CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 18, 2016) – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Foundation team, funded by Terry Chandler, left zMAX Dragway near Charlotte frustrated after a first-round loss at the ninth annual NHRA Carolina Nationals.
Beckman lined up against reigning world champion Del Worsham of Kalitta Motorsports in the opening round of Sunday’s championship eliminations after making three solid qualifying passes that seeded them No. 5 position over No. 12 qualifier Worsham.
Beckman and crew chief Jimmy Prock had lane choice over Worsham but their day ended quickly when Beckman went into tire smoke as he slowed to a 4.275-second pass at 220.31 mph to Worsham’s 3.976.
“Frustrating. We struggled first round in Indy and we never really found the smoking gun. Now, we know the cause – it’s a bellhousing issue,” Beckman said.
“You’ve got a series of clutch discs that apply torque as soon as you step on the throttle and when they don’t do it in a predictable manner, you have to change something. We made a change coming into Charlotte.
“It looked pretty decent in qualifying. It was a really a warm racetrack in the first round but we had data from that. Everything we did should have allowed this car to go down the track and run a 3.95.
“Then we went out to 400 feet and knocked the tires loose and now we’ve painted ourselves into a corner. We will make a (clutch) disc change going into the next race – something you really don’t like doing this late in the year. The problem is our consistency. We run good numbers but every once in a while, it’s like Russian Roulette and that bullet comes up and our car does something unpredictable.”
Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T team know the importance of round wins during the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. In 2015, they entered the Carolina Nationals as the points leader but because of an first-round loss, the points lead went to Worsham, who went on to win the 2015 Funny Car Championship.
“Here we are in the Countdown and we didn’t just lose first round, we lost the ability to gain points over four rounds of racing.
“It’s a very different sport in drag racing. You can’t go back out there after having a spin out in the first lap and make laps to gain points. You’re finished for the day. We lost 80 points today and we can’t keep spotting those other teams those points when you’re competing for a championship.”
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