NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Life has a funny way of giving you direction without necessarily beating you over the head, and respected nitro tuner Jim Oberhofer was savvy enough to see the signs that have now carried him into the crew chief role on the Clay Millican-driven Stringer Performance/Parts Plus Top Fueler.

Oberhofer has always been a Top Fuel guy, long an integral part of the Kalitta Motorsports juggernaut before leaving that camp in late 2018 and beginning a bit of wanderlust in search of himself. 

He spent some time in Australia working with good friend Bruce Reed to rediscover his passion and then worked with Paul Lee on his Funny Car for two seasons.

“When I left Kalitta, I wasn't sure I really wanted to do this anymore,” he admitted. “When I left, I felt like I had this 800-pound gorilla lifted off my shoulders. I wanted to do good for Kalitta Motorsports and a lot was expected of me. I wake up every day thinking that I'm going to do the best job that I possibly can, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way. 

'When the Countdown came around, and I'm watching these guys battle it out, I'm like, ‘Man, I'd like to be part of that again.’ “

“Working with Bruce reset me a little bit and gave me back that excitement that was missing and helping get Paul’s team up to speed and running well was something I really enjoyed, but I knew there was something more I needed to do. Then last year, when the Countdown came around, and I'm watching these guys battle it out, I'm like, ‘Man, I'd like to be part of that again.’ “

With Lee running between 10-15 races a year, a Countdown spot was unlikely, but it was the memory of former mentor Dick LaHaie that helped drive Oberhofer to accept the offer from Stringer to tune Millican’s car for a championship run. 

“My brother [Jon, tuner for Funny Car world champ J.R. Todd] and I, and Nicky Boninfante were able to go to Dick LaHaie’s Hall of Fame induction. The three of us were sitting around talking about Dick-o and how much he meant to us and the things that he did. Nicky has made Dick-o proud, my brother's made Dick-o proud, and I'd like to do the same thing. I’ve never won a championship as a crew chief and knowing what he taught us and sitting there talking to Tim Richards and Kim Richards, really got me fired up. So when the chance came up to tune for Clay, I jumped at it.

“The nice thing is, I helped out on this car in 2019 and was involved in it over the course of a few years to some degree. I always had a good idea what they were doing over here. The car has always run good from when ‘Grubby’ [David Grubnic] was here and when Mike [Kloeber] was here, so we want to maintain that and build some consistency and maybe race a little better.

"If you're a competitive person, like I am, and like Clay is, that's what you want. You want to race against the best you possibly can. 

“I love the dragsters -- that's what I grew up around -– but there's been that feeling I had some unfinished business. We won a lot of races with Doug [Kalitta] but never a championship, and one of the things that really intrigues me right now about Top Fuel is how competitive the class is. Tony Stewart has a team. Josh Hart is out there running full-time. Austin Prock is back. Tony Schumacher is back. And if you're a competitive person, like I am, and like Clay is, that's what you want. You want to race against the best you possibly can. I was looking at everything. I'm like, ‘Holy crap, there are some good cars.’ 

“So when this opportunity presented itself, I felt like it was good for me to attempt this. I'm not getting any younger and this just felt right. I’ve always kind of put myself secondary, and it feels like for the first time I'm looking out for myself. I hated leaving Paul because he’s my buddy, but I also knew that car was becoming frustrating for me to tune. 

“I'll give Doug Stringer a lot of credit over here. He's doesn't have the highest-funded car, but I tell you what he has the passion. I’ve had some great discussions and got a great group of kids out here. I saw right away is they have passion. What they lack in experience, they make up for passion, and you can't teach that so I'm pretty excited about that.

“I also have Lance Larsen helping me, and he’s been a huge help. I told the kids they need to cherish that opportunity of working with him; he's forgotten more than most people know. Still, I'm not gonna lie. It’s tough out there and it's an uphill battle to win the championship.”

Top Fuel vs. Funny Car

To the fan, the powertrain of a Top Fuel and Funny Car seem the same, and the distance from the bellhousing to the rear end is pretty the same, so what’s the difference in tuning between the two?

“I always used to tell people my analogy between a Funny Car and a  dragster is to tune a dragster, you have to be an animal and you have to drive it with finesse," Oberhofer explained. "To tune a Funny Car, you have to finesse it in the tuning but you have to drive it like an animal.

“The biggest difference is probably your blower overdrive -- you would run more on a dragster than a Funny Car -- and in your clutch application, where you do it a lot sooner on a dragster because the power curve is less on a Funny Car. When I was at Kalitta with my brother and Nicky, we’d work together on setups. We would figure out the compression on Doug's [Top Fuel] car, and then we would tighten the gaskets up seven-thousandths on the Funny Car because it needed more compression because of the weight of the car. 

“And whatever we put on for blower overdrive for the dragster, we always took 5% off for the Funny Car. And it worked pretty good.”

“You can throw the clutch at it as fast as you as fast as you can on a dragster compared to a Funny Car because you've got to be careful with that power curve, how you apply that power, and what these dragsters like. You’ve got to make sure it's got power because you want the engine telling the clutch what to do, and not vice versa. You don't want that clutch to be the boss in the whole thing; you don't want that engine being a loafer for where that clutch is.

“Either way, I love watching and tuning them both, because it's a nitro car. Who can't get excited over a nitro car?”