"Well, it's frustrating," Beckman said of the loss to eventual finalist Tim Wilkerson. "Our short-term goal is to hold a trophy up at the end of race day."
The Infinite Hero team will have to wait at least two weeks for that to happen after the NHRA Mello Yello Series takes next weekend off the series resumes May 19-21 in Topeka, Kan., for the eighth of 24 stops on the tour.
"It was tough in qualifying, where we only had two runs and never made it past 200 feet to come back first round and not only run well but take out our teammate Tommy Johnson and the Make-A-Wish car. I thought we were on the right track."
Due to rain on Friday, qualifying was cancelled and left teams only two passes down the track at Atlanta Dragway.
The Infinite Hero Foundation 2017 Dodge Charger R/T didn't make a full pull down the track and entered race day as the No. 14 qualifier, Beckman's worst in more than a year.
In round one, Johnson went immediately into tire smoke and Beckman wheeled his hot rod to a 3.958-second pass at 312.93 mph.
The team moved onto round two where Beckman lined up against Wilkerson. Beckman got off the starting line first but went into tire smoke while Wilkerson ran a 3.991 (313.22).
"We went out there and didn't have lane choice second round. It was a little warmer track and it that was a bummer. It's really hard to get the car over that bump without slowing so much you're not going to outrun the other car. We were playing a little bit of Russian Roulette and it just caught up with us that run.
"So, we'll probably stay here and test tomorrow. We'll take a week off and the guys will have some time to look at the data. We'll get everything fresh and serviced. We'll go to Topeka with some great attitudes and a great outlook."
RESULTS FROM NEAR HOUSTON
FUNNY CAR
Event winner: Ron Capps (Don Schumacher Racing)
No. 1 qualifier: Courtney Force (John Force Racing), 3.893 sec.-track record, 322.65 mph
JACK BECKMAN, Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T
Crew chiefs: John Medlen, Dean Antonelli, Neal Strausbaugh
Qualified: No. 14
SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: BECKMAN (3.958 sec., 312.93) def. Tommy Johnson Jr. (4.928, 159.61)
Second round: Tim Wilkerson (3.991, 313.22) def. BECKMAN (4.665, 184.02)
QUALIFYING
FRIDAY: rained out
SATURDAY: 5.584 sec., 124.27 mph, (Session 3);v 5.738, 120.08, (Session 4)
Best Time, Speed: 3.825 sec.-second quickest ever, (2016 Pomona 2); 334.15 mph (Seattle 2016)
Last event (April 28-30, Charlotte Four-Wide): Qualified No. 10, runner-up to event winner and DSR teammate Ron Capps
Career at Atlanta: Wins 2 (2011, 2009); Runner-ups 1 (2016); Poles 1 (2016)
2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES FUNNY CAR STANDINGS
(Official after Atlanta; 7th of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS)
1. RON CAPPS (3) 633 -----
2. MATT HAGAN (2) 539 -94
3. John Force (1) 490 -143
4. Robert Hight 437 -196
5. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. (1) 427 -206
6. JACK BECKMAN 426 -207
7. Courtney Force 405 -228
8. Tim Wilkerson 329 -304
9. J.R. Todd 326 -307
10. Jonnie Lindberg 318 -315
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
