NBC DFW: Must-See Sports Moments of the Week: June 5-11

Must-See Sports Moments of the Week: June 5-11

By Todd L. Davis

Explosive Race: This was probably not the way driver Jack Beckman intended to explode out of the gates during qualifying at the NHRA New England Nationals Saturday. We can joke because Beckman, amazingly, was unharmed.

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CBS Sports: WATCH: A funny car bursts into flames seconds after drag race begins

Fortunately the driver was unharmed

by Colin Ward-Henninger 
Monday, Jun 06, 2016

There was an incredibly scary moment at the NHRA New England Nationals on Saturday.
During a qualifying race, Jack Beckman jumped out to an early lead before disaster struck. Beckman's car unexpectedly exploded, sending debris all over the track.

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DRAGZINE: Video: Jack Beckman’s Colossal Funny Car Explosion At Epping!

There was a time when riding out a speeding bonfire was just a part of piloting a fuel-burning Funny Car. These days, such rides — like those that made John Force famous in the early 1990s — are few and far between thanks to improved fire suppression systems, but drivers today have traded what were once raging infernos for incidents that are best described as sitting inside of a military-grade bomb.

And on Saturday, Jack Beckman escaped from one of the biggest boomers yet, as his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger exploded in breathtaking fashion, tearing the carbon fiber body apart like a toy and sending parts and pieces scattering all over the New England Dragway.

“It was a big explosion, one of the biggest ever. The worst was I had oil all over my visor and couldn’t see. Fortunately, I had time to reach up with my glove and wipe it off. Until then I couldn’t see, and it’s just nice to know you’re not going into the wall.”

Beckman’s team, already well into the field with a 3.895-second lap from Friday, elected to sit out the final qualifying session to evaluate the chassis and prepare the backup car.

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Hot Rod Network: Watch Jack Beckman Casually Walk You Through His Nitro Explosion

Written by Phillip Thomas on June 6, 2016  
Contributors: NHRA  

“It’s just nice to know that you’re not going into the wall,” Jack Beckman explains.

Nitromethane is a temperamental source of speed, and sometimes it bites back with no warning. Blower explosions aren’t exactly common, but they happen to almost everyone. When a blower pops, Funny Cars bodies tend to disintegrate from the force of the explosive nitromethane as it back-fires through the intake tract.

“Fast Jack” Beckman is no stranger to the situation, and it shows in his collected response as the body ejects, and the chassis begins bouncing from the explosion. “I think it had just started to spin the tires. And, it’s one of those ones where you wish you had a tenth of a second earlier to get off the throttle,” said Beckman. “Because, what could have happened is that it might have tagged an intake valve [from valve float], and big explosion – I mean, that’s one of the biggest ever.”

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BBC TopGear: Video: dragster detonates at New England Nationals

Jack Beckman’s Funny Car explodes halfway down the strip. Thankfully, he's OK

We all know everything looks better in slow motion. Whether it’s people get splatted in the face with water balloons, or smashing slabs of jelly with tennis rackets, the more frames per second something is captured in, the better.

When you add the mad and sometimes explode-y world of drag racing into the mix, slow-mo comes into its own.

Recently, we showed you what happened when dragster pilot Doug Kalitta started drifting (something that’s definitely not meant to happen in this form of motorsport) down the strip in his Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster. It was majestic. Today’s vid however, is just plain terrifying.

At the eighth-mile mark during the third qualifying session at the recent New England Nationals at New England Dragway, Jack Beckman’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger exploded.

As you can see above, with fuel and fire throbbing out of the side pipes, all was going swimmingly, until… well, see for yourself. The engine detonates sending the composite bodywork flying, while the manifold and case of the supercharger are split clean in half.

Mercifully, Jack Beckman was unharmed, and walked away unscathed.

ARTICLE LINK

DSR: Beckman, Infinite Hero power back in rain-delayed eliminations after major explosion two days earlier in New England Nationals

EPPING, N.H. (June 6, 2016) – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T completed a pair of runs Monday in the rain-delayed NHRA New England Nationals with times of 3.935 and 3.937 seconds.

