CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 28, 2016) —“Fast” Jack Beckman, three-time event winner at the NHRA Nationals here at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix, missed out on the opportunity to become a four-time winner after a second round loss on race day.
The 2012 NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car champion topped 2014 race winner Alexis DeJoria in the first round after laying down a 3.939-second pass at 318.39 mph. The Terry Chandler-sponsored Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T put down too much power in the second round against Force, resulting in the dreaded tire shake.
“This is a new chassis that we literally had one run on before we unloaded it at Pomona and it had never been to the finish line until the third run at Pomona,” Beckman said. “We still came into Sunday optimistic and we unloaded with a 3.93 in the first round and took the win light against Alexis. We had to go back up there and push hard against John and it blew the tires loose.”
It’s been a rough couple weeks for Beckman at this Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. During preseason testing, he hurt his car down the track in an almost-unheard of wheel stand. The result was a bent chassis, forcing crew chief Jimmy Prock and his team to go to a brand new car for the remainder of testing and for the first event of the season in Pomona, where Beckman put it on the pole with a 3.888-second ET.
“I feel like, right now, this car is speaking just a bit of a different language than the last car and it’s up to us to listen to it and figure out what it wants,” Beckman said. “We’re going to hustle back to the shop and front-half last year’s car, which is the car we intended to start the season with until it wheel stood and got bent at the preseason test. We’ve got two weeks to figure out which car we feel we have the best chance with at Gainesville, but what we want to make sure is that we have two race-ready race cars.”
The NHRA Mello Yello Series takes a week off, resuming action in two weeks at the NHRA Gatornationals near Gainesville, Fla.
FUNNY CAR
Event Winner: Tim Wilkerson
No. 1 Qualifier: Ron Capps (DSR) 3.925 sec., 320.89 mph
Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
2016 NHRA Nationals, Second of 24 NHRA Mello Yello Racing Series events
QUALIFIED: No. 6
ELIMINATIONS
Round 1: Beckman (3.939 at 318.39) defeats Alexis DeJoria (3.964 at 320.740).
Round 2: John Force (4.014 at 319.070 defeats Beckman (6.082 at 110.620)
QUALIFYING
SATURDAY: 6.957 sec., 85.56 mph (Session 3), 8.253 sec., 69.71 mph (Session 4)
FRIDAY: 3.993 sec., 316.08 mph (Session 1), 3.950 sec., 319.22 mph (Session 2)
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Standings
(Unofficial after 2 of 24 events; DSR drivers in BOLD CAPS)
FUNNY CAR POINTS
1 RON CAPPS (1) 183
2 John Force 168
3 Robert Hight 158
4 Del Worsham 154
5 Tim Wilkerson (1) 147
6 Courtney Force 141
7 JACK BECKMAN 121
8 Alexis DeJoria 87
9 Chad Head 86
10 TOMMY JOHNSON JR. 85
11 MATT HAGAN 64
FULL ARTICLE
