had a performance edge. As Force pulled his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang into the staging beams he deep staged on his teammate, an aggressive move especially against your son-in-law. At the top end it was Hight’s 4.104 besting Force’s 4.353.
