With a trio of crew chiefs - John Medlen, Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh - working together for the first time along with nearly all new crewmen Beckman, the 2012 NHRA Funny Car world champion, has talked about Terry Chandler's Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car gaining consistency after each of this year's first four events.
Consistency became a byproduct of patience last weekend in the NHRA SpringNationals near Houston when Beckman and crew advanced to their first semifinals after three of four exemplary runs between 3.907 and 3.931 seconds to qualify sixth before a weekend best of 3.897 at 329.18 mph in the quarterfinals.
"Without a doubt, Houston was our best outing of the year," he said. "We put together several consecutive quick runs and that's been our target.
"Winning races is a function of running better than the car in the other lane; winning championships is a matter of having a great handle on the car and consistently getting to the finish line under full power a majority of the time."
The resident of Southern California is ready for a cross-country flight that will take him to the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway next to Charlotte Motor Speedway. The sixth race of the year is the most unique as four nitro cars fill each of four lanes for qualifying then on Sunday the top-two finishers in each quad advance to the next rounds. Instead of four rounds of two-lane racing in eliminations, there are only three rounds.
"The Four-Wide is great because you only have to be the quickest in the last of three (quads) on race day to take home the trophy," he said. "I like the Four-Wide because it takes us out of our comfort zone but it only gives crew chiefs one run of data for each lane in qualifying."
Beckman has been successful at zMAX, especially the Four-Wide where he has won twice (2011, 2015) while winning the fall race at the track in 2008 and was runner-up in 2010.
Best Time, Speed: 3.825 sec.-second quickest ever, (2016 Pomona 2); 334.15 mph (Seattle 2016)
Best Time, Speed: 3.658 sec.-world record ((Phoenix 2017); 329.75 (2016, Indy)
Last event (April 21-23, Houston): Qualified No. 6, lost in semifinals to DSR teammate and event winner Jack Beckman
2016 at Four-Wide: Qualified No. 6, lost in first quad
2016 Fall at Charlotte: Qualified No. 5, lost in first round to Del Worsham
Career at Four-Wide: Wins 2 (2011, 2015); Runner-ups 0; Poles 0
Career at zMAX: Wins 3 (2008, 2011, 2015); Runner-ups 1 (2010): Poles 0
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 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 302 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368
Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988
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