Many questioned John Force’s motives last season when he proposed training former Don Schumacher Racing crew chief Mike Neff to become a driver for John Force Racing. Force simply said, “The kid’s got the look.”

Neff made Force look like a genius by reaching the final round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., and taking out such notables as fellow Funny Car rookie Melanie Troxel, Mike Ashley and teammate Robert Hight to earn a berth in the final round against Wilkerson.

“We didn’t back our way into the final,” Neff said. “We made four good runs and we lost on a squeaker. It was a good drag race we just came up a little short,” said the former crew chief turned driver. “We aren’t greedy it was a great day for us in the Old Spice Ford Mustang camp.” Many questioned John Force’s motives last season when he proposed training former Don Schumacher Racing crew chief Mike Neff to become a driver for John Force Racing. Force simply said, “The kid’s got the look.”

Neff made Force look like a genius by reaching the final round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., and taking out such notables as fellow Funny Car rookie Melanie Troxel, Mike Ashley and teammate Robert Hight to earn a berth in the final round against Wilkerson.

“We didn’t back our way into the final,” Neff said. “We made four good runs and we lost on a squeaker. It was a good drag race we just came up a little short,” said the former crew chief turned driver. “We aren’t greedy it was a great day for us in the Old Spice Ford Mustang camp.”

Force was beyond pleased with his newest driver’s performance.

“At the end of the day what makes it special win or lose is that it will always be Eric Medlen’s car,” Force said. “I just felt Eric was riding with him,” said the winningest driver in Funny Car history. “(Tim) Wilkerson is a great racer. It was his day and he got the win. It was some great racing for the fans. I thought we won that final it was side by side and both drivers left on time with 70 lights and both cars ran good. The fans in St. Louis got what they wanted. They got great side by side racing.”

JUST 997 MORE – If Mike Neff averages 50 round wins for the next two decades, he’ll reach 1,000 wins like his boss John Force. He got his first round win at the expense of Melanie Troxel and added two more for good measure en route to his first career Funny car final round as a driver.

“It took a little longer than we had wanted,” Neff said. “This was the first round win for Old Spice and the Ford Boss 500. We’re just going to take them one at a time.”