Mike Zippy Neff, crew chief to 2005 NHRA Funny Car Champion Gary Scelzi, will drive a fourth John Force Racing Ford Mustang during the 2008 season in pursuit of a Powerade Funny Car championship.

Neither Robert Hight, who drives the Auto Club of Southern California Ford, nor Eric Medlen, who won six races in the Castrol Syntec Ford before succumbing last March to injuries suffered in a testing accident, had previous driving experience.

Neff, too, became a mechanic because he saw little chance that he would be able to drive at the top levels. Starting with Larry Minor Racing where he worked on the car in which Cruz Pedregon beat Force to win the 1992 NHRA championship, Neff moved on with Pedregon to Joe Gibbs Racing. He went to Schumacher in 2001 as assistant crew chief on the Funny Car driven by Whit Bazemore.

In his first stint as crew chief, he directed driver Scotty Cannon to a Top 10 finish in 2002. Hooking up with Scelzi in 2003, Neff’s car set the national speed record and became the first Funny Car to break the 330 mile-an-hour barrier. Two years later, he and Scelzi won the championship, ending JFR’s streak of 12 consecutive championships.