Even though his last run of 3.937 at 325.30 was impressive, it wasn’t enough to defeat Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tommy Johnson Jr., who advanced to the final round at New England Raceway at Epping, N.H.

That he was even able to get down the track both times was a testament to his Infinite Hero team funded by Terry Chandler and led by crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham.

The team needed a resurgent Monday before next weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event at Englishtown, N.J., which will be the second of four races in four weeks.

The Infinite Hero team exhibited resilience after suffering one of the biggest Funny Car explosions in drag racing history in Saturday’s first qualifying session and was forced to miss the day’s last qualifying run.

As Beckman passed half-track on his third qualifying run, a malfunction led to a horrific engine explosion that destroyed the Dodge Charger R/T carbon fiber body, damaged the chassis and caused considerable damage to the electrical wiring from an ensuing fire. He was uninjured.

The Infinite Hero team skipped the final qualifying session to get ready to race for the trophy on Sunday and remained late at the track not knowing race day would be rained out.

“This is the first of four in a row and I hope things settle down a little bit and we get to go into the winner’s circle,” said Beckman, who will arrive at Englishtown second in points and only 15 out of first.

“To have what happened to us on Saturday and to run as well as we did today on a chassis without any previous runs is what we expect because Terry Chandler gives the funds to do that, and (team owner) Don Schumacher gives us the personnel and the equipment to be able to run that well.

“But sometimes that’s easier said than done. To actually be able to go out and do it by running two 3.93s after all the things we had to suffer through and Sunday’s rain delay … the silver lining is we have a good combination to take to Englishtown and we don’t have to feel like we have to be rushed to get a new front half on that chassis and press it back into service next weekend.

“I actually think this new chassis drives a little better. The back half of the other chassis had tons of runs on it, and we had run it over parts of the past four years.

“Brighter days are ahead for the Infinite Hero group.”

And Beckman isn’t talking about the weather.

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BangShift.com: Watch Jack Beckman Suffer One Of The Worst Funny Car Explosions Of All Time At NHRA Epping

 Jun 05, 2016 Brian Lohnes  

The NHRA New England Nationals event had already delivered some pretty amazing stuff by the time that Saturday afternoon had rolled around. Historically quick runs in classes from super stock to funny car kept two days of packed house attendance entertained. Track records were leveled multiple times in multiple categories and things were really set up for a nice afternoon of nitro fun in Epping, New Hampshire. That is why no one could have predicted the calamity that would befall Jack Beckman during the third round of funny car qualifying.

While making a run against John Hale, Beckman’s Infinite Hero foundation Dodge exploded with a level of destructive force New England Dragway had never seen before. Funny cars and dragsters explode, it happens, but they don’t usually detonate with the ferocity that this one did. As you will see in the video, the explosion was so great the actual blower case was blown apart (admittedly something we have never seen in a modern blower with a billet case). That gives you an idea of just how much of a bomb this was.

In the videos below you will see the explosion and you will also see John Kernan’s interview with Jack after the hist has settled at the top end of the track. Beckman goes into detail about what it was like to be inside the car when all of this happened and it is a pretty damned good watch.

We were very relieved that Jack was OK. The car is not Ok, though. With a bent chassis and a destroyed engine, the crew was dismantling the thing and getting the backup car ready last night for the racing that we plan on seeing Sunday.

Driving funny cars is a dangerous business but even with that being said, some days are LOTS more dangerous than others.

 

LINK

CBS8.com: Funny car explodes at the NHRA, driver walks away

NEW ENGLAND (CBS 8) - A scary sight at the NHRA race in New England. Jack Beckman was on his way to a win when his car explodes.
   
Beckman did an amazing job keeping the car in his lane and pulling the chutes.
   
The car looked to be a total loss, but Beckman walked away under his own power.

LINK

RACER.com: Beckman uninjured after explosion

NHRA Funny Car driver Jack Beckman was unhurt after his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger exploded during Saturday's first round of qualifying for the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.

Crew chief Jimmy Prock confirmed that a broken camshaft was the cause of the explosion. Beckman was in the process of closing the throttle when the broken camshaft caused the air/fuel mixture to ignite in the manifold, causing the blow-up.

