Jeff Arend
KGC Construction Funny Car Driver for Jim Dunn Racing
25th Annual SUPERGRIP NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
June 12-14 | Bristol, Tennessee
Event Overview
Friday, June 12 (Nitro Qualifying, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Nitro qualifying session (Q1): 6 p.m. EDT
Nitro qualifying session (Q2): 8:30 p.m. EDT
Saturday, June 13 (Nitro Qualifying & Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Nitro qualifying session (Q3) / Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge – Semifinals: 12:30 p.m. EDT
Nitro qualifying session (Q4) / Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge – Finals: 3 p.m. EDT
Sunday, June 14 (Nitro Eliminations, streamed live on NHRA.TV)
Round 1: 12 p.m. EDT
Round 2: 2:15 p.m. EDT
Semifinals: 3:50 p.m. EDT
Finals: 5:15 p.m. EDT
TV coverage on FS1
Friday, June 12: Qualifying show (8 p.m. EDT)
Sunday, June 14: Qualifying show, recapping all of Saturday’s action (2 p.m. EDT)
Sunday, June 14: Finals show (3 p.m. EDT)
Notes of Interest
The SUPERGRIP NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals is the ninth event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series’ 20-race calendar in 2026. 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 Bristol, Arend is 16th in the Funny Car standings, 492 points behind leader Ron Capps (The final round in both Top Fuel and Funny Car from the NHRA New England Nationals were postponed due to weather and will be completed on Friday in Bristol.)
KGC (Kindness General Contractors) Construction is the primary partner of Arend this weekend in Bristol. KGC, is a full service general contracting firm designed to manage and facilitate a complete range of construction projects. They are responsible for a diversified portfolio of projects with a wide range of construction value and provide customers with what is most important to them: short schedules, unmatched quality and superior flexibility. At KGC, they understand that every project, regardless of size, requires a commitment to quality, attention to detail, and the ability to act and react with speed, efficiency and intelligence. They strive to provide a hassle-free experience to all their clients and look to form lasting partnerships built on mutual respect and trust.
In celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary, Jim Dunn Racing will be running a special patriotic scheme at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Arend also represented KGC Construction at last weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire.
The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals will mark Arend’s 257th career Funny Car appearance, and his third Funny Car appearance on behalf of Jim Dunn Racing at Bristol Dragway. His two previous appearances for the team came in 2013 and 2014.
Arend will be making his fifth appearance of the season at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals and the 46th appearance of his career in a Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car. Arend was eliminated in the first round at Bristol in 2013 and 2014 for Jim Dunn Racing. This will be his first appearance at Thunder Valley since a 2014 first-round loss to Del Worsham. Arend was Funny Car runner-up to Gary Scelzi at Bristol in 2005 and reached the semifinals before losing to Robert Hight in 2011.
The late Al Hofmann took a Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car to the final round in the team’s first appearance in the Thunder Valley Nationals in 2001, losing to Gary Scelzi in the final round after beating John Force in the semifinals.
Last year, Buddy Hull upset No. 1 qualifier and eventual series champion Austin Prock in the first round at Bristol before losing to Paul Lee in the quarterfinals. It was Jim Dunn Racing’s second straight first round upset of Prock and John Force Racing (after earlier following the same script at Epping, New Hampshire).
Jeff Arend, Driver of the Jim Dunn Racing KGC Construction Funny Car
Having back-to-back races, teams will be going from 157 feet of elevation in Epping, New Hampshire to 1,676 feet in Bristol, Tennessee. What challenges will that present from a tune-up perspective with tricky weather and track conditions?
“I am really looking forward to Bristol and driving the Jim Dunn Racing KGC Construction Dodge again. It’s such a beautiful car and we love representing America’s 250th birthday. We were able to get down the track twice in a row in New Hampshire and that will be a great baseline start for Thunder Valley. With the outlook for conditions at Bristol, I am confident we can run consistent 4.0’s (elapsed time) to get in the field. I am optimistic and the goal is to get into the high 3’s (ET) in the next two races.”
