Beckman returns to site of first Funny Car title this weekend, looks to end desert dry spell at Vegas with Mello Yello win

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Mar. 29, 2017) - Jack Beckman scored his first win in the nitro category 10 years ago at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he is thirsty for another NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title from the track.

He hopes to start a winning streak this weekend in the 18th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals with the 2017 Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T team funded by Terry Chandler.

"It's the track where I got my first nitro win in Funny Car," said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion. "It's the track on the NHRA tour where I have the most seat time because of all the Sportsmen racing I did there.

"I have a lot of history with that facility and it's one of the three tracks on tour when we have two shots a year to get a win. Frankly, I'm frustrated that I bagged a win there in 2006 and haven't been able to close the deal since then."

However, he's qualified well at Las Vegas. Last year, he was the No. 1 qualifier the spring with a time of 3.916 seconds at 322.88 mph. Later in October, the Infinite Hero team was No. 1 again with a much quicker 3.871 (327.43).

But he was eliminated in the second round of each event.

"It's not that you need extra motivation but with us having assembled a group of guys from several different teams, our first win together as a group, and for Infinite Hero and Terry Chandler, it really is going to be extra special."

This weekend is the fourth event of the season and also only the fourth race for the newly assembled Infinite Hero team. Beckman says a win in Las Vegas would mean a lot to his new group of teammates.

"Vegas was my first win, but I've kind of been locked out there since then and it's been a source of frustration. I have a chance to have another first and that's with the 2017 Infinite Hero team since we have not won together yet.

"As a driver, you're only ever going to have one first win, but as a team, we're going to have a first win. I think Vegas will be a great time to get it."

JACK BECKMAN: Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T

Best Time, Speed: 3.825 sec.-second quickest ever, (2016 Pomona 2); 334.15 mph (Seattle 2016)

Last event (March 17-19) Gainesville, Fla.): Qualified No. 8, lost in second round to event winner John Force

2016 Las Vegas 1: Qualified No.1, lost in second round to Chad Head

2016 Las Vegas 2: Qualified No. 1, lost second round to Courtney Force

Career at Las Vegas 1: Wins 0; Runner-ups 0, Poles 1 (2016)

Career at Las Vegas: Wins 1 (2006); Runner-ups 2 (2012, 2009); Poles 2 (both in 2016)



                Pts          Events       Wins       Rup        Semi      Qtr       1st rd     Poles     DNQ        W/L

2017       8th                3               0              0               0          2            1             0           0               2-3

2016       5th              24               2              3               4         10          5              6          0           35-22

CAREER                  255             24           25             45        75          79          21        7       334-224





2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES FUNNY CAR STANDINGS

(Official after Gainesville, Fla.; 3 of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS)

Funny Car                                          

1. MATT HAGAN (2)           308          -----­

2. John Force (1)                 238           -70

3. RON CAPPS                   235          -73

4. TOMMY JOHNSON JR.  209           -99

5. Courtney Force               177          -131

6. Robert Hight                    150         -158

7. Jim Campbell                  148          -160

8. JACK BECKMAN           144         -164

9. J.R. Todd                        138          -170

10. Tim Wilkerson                 117         -191

Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation team continue to develop in NHRA Gatornationals as team shifts focus to race in Las Vegas

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 19, 2017) - Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team, sponsored by Terry Chandler, continue to gain data by advancing to the quarterfinals of the 48th annual Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

"It's upsetting to not win, but we're philosophical," Beckman said. "They're 10,000-horsepower racecars and hard to harness, and we have a bunch more races coming up. I think that the more data you give a team like us, the more we are going to excel, simply because we are newer than most of the teams."

The Gatornationals is the third event for the newly assembled Infinite Hero Foundation team led by crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh.

"We've changed more stuff probably then the average team, so every run we make, proportionally, we're getting a bigger percentage of data."

Beckman entered race day as the No. 8 qualifying Funny Car with a pass of 3.883 seconds at 330.23 mph.

He lined up against Tim Wilkerson for the first round on Sunday and clocked a winning time of 3.899 (329.83).

During the second round, Beckman went into tire smoke against eventual event winner John Force and slowed to a 8.835 (82.48).

"That was one of those odd rounds where so many cars smoked the tires that you start thinking there's a track issue," said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champ. "But here's the thing, we aren't going to make any excuses. Our job is to figure out how to make our way down the racetrack, no matter what the conditions.

"Trust me when I tell you we will pick away at this data, and figure out if we get in this situation again, what we would do differently to make sure we make a good race out of it."

The NHRA circuit travels to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speed in two weeks for the fourth event of the 2017 Mello Yello Drag Racing series season.

