Jeff Arend
Blaze Exhaust Probes Funny Car Driver for Jim Dunn Racing
72nd Annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals
Sept. 2-7 | Indianapolis
Event Overview
Friday, Sept. 4 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 7:30 p.m. EDT
Saturday, Sept. 5 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Top Fuel qualifying session (Q2) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Round 1: 12:30 p.m. EDT
Funny Car qualifying session (Q2) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Round 1: 1:05 p.m. EDT
Top Fuel qualifying session (Q3) & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge – Finals: 3:30 p.m. EDT
Funny Car qualifying session (Q3) Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge – Finals: 4 p.m. EDT
Sunday, Sept. 6 (NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout and Top Fuel Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Top Fuel qualifying session (Q4): 12 p.m. EDT
NHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout – Round 1: 12:45 p.m. EDT
Funny Car qualifying session (Q4 – All entries not in the Callout): 1 p.m. EDT
NHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout – Semi-Finals: 2:15 p.m. EDT
Top Fuel qualifying session (Q5): 2:45 p.m. EDT
Funny car qualifying session (Q5 – All entries not in the Callout): 3:15 p.m. EDT
NHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout – Finals: 3:40 p.m. EDT
Monday, Sept. 7 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Round 1: 10 a.m. EDT
Round 2: 12:30 p.m. EDT
Semi-Finals: 2:10 p.m. EDT
Finals: 3:50 p.m. EDT
TV coverage on FS1/FOX
Sunday, Sept. 6: Qualifying show recapping Friday and Saturday’s action (3 p.m. EDT on FS1)
Sunday, Sept. 6: NHRA All-Star Funny Car Callout (7 p.m. EDT on FS1)
Sunday, Sept. 6: Qualifying show recapping Sunday’s action (10:30 p.m. EDT on FS1)
Monday, Sept. 7: Finals Round 1 (12 p.m. EDT on FS1)
Monday, Sept. 7: Finals (2 p.m. EDT on FOX)
Notes of Interest
The NHRA U.S. Nationals Sept. 2-7 at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) is the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ regular season finale. The Big Go marks the 14th race on the 20-race calendar before the Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 18-20 with the inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals in Martin, Michigan. Jim Dunn Racing brings its one full-time entry in Funny Car for Jeff Arend. A native of Canada, Arend moved to Southern California in 1997.
As the NHRA celebrates its landmark 75th season in 2026, Jim Dunn Racing is celebrating 76 years of success in drag racing. Jim started drag racing when he was 15 years old and at 92 years old, he plans to keep going as long as he can. In 2024, Jim received the NHRA Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won some of the sport’s most significant races and has provided driving opportunities for some of the biggest names in the sport.
Coming into Indianapolis, Arend is 14th in the Funny Car standings, 688 points behind leader Matt Hagan.
Blaze Exhaust Probes is the primary partner of Arend this weekend in Indianapolis. Blaze Technical Services was founded in 1996 by Ralph and Candy Hickman in Northeast Ohio. They are a leading full-service temperature sensor manufacturer that offers solutions for even the most demanding applications. Their reputation for creating the most rugged industrial temperature sensors and high temperature thermocouple assemblies has made them a top choice in the industry. Being ISO 9001 certified since 2003 reflects their commitment to producing only the highest quality products, including their popular exhaust gas temperature probes and other industrial temperature sensors. They also specialize in high temperature thermocouple designs that perform reliably in extreme conditions, including High-temperature aerospace sensors and Soil temperature monitoring setups. They are dedicated to delivering quality products on time and at a fair price. Additionally, they document all products with CAD drawings to make future changes or reordering easy, and can provide certification on request. Their Blaze Technical Services temperature solutions are trusted by professionals across a wide range of industries.
The NHRA U.S. Nationals will mark Arend’s 261st career Funny Car appearance, and his 11th overall appearance in the NHRA U.S. Nationals. It marks his third Funny Car appearance on behalf of Jim Dunn Racing at Indianapolis. His previous appearances for the team came in 2013 and 2014. Arend’s first U.S. Nationals appearance came in 1995. It will mark his ninth appearance this season as driver of the Jim Dunn Racing Dodge.
It has been 27 years since Frank Pedregon won the U.S. Nationals for Jim Dunn Racing (1999), claiming the team’s lone victory in the world’s most prestigious event. Since then, Jim Dunn Racing has reached the quarterfinal round five times, most recently in 2024 with Buddy Hull as driver. Overall, Jim Dunn Racing has raced in the final round at Indy three times. Jim Dunn himself was runner-up to Hall of Famer Raymond Beadle in 1981and Kenji Okazaki was runner-up to John Force in 1993.
In addition to the U.S. Nationals itself, Okazaki was stellar in the Big Bud Shootout Funny Car bonus race contested in conjunction with The Big Go. After earning runner-up honors in that event in 1994 (losing to the late Al Hofmann), he won three years later (1997), beating Tony Pedregon in the final round.
The NHRA U.S. Nationals will feature legends throughout the week to honor the NHRA’s 75th Anniversary, including Don Garlits, Don “the Snake” Prudhomme, Joe Amato, Shirley Muldowney, Kenny Bernstein, and Darrell Gwynn.
There are 24 Funny Cars entered for the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals that will be vying for one of the 16 qualifying positions.
Jeff Arend, Driver of the Jim Dunn Racing Blaze Exhaust Probes Funny Car
In addition to celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary on your Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car, you’ll also be representing Blaze’s 30th Anniversary. How special will that be at The Big Go?
“Indy is one of those races that everybody looks forward to, but Big Jim is at the top of the list by far. When leaving Indy to go home after the race, he is already thinking about next year’s Indy! I am really proud of how everybody on the Jim Dunn Racing team has come together and I think our results show the consistency and improvements in ET (elapsed time). We have a couple of tricks up our sleeve and can’t wait for that first run at Indy. We are celebrating 250 years of the United States of America and 30 years with our major sponsor, Blaze Exhaust Probes. Keep an eye out for us and we expect our best results of the year.”
