During an odd first round when several cars lost traction and smoked the tires, Beckman won a pedalfest over Kalitta Motorsports' J.R. Todd with 4.590-second pass at only 229.70 mph. In the next round, he had a solo run when part-time racer Daniel Wilkerson broke on his burnout past the starting line. Beckman went into tire smoke but got the win light with his 5.082 (145.89).
Beckman then lined up against Capps. With another smoking lap by Beckman, Capps got the win with a 3.905 (329.10).
"We went up there and smoked the tires in what was of the oddest first rounds I've seen in a long time," Beckman said. "And then we could've been beaten in the second round too."
Despite their semifinal finish, the Infinite Hero team led by crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh moved from sixth to fifth in the NHRA points standings and are 186 behind Capps.
"I'm going to take the silver-lining approach to this," Beckman said. "Yeah, it's crushing to not leave here with the trophy, especially but we picked up a position in the standing. We could've left here having closed the gap on first and second quite a bit. We let those (Capps and event winner Robert Hight) pull away from us. But our day could've ended in the first round.
"The fact of the matter is we're going to leave here with 40 points, we're going to leave here fourth in points, within one round of third. So, we checked a bunch of things off our list except getting that darn trophy at Texas. We'll just have to settle for one at Vegas and one at Pomona."
In two weeks, Beckman and the Infinite Hero team will compete at the NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas for the penultimate race of the season.
JACK BECKMAN, Terry and Doug Chandler's Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T
Crew chiefs: Dean Antonelli, John Medlen, Neal Strausbaugh
SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS
First round: BECKMAN (4.590 sec., 229.70 mph) def. J.R. Todd (5.140, 190.78)
Second round: BECKMAN (5.082, 145.09) def. Daniel Wilkerson (broke)
Semifinals: Ron Capps (3.905, 329.10) BECKMAN (4.468, 196.13)
QUALIFYING
Qualified: No. 3
FRIDAY: 3.914 sec., 329.50 mph, (Session 1); 3.873, 332.34, (Session 2)
SATURDAY: 6.907, 89.47, (Session 3); 3.971, 317.19, (Session 4)
Pts Events Wins Rup Semi Qtr 1st rd Poles DNQ W/L
2017 4th 22 2 2 6 9 3 0 0 34-20
CAREER 274 26 27 51 82 81 21 7 366-241
Career best time, speed: 3.825 sec., (2016 Pomona 2); 334.15 mph (Seattle 2016)
BY THE NUMBERS
A year ago at Dallas: Qualified No. 2, lost in second round to Ron Capps,
Career at Dallas: Wins 0, Runner-ups 2 (2009, 2015), Poles 0
Funny Car
1. RON CAPPS (8) 2495 -----
2. Robert Hight (4) 2471 -24
3. Courtney Force 2324 -171
4. JACK BECKMAN (2) 2309 -186
5. MATT HAGAN (3) 2269 -226
6. John Force (1) 2252 -243
7. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. (1) 2224 -271
8. Tim Wilkerson 2206 -289
9. J.R. Todd (2) 2199 -296
10. Cruz Pedregon 2128 -307
About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields seven 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 and the Papa John's Pizza/Mopar Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett; and in Funny Car, 2016 world champion Ron Capps in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T; 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the 80th anniversary Mopar/ Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T, and 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr., both of which are funded by the late Terry Chandler.
DSR has won 316 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.