FUNNY CAR
Event winner: John Force (John Force Racing)
No. 1 qualifier: John Force (John Force Racing), 3.832 sec.-track record, 333.25 mph

JACK BECKMAN, Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T
Crew chiefs: John Medlen, Dean Antonelli, Neal Strausbaugh
Qualified: No. 8
SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: BECKMAN (3.899, 329.83) def. Tim Wilkerson (3.906, 327.66)
Second round: John Force (3.916, 328.14) def. BECKMAN (8.835, 82.48)
QUALIFYING
FRIDAY: 3.883 sec., 321.27 mph, (Session 1); 10.014, 74.13, (Session 2)
SATURDAY: 4.382, 205.66, (Session 3); 3.897, 330.23, (Session 4)

2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES STANDINGS
(Official after Gainesville, Fla.; 3 of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS)
Funny Car                                                 
1. MATT HAGAN (2)           308          -----
2. John Force (1)                  238         -70
3. RON CAPPS                     235        -73
4. TOMMY JOHNSON JR.   209         -99
5. Courtney Force                177        -131
6. Robert Hight                    150        -158
7. Jim Campbell                  148        -160
8. JACK BECKMAN           144        -164
9. J.R. Todd                         138        -170 
10. Tim Wilkerson                117        -191


About Infinite Hero Foundation
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Infinite Hero Foundation combats the most difficult front line issues - mental and physical - facing returning military heroes and their families.  The Foundation funds programs that drive innovation and the accessibility of effective treatments for military heroes and their families dealing with service-related mental and physical injuries.  For more information, visit: www.infinitehero.org.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields eight professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown; the Papa John's Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett and 2013 Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon and in Funny Car, 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane 2015 Dodge Charger R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.

DSR has won 298 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
 
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge ready to race after strong run during Gatornationals qualifying

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 18, 2017) - Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team, sponsored by Terry Chandler, enter the final day of the 48th annual NHRA Gatornationals ready to post their first win of the year.

"We had the luxury of trying some new things in the bellhousing this weekend," said Beckman, who qualified No. 8 with a final run of 3.883 seconds at 321.27 mph. "When you unload out of the trailer and make a good qualifying run, you know you're set. That should keep you in the top half."

Beckman and the team, led by crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh made two qualifying passes in the 3.80-second range; their first on Friday and last on Saturday.

During the first qualifying session, Beckman made a pass of 3.883 and closed with the 3.897.

"We actually cycled some new clutch disks in and it's a strategic move. We'll give up a couple of potential qualifying positions here to get that data for when we need to incorporate new disks throughout the year.

"With the six-disk clutch pack, you're going to run out of a certain amount of those by the time the season gets to the end. We want to get ahead of the game. It's a nice deal to be able to test with those.

"We closed qualifying with another 3.80 run. The guys already have a pretty decent handle on what will eventually be our disk package."

Beckman will face Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of competition on Sunday.

QUALIFYING RESULTS FROM THE GATORNATIONALS

FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: John Force (John Force Racing), 3.832 sec.-track record, 333.25 mph
 
JACK BECKMAN, Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T
Crew chiefs: John Medlen, Dean Antonelli, Neal Strausbaugh
Qualified: No. 8
SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: Tim Wilkerson
QUALIFYING
FRIDAY: 3.883 sec., 321.27 mph, (Session 1); 10.014, 74.13, (Session 2)
SATURDAY: 4.382, 205.66, (Session 3); 3.897, 330.23, (Session 4)

###

About Infinite Hero Foundation
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Infinite Hero Foundation combats the most difficult front line issues - mental and physical - facing returning military heroes and their families.  The Foundation funds programs that drive innovation and the accessibility of effective treatments for military heroes and their families dealing with service-related mental and physical injuries.  For more information, visit: www.infinitehero.org.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields eight professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown; the Papa John's Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett and 2013 Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon and in Funny Car, 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane 2015 Dodge Charger R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.

DSR has won 297 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.

Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

DSR's Infinite Hero team, Beckman travel to Gainesville this weekend seeking redemption at NHRA Gatornationals

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (March 14, 2017) - The Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team sponsored by Terry Chandler and piloted by Jack Beckman, travels south to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend for the 48th annual Gatornationals.

Gainesville marks the third event of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series. Two weeks ago, in Phoenix, the Infinite Hero Foundation team had a parts issue during the opening round of competition on Sunday.

"I'm a southern California guy and I've always thought Gainesville was the closest thing there is to Pomona (Calif.) that's not Pomona," Beckman said. "It's big. It's packed. It's the season opener for the folks out on the East Coast and it has a lot of prestige that goes with it.

"We had a parts issue (in Phoenix). The silver lining in that cloud is that it didn't happen during the run. If this thing had thrown the clutch out at halftrack, it could have gotten really expensive and could have gotten risky. And it didn't happen during the Countdown (to the Championship).

"There's no such thing as a good loss, but I think everybody is realistic about this and keeping correct perspective that this was a very minor setback for a very good team."

Despite their setback at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix, Beckman remains positive in the team led by crew chiefs John Medlen, Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh.

"I still think we're probably still ahead of some people's expectations. We lost to a 3.89 in Pomona. Then we go out there and throw the clutch out of the car in Phoenix. It is not a maintenance issue. It was not a tune-up issue. It was a parts issue and we've rectified that so we'll just move on."

Last year in Gainesville, Beckman entered race day as the No. 1 qualifier with a time of 3.879 seconds at 329.26 mph. He advanced to the semifinals before being defeated by Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.

JACK BECKMAN: Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T
Last event (Feb. 24-26 at Phoenix): Qualified No. 6, broke in first round against Gary Densham
2016 at Gainesville: Qualified No. 1, lost in semifinals to Ron Capps
Career at Gainesville: Wins 0; Runner-ups 0; Poles 1

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