"It was moving around some," Beckman told Fox Sports after he climbed out of the wreckage. "This racetrack can be exciting as a driver, the groove can get tight and sometimes you have to stage off to the inside to get better rubber on the starting line. I pulled it back, and it's moving around some, and I think it just started to spin the tires ... what could have happened is it might have tagged an intake valve, and big explosion, I mean, that's one of the biggest ever.

"The worst for me, 'cause the oil was completely all over my visor, and I actually had time to reach up with my glove and wipe it up, and until then I couldn't any see anything. And it's nice to know that you're not going into the wall. You look at the safety gear and my gloves are burned, my firesuit's burned, and I'm OK. Forty years ago that wouldn't have been the case with a fire like that."

The team planned to continue with the same chassis, foregoing the final session in order to take the time to prepare the car for final eliminations.

Ron Capps maintained his No. 1 qualifying spot in Funny Car qualifying after Friday's elapsed time track-record pass of 3.865 pass (325.92mph) held up.

LINK

DSR: Beckman rides out massive explosion in Infinite Hero Dodge, team skips last qualifying session to prepare for Epping race day

EPPING, N.H. (June 4, 2016) – Jack Beckman rarely misses a qualifying session, but his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T team felt it best to sit out the last one on Saturday in the NHRA New England Nationals about 60 miles north of Boston.

As he approached the finish line in the third of four qualifying sessions, a malfunction led to a horrific engine explosion that destroyed his carbon fiber body and considerable damage was done to electrical wiring from the ensuing fire.

Beckman was not injured, and crew chief Jimmy Prock decided the best way to prepare for Sunday’s scheduled eliminations would be to take time to get either that car or the back-up Dodge ready to race on Sunday.

“I’m sure there was some kind of parts failure,” Prock said after the run. “It started spinning (the rear tires) and it moved to the inside and out of the grove. It was on fire under the (computer) box, so we just have to see how much is burned up.”

The Infinite Hero team, which is sponsored by Terry Chandler, started Saturday ranked sixth in qualifying after a 3.895-second run at 329.99 mph in Friday’s opening session. Beckman, who started Saturday second in points and only 11 behind leader Courtney Force, will start Sunday in the No. 6 spot and face Cruz Pedregon in the opening round.

Beckman felt as though he might have been able to back off the throttle sooner, but Prock said TV video indicated that was not the cause of explosion.

“On the TV video it looked like he was closing the throttle when it started to spin,” Prock said.

Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion seeking his first win of the season, began drifting out of the traction grove past mid-track. As it approached the finish line, the explosion lifted the manifold and detonated the supercharger off the engine. The ensuing fire singed Beckman’s protective boots and fire suit.

“We were concerned about our driver and over the (two-way) radio he said as calmly as he could, ‘I’m fine,’” said assistant crew chief John Medlen. “We work hard to keep these drivers safe. You can fix a racecar.”

Beckman explained the few seconds of unexpected excitement.

“It was moving around some. This racetrack can be exciting for a driver because the grove can get tight. I pulled it back some, and it just started to spin the tires. That’s one of those times where you wish you had a tenth of a second earlier to get off the throttle.

“It was a big explosion, one of the biggest ever.

“The worst was I had oil all over my visor and couldn’t see. Fortunately, I had time to reach up with my glove and wipe it off. Until then I couldn’t see, and it’s just nice to know you’re not going into the wall.

“It’s a helpless feeling.

“When you can’t see you don’t know where anything is out there including (the other car). That’s the terrifying aspect. It’s bouncing and there’s oil all over the tires and you need to slow it down. Once I wiped off the oil, I knew I was slowing down and wasn’t going to hit anything. That’s a nice feeling.”

FULL ARTICLE 

NHRA YouTube Video 
NHRA Funny Car driver Jack Beckman Walks away from HUGE engine explosion
Jack Beckman's Infinite Hero Dodge Charger exploded and shreded the composite shell at the eighth-mile mark during the third qualifying session at the 2016 NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. Beckman kept the car straight in his lane. Only the nose of the body remains attached to the car. The manifold and the case of the supercharger are split apart.