Patience is proving to be quite a virtue for Jeff Arend.

The Canadian native, who after years of a part-time ride here and another one there, has found a home driving the Blue Checker Schuck's Kragen Funny Car for Worsham Racing. He's enjoyed a solid campaign through the first portion of the 2007 POWERade Series season.

"This is what I worked my whole life for," Arend said. "I'm kind of like the 10-year overnight sensation. I've known Del (Worsham) for a long time and had some good rides. I was with (veteran crew chief/owner) Paul Smith a lot and he always gave me a good, safe race car, and was a good teacher, but this is where I want to be -- (with) a bigger funded team with a great sponsor like Checker Schuck's Kragen and running the full year."

But getting to his dream job has been a long trek for Arend.

His road to success began in 1994 when he earned his NHRA Funny Car competition license. In between then and now, there were stops with mentor Paul Smith, who tuned him to his only win in 1996, as well as stints as a fill-in driver for Al Hofmann and Chuck Beal.

Patience pays off big time

Patience is proving to be quite a virtue for Jeff Arend.

The Canadian native, who after years of a part-time ride here and another one there, has found a home driving the Blue Checker Schuck's Kragen Funny Car for Worsham Racing. He's enjoyed a solid campaign through the first portion of the 2007 POWERade Series season.

"This is what I worked my whole life for," Arend said. "I'm kind of like the 10-year overnight sensation. I've known Del (Worsham) for a long time and had some good rides. I was with (veteran crew chief/owner) Paul Smith a lot and he always gave me a good, safe race car, and was a good teacher, but this is where I want to be -- (with) a bigger funded team with a great sponsor like Checker Schuck's Kragen and running the full year."

But getting to his dream job has been a long trek for Arend.

His road to success began in 1994 when he earned his NHRA Funny Car competition license. In between then and now, there were stops with mentor Paul Smith, who tuned him to his only win in 1996, as well as stints as a fill-in driver for Al Hofmann and Chuck Beal.

He hooked up again with Smith for the 2004 season, and with help from CMKX, the duo competed in all 23 national events that season, and another 15 in 2005 before Arend was back on the journeyman trail when the funding from CMKX dried up.

"It was a little frustrating," Arend said. "But in the end, you have to be in the right place at the right time. For the first part of my career, I lived in Canada, so it was tougher to get a ride when you're a Canadian.”

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Arend eventually moved to San Dimas, California, where his fortunes improved, however slightly. "I had a few part-time rides...it was a little frustrating, but the reason I stayed with it was to know that other drivers notice that I was a good driver. They would say, 'Hey Jeff, you're doing a great job.' That's what meant the most to me."

Del Worsham was one of those fellow competitors who did take notice of the skills the Canadian native possessed.

The two had become friends in the early 1990s when Arend’s career was just taking off. When the opportunity arose for Worsham Racing to field a third car under the Murray's Auto Parts banner for last season's O'Reilly Midwest Nationals near St. Louis, he thought of his Southern California neighbor. That deal eventually led to his present gig driving for the family-owned team.

"We never really talked about (getting together) much," Arend said. "He had a different driver in the (blue car), and I had my own deal going, but in hindsight, a little bit of a factor was when I got to drive their car at St. Louis last year. He just called me up and said come drive the car. I did and we had a pretty good weekend. I think I showed I could drive.

"When the season was over, we got together, discussed our plans and it all came together."

But not without taking a few hits.

The main objection from some drag racing enthusiasts was that in order for Arend to slide into the Blue CSK Chevy Monte Carlo, Phil Burkart Jr., who scored three national event victories in three seasons with the team, had to be let go. And that upset some fans of the sport. They let their feelings be known on Internet message boards.

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"There were probably only two people who knew the truth of the deal, and that was Del and I," Arend said. "I could understand looking from the outside in why some people weren't happy (with the arrangement). But for the most part -- at least what I read -- most of it was, 'Too bad for Phil, good for Jeff.'

"I'm certainly not a guy who had never driven before and bought my ride in. I think I proven myself to being a good driver. The timing was right, and there were a lot of things (going on) that most people don't know about. But in the end, I can sleep at night. It's not like I told Del I want this ride and gave him a big bag of cash."

Arend has certainly earned his keep in 2007. He is ninth in points after the first seven national events. His early-season successes include a semifinal appearance at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., and a trip to the quarterfinals at the Southern Nationals near Atlanta late last month. He also qualified third and fourth, respectively, at Atlanta and at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

"As a driver, when you are driving for a new team, I think you have to make some deposits before you can start making some withdrawals," said Arend, suggesting that he had to prove himself to his new team. "But we've started the year off really well. I had a hole-shot win (to get to the semifinals at Pomona) and got in the field on the last session at a couple of the races, but the better you do as a driver, the more everything gels together."

Now the team is ready to make a push for the final 10 races of the NHRA's ''regular season." Arend believes they are definitely headed down the right track as the season progresses into the heart of the POWERade Series schedule and the hot tracks of summer.

"It's just going to take consistent runs," Arend said. "Right now, we have a killer tune-up when it's hot outside, because that's where you race (for much of the season). It started strong, obviously, going a couple of rounds. We're right there.

"I don't see any problem. We're getting into the hot tracks now, where we can really excel. I'm looking to win lots of rounds and win a couple of races this year."