Last year at this race Beckman and his team, led by crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, were the No. 1 qualifier and were on the verge of sweeping the Western Swing with their previous wins in Denver and Sonoma.
Their sweep was ended in the semifinals when they lost to Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Tommy Johnson Jr.
This year is a different story.“I think the Infinite Hero guys are looking for a little redemption on the West Coast,” Beckman said.
Beckman is the No. 4 qualifier with his best qualifying pass coming in the third session on a cool, overcast Saturday afternoon near Seattle when he clocked a 3.861-second run at 332.26 mph.
“It’s interesting. We went quicker than we’ve ever run before, quicker than the national record, and we’re second quickest in the pair we were in, and then another car surpassed it,” Beckman said.
The other car was Del Worsham of Kalitta Motorsports who set a national record at 3.832.
The performance of the Funny Car category took off last year when Beckman and his Infinite Hero Foundation team went on their hot streak that started at Denver. They qualified No. 1 at four straight events: Sonoma, Seattle, Brainerd and Indianapolis.
A lot of their success is due in part to the laid-back style of exhaust headers that create downforce.
“Now we’re getting back to the tracks that we have already ran with swept back headers so you don’t expect to see the big jumps in performance like we saw last year.
Beckman is excited about the performance of the Funny Car field and where the sport is headed.
“It’s amazing. It’s a wonderful show for the fans. Everybody is getting their money’s worth. As a driver, I love it because these things are light in the frontend and hard to drive. As fan, I just love seeing those big numbers pop up.”
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| PHOTO CREDIT: Auto Imagery |
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