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.
