<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/J_Beckman.jpg" alt="J_Beckman" align="left"borders="0"/>
MOHNTON, Pa. (Aug. 19, 2007) - Following the completion of first round of eliminations for the Top Fuel class and three pairs of Funny Cars, the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals has been postponed because of rain until Monday, Aug. 20, beginning at 10 p.m.
One of the Funny Car match-ups that took place was the Jack Beckman/John Force contest. Driving the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T, Beckman launched first with a .060 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Force's .075. Beckman led for the first 150 ft. until he lost traction at half-track causing the supercharger to pop, resulting in a losing 7.146-second pass at 122.05 mph to Force's winning 4.799/324.12.
Beckman's teammate Ron Capps won his opening-round race against Kenny Bernstein, and his other teammate Gary Scelzi and his opponent Robert Hight were left in the staging lanes as the rains came down.
"Interesting day," said Beckman, who qualified No. 2. "It was spitting water out there. We were working between rain showers. I don't think our problem had anything to do with it. We stepped up the car, we needed to run quicker.
"Sometimes 8000 horsepower does some odd things. It's a shame because we were the most consistent car again in qualifying, but we knew we couldn't take Force lightly. Even though they didn't qualify well (No. 15), you can never run that team light.
"So, we put a number in the car and it just didn't hold it. We'll figure it out.
"At 250 ft. it just lit the tires; didn't shake, didn't rattle. I don't think we were underpowered because then typically it will cause tire shake. It just drove into tire smoke. And then banged the blower. A lot of times it will give you some warning before they're going to smoke, and it didn't that run.
"The nice thing is between now and next race we get to go test," he added, referring to the two-day NHRA test session at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis this week. "If we think that it was something that we need to isolate, we can try a few things in testing and work on it.
"There's not really a silver lining in losing a race, but I guess it's not going to hurt us in the Countdown. We'll get to go test the thing, then we start the playoffs."
Next up for Beckman is the U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park and the start of the "Countdown to Four," Aug. 29-Sept. 3.
BECKMAN OUT IN FIRST ROUND OF RAIN-SHORTENED READING EVENT
MOHNTON, Pa. (Aug. 19, 2007) - Following the completion of first round of eliminations for the Top Fuel class and three pairs of Funny Cars, the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals has been postponed because of rain until Monday, Aug. 20, beginning at 10 p.m.
One of the Funny Car match-ups that took place was the Jack Beckman/John Force contest. Driving the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T, Beckman launched first with a .060 reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Force's .075. Beckman led for the first 150 ft. until he lost traction at half-track causing the supercharger to pop, resulting in a losing 7.146-second pass at 122.05 mph to Force's winning 4.799/324.12.
Beckman's teammate Ron Capps won his opening-round race against Kenny Bernstein, and his other teammate Gary Scelzi and his opponent Robert Hight were left in the staging lanes as the rains came down.
"Interesting day," said Beckman, who qualified No. 2. "It was spitting water out there. We were working between rain showers. I don't think our problem had anything to do with it. We stepped up the car, we needed to run quicker.
"Sometimes 8000 horsepower does some odd things. It's a shame because we were the most consistent car again in qualifying, but we knew we couldn't take Force lightly. Even though they didn't qualify well