Fri, 06 Nov 2026, 16:24 PM Jeff Arend Wrap Up

Courtesy of Ashley Wilson, ACW Promotions Photo credit: Auto Imagery=20

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Jeff Arend
KGC Construction Funny Car Driver for Jim Dunn Racing
MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge
Oct. 30-Nov. 1 | Las Vegas

Event Recap
Jeff Arend, driver of the Jim Dunn Racing KGC Construction Funny Car:
• Earned No. 11 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Frida= y (4.132 ET at 262.54 mph)
• Fell to No. 13 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Frid= ay (4.070 ET at 303.09 mph)
• Fell to No. 18 provisional qualifying position based off of = Friday=E2=80=99s Q2 run. In Q3 on Saturday, Arend ran a 6.264 ET at 107.30 = mph.
• Secured the No. 18 qualifying position based off of Friday= =E2=80=99s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Arend ran a 4.072 ET at 308.35 mph, w= hich failed to qualify for the event.

=20 Jeff Arend, Driver of the Jim Dunn Racing KGC Construction Funny Car

Notes of Interest
• Arend represented KGC (Kindness General Contractors) Constru= ction this weekend in Las Vegas. KGC, is a full service general contracting= firm designed to manage and facilitate a complete range of construction pr= ojects. They are responsible for a diversified portfolio of projects with a= wide range of construction value and provide customers with what is most i= mportant to them: short schedules, unmatched quality and superior flexibili= ty. At KGC, they understand that every project, regardless of size, require= s a commitment to quality, attention to detail, and the ability to act and = react with speed, efficiency and intelligence. They strive to provide a has= sle-free experience to all their clients and look to form lasting partnersh= ips built on mutual respect and trust.=20

• The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has one event rema= ining this season, the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, California. = =20

=E2=80=9CAfter what I consider our biggest accomplishment of the year, qual= ifying for Indy with the highest car count in more than 10 years and runnin= g a career-best 4.01 ET (elapsed time) at 320 mph, the Dallas and Las Vegas= races obviously didn=E2=80=99t go the way we had hoped.

=20 It wasn=E2=80=99t that we weren=E2=80=99t making it down the track. We were= consistent, but consistently about five hundredths off the pace we knew we= were capable of. The frustrating part was that nothing we were changing se= emed to make sense. We would speed up the clutch, the Racepak data showed t= he clutch movement was doing what we programmed it to do, but the car would= actually slow down. We just couldn=E2=80=99t put our finger on it.

=20 Thankfully, after a tremendous team effort and a lot of help from people wo= rking to figure out the issue, we finally found the problem. In Q3, we shut= off the program we had identified as the issue, and suddenly the clutch sy= stem started responding the way it was supposed to. The car smoked the tire= s about 100 feet out, but for the first time in a while, we saw the clutch = system doing exactly what we had been trying to accomplish all season.

=20 For Q4, we made an educated guess on the adjustments, and the car ran anoth= er 4.07 ET, this time with a cylinder out from about 330 feet to the finish= line. Even with that issue, the clutch system did exactly what we programm= ed it to do. That was a huge step forward for us.

=20 Now we=E2=80=99re looking forward to Pomona with a much better understandin= g of what the car wants. We know what=E2=80=99s too fast, what=E2=80=99s a = little too slow, and now it=E2=80=99s a matter of fine-tuning everything to= put it all together.

=20 We=E2=80=99re thankful for KGC and all of our partners who continue to stan= d behind this Jim Dunn Racing team. We=E2=80=99re also excited to bring out= another special-edition car to close out the season. We have some unfinish= ed business, and we=E2=80=99re eager to see what numbers we can put on the = board at the NHRA Finals in Pomona!=E2=80=9D

Next Up
The next and final event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series sched= ule is the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals November 12-15 at In-N-Out Burger Po= mona Dragstrip in Pomona, California.