DSR: Beckman’s wild ride in Infinite Hero Dodge starts day at beach, nearly finishes in winner’s circle in Southern Nationals near Atlanta

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 15, 2016) – Right behind Jack Beckman’s love for his family and drag racing is his passion for surfing.

It’s not just catching the big waves but the process of getting his board wet requires the solace of walking on sand.

Sand is a nice part of surfing, but it is never good to walk on it after completing a 328-mph run down a dragstrip. When he got out of his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Sunday after winning in the opening round of the NHRA Southern Nationals near Atlanta, his beach experience resulted after his parachutes failed and he drove his Dodge into the sand trap passed the asphalt surface.

“I haven’t played in the sand for years, and I don’t recommend it,” he said. “It was certainly not what we wanted to do. But you know what, that’s why we have these run-off areas. I still had a lot of speed going into the sand, and I was just hoping it wasn’t going to go into the (safety) net.

“We got some great tune-up data from that run, and thanks to my wonderful crew our day wasn’t over. I just prefer win lights without sand.

“Putting the car in the sand took a huge team effort from our Infinite Hero crew and other DSR crew members came over to help us.”

After replacing the Dodge Charger R/T body and thoroughly cleaning out the sand, he turned on two win lights before racing teammate Matt Hagan in the final round.

Beckman’s first round sojourn after a run of 3.911 seconds at 328.86, which was faster that what it took for him to earn his fourth No. 1 qualifying position in seven Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events, was second best of the round to teammate Matt Hagan, whose Rocky Boots/Mopar Dodge went on to beat Beckman in the final round.

Before the last run, Beckman and crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham escaped close races against DSR teammates. In the second round, Beckman’s 3.989 (323.81) edged out Capps’ 3.992 (320.81). In the semifinals, Beckman beat teammate Tommy Johnson Jr., who like Beckman is sponsored by Terry Chandler.

But Beckman wasn’t able to get past Hagan in the final round. Hagan took the track’s time and speed records away from Beckman in the first round and continued to be the quickest in each of the last three rounds.

“That’s going to be a great car and you saw some of that this weekend,” Beckman said of Hagan.
“We had a great day and a rewarding weekend. We made a lot of strides in our tune-up and went from fifth to second in the standings so we made up some points. It’s still frustrating to get to a final and lose.

“Now we go into Topeka before we have a week off and start four in-a-row. But we’ll go into that with a mean car.”

FULL ARTICLE