[coverattach=1]MOHNTON, Pa. (Aug. 23, 2009) - After scoring his highest qualifying position of the season, No. 3, at the 25th annual NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa., "Fast" Jack Beckman exited early in the Funny Car opening round.
Facing off against his former Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jerry Toliver, Beckman launched first with a .099 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Toliver's .132, and was in the lead until a loss of traction slowed him to a 4.662-second pass at 204.08 mph. Toliver claimed the victory with a 4.327/258.27.
The driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge slipped to fifth place in the point standings (by virtue of Bob Tasca’s win today), with one event remaining before the Countdown to 1 playoffs kick in following the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.
"Here's where the championship teams are going to keep their chins up, start looking forward, maintain that positive attitude," said Beckman, a two-time winner this year. "We're going to go test Wednesday at Indy. The next race is at Indy. We won the sixth race, we won the 12th race; we're on par to win Indy and the Pomona, Calif., finals,” he added with a smile.
"It was very disappointing to lose, especially as well as we had qualified. It got sunny, hot and gooey out there and with two qualifying runs in totally different conditions you could see that almost every nitro car first round had some difficulties, except for the ones who ran way toward the back and obviously were able to make the correct adjustments for that.
"It's frustrating and we never like to lose. But, at the end of the day, what's going to help us win is analyzing the data, figuring out how to be better and going to Indy and getting the Wally there."
Next up is the 55th annual U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Sept. 4-7, 2009.
Today's racing action experienced a four-hour-plus delay while the NHRA Safety Safari cleaned up the water that was seeping through the track surface.
UNOFFICIAL FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, following today's 25th annual NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway:
1. Tony Pedregon, 1292
2. Ron Capps, 1219
3. Ashley Force Hood, 1128
4. Bob Tasca III, 1008 (winner today)
5. Jack Beckman, 996
6. Tim Wilkerson, 982
7. Del Worsham, 929
8. John Force, 919
9. Mike Neff, 872 (runner-up today)
10. Cruz Pedregon, 801
11. Matt Hagan, 770
12. Robert Hight, 763
Facing off against his former Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jerry Toliver, Beckman launched first with a .099 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Toliver's .132, and was in the lead until a loss of traction slowed him to a 4.662-second pass at 204.08 mph. Toliver claimed the victory with a 4.327/258.27.
The driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge slipped to fifth place in the point standings (by virtue of Bob Tasca’s win today), with one event remaining before the Countdown to 1 playoffs kick in following the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.
"Here's where the championship teams are going to keep their chins up, start looking forward, maintain that positive attitude," said Beckman, a two-time winner this year. "We're going to go test Wednesday at Indy. The next race is at Indy. We won the sixth race, we won the 12th race; we're on par to win Indy and the Pomona, Calif., finals,” he added with a smile.
"It was very disappointing to lose, especially as well as we had qualified. It got sunny, hot and gooey out there and with two qualifying runs in totally different conditions you could see that almost every nitro car first round had some difficulties, except for the ones who ran way toward the back and obviously were able to make the correct adjustments for that.
"It's frustrating and we never like to lose. But, at the end of the day, what's going to help us win is analyzing the data, figuring out how to be better and going to Indy and getting the Wally there."
Next up is the 55th annual U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Sept. 4-7, 2009.
Today's racing action experienced a four-hour-plus delay while the NHRA Safety Safari cleaned up the water that was seeping through the track surface.
UNOFFICIAL FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, following today's 25th annual NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway:
1. Tony Pedregon, 1292
2. Ron Capps, 1219
3. Ashley Force Hood, 1128
4. Bob Tasca III, 1008 (winner today)
5. Jack Beckman, 996
6. Tim Wilkerson, 982
7. Del Worsham, 929
8. John Force, 919
9. Mike Neff, 872 (runner-up today)
10. Cruz Pedregon, 801
11. Matt Hagan, 770
12. Robert Hight, 763
