That mindsight is coming to fruition.
With three new crew chiefs and a nearly all new crew, Beckman and Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car progressed to another level Sunday when he was runner-up for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals title. That was a week after advancing to the team's first semifinals round.
Beckman will compete this weekend near Atlanta in the NHRA Southern Nationals at Commerce, Ga.
"I've said since testing (in February) that with new chiefs and new crew that it would take about 30 runs on this car understood the language this car is talking so we could make good decisions as to what it wants," said Beckman, who won at Atlanta in 2009 and 2011. He advanced to the final round a year ago after starting as the No. 1 qualifier.
The Infinite Hero Dodge with crew chiefs John Medlen, Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh qualified 10th last weekend in Charlotte, their lowest in six races this year, but improved on each of three runs on Sunday that culminate with its best pass of the weekend at 3.959 seconds.
"We missed getting the trophy by 26-thousandths of a second with a run that was not in the best conditions of the weekend," Beckman said.
"We've seen that the more runs we make the more consistent we become and the more competitive we are. We're ultra-confident going to Atlanta this weekend. We've made it into the top-five for the first time this year and our short-term goal is to win our first trophy this year this weekend."
A year ago at Atlanta: Qualified No. 1, lost to event winner and DSR teammate Matt Hagan
Career at Atlanta: Wins 2 (2011, 2009); Runner-ups 1 (2016); Poles 1 (2016)
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 303 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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