SEATTLE (Aug. 7, 2016) - Any loss is hard on a driver but a second-round loss on Sunday at the 29th annual Protect the Harvest NHRA Nationals was especially hard for Jack Beckman.
The reason of the loss was a redlight start by Beckman against his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan.
"It's bitterly disappointing. You look at reasons why you lose: clutch application, horsepower, track conditions. This was 100 percent driver error," Beckman said.
The loss was also hard because of how well the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T team, funded by Terry Chandler, and tuned by Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, ran this weekend. During qualifying, Beckman clocked four solid passes: 3.925 seconds, 3.918, 3.861 and 3.879.
He was seeded in the No. 4 spot and faced Gary Densham on Sunday for eliminations. Beckman ran a stellar 3.854 at a speed of 334.15 mph.
He then was matched against Hagan where he was knocked out of competition because of his early departure.
"There's no excuse, there's no way to spin it. I absolutely made a mistake up there.
"There's a variance on the Christmas tree from the time we stage till the time that it activates the ambers and we got a long one up there.
"But it doesn't matter. Our job is to react when the tree comes on," Beckman said.
"I started squeezing the throttle and the car started rolling. Then when I floored the throttle, it was already rolling through the starting line and we got a red light.
"The real frustrating part is we had a car good enough to win the race and you just don't want to let the guys down. I love how supportive they are. This is a tough one for me. I just need to get my act together when we roll into Brainerd. If we leave there with a trophy, everyone is going to have their spirits a little bit higher."
After the annual three-week race Western Swing, the Infinite Hero Foundation team will return to the DSR shop near Indianapolis before returning to the race in two weeks at Brainerd, Minn. for the 35th annual NHRA Nationals and the 17th stop of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series circuit.
"This is a tough weekend as a driver but the Infinite Hero team ain't done winning this year."
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