BROWNSBURG, Ind. (March 29, 2016) – Jack Beckman and Don Schumacher Racing’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team led by crew chief Jimmy Prock returned to their record-setting ways two weeks ago at Gainesville, Fla.
Prock, with assistant crew chiefs John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, tuned Beckman and the team fully-funded by Terry Chandler to a national record elapsed time of 3.879 seconds that matches DSR teammate Matt Hagan for quickest run ever by a Funny Car.
It marks the fifth time in less than a year when the Infinite Hero team has reset the national time record.
The Infinite Hero team took record-setting a step further when its speed of 329.26 mph on that run not only eclipsed the Gainesville track record for Funny Cars but also was faster than any Top Fuel dragster has gone in the Gatornationals over a 1,000-foot course.
“(Gainesville) was about setting records long before I ever came out here when I was reading about it in ‘National Dragster.’ Driving for (crew chief) Jimmy Prock, we can set records most places we go.”
The Funny Car records at Gainesville bring the Infinite Hero team’s total track records to 11 including seven for elapsed time and four for speed.
While records are nice, winning is paramount. And Beckman says he’s overdue at Las Vegas, where he made his first Top Fuel run in 2005 and won his first Funny Car title in the following year after joining Don Schumacher Racing.
“Las Vegas is a track where you get two shots a year to win,” he said of its spring and fall races. “It’s unusual that it’s been 10 years since my first and only nitro win there.”
He also wants to stop a streak of six Mello Yello events in which he hasn’t hoisted a trophy on Sunday.
“We haven’t won a trophy since Maple Grove (at Reading, Pa.) with three races left in the last season. It’s not like I necessarily feel like we’re overdue, but I’m chomping at the bit because we know what we’re capable of doing. After the season we had last year (seven wins and second in points) you don’t want to go seven races without a win.
“We had become accustom to finishing late on Sunday. Everything is there. We have everything we need to finish in the winner’s circle.”
After winning his second pole of the season and 17th of his career, Beckman advanced to the semifinals at Gainesville before a seized bearing in the supercharger prevented him to abort the run before he went more than a few feet against teammate Ron Capps.
“I felt like we let that one slip away,” said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion and winner of 22 NHRA Wally trophies. “You have to capitalize on the opportunity when you have a car running that well. That was an extra hard punch in the gut. We couldn’t get it off the starting line and Ron smoked the tires but won.”
But the Infinite Hero team was able to jump from seventh to fourth in points after the third event of the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and is 75 points out of the lead.
JACK BECKMAN: Infinite Hero 2016 Dodge Charger R/T
Last event (March 18-20 at Gainesville): Qualified No. 1, lost in semifinals to Ron Capps
2015 Las Vegas 1: Qualified No. 2, lost in first round to Cruz Pedregon
2015 Las Vegas 2: Qualified No. 4, lost in second round to Ron Capps
Career at Las Vegas 1: Wins 0; Runner-ups 0 Poles 0
Career at Las Vegas: Wins 1 (2006); Runner-ups 2 (2012, 2009); Poles 0
Pts Events Wins Rup Semi Qtr 1st rd Poles DNQ W/L
2016 4th 3 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 4-3
2015 2nd 24 7 2 4 5 5 5 1 46-16
CAREER 231 22 22 42 65 73 17 7 301-202 Best Time, Speed: 3.879 sec.-national record (2016, Gainesville); 329.26 (2016, Gainesville)
2016 NHRA MELLO YELLO STANDINGS
(Official after Gainesville, third of 24 events; wins in parenthesis, DSR drivers in CAPS)
Funny Car
1. Robert Hight (1) 280
2. RON CAPPS (1) 279
3. John Force 221
4. JACK BECKMAN 205
5. Courtney Force 201
6. Del Worsham 189
7. Tim Wilkerson (1) 183
8. Chad Head 162
9.Alexis DeJoria 119
10. MATT HAGAN 118
11. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. 117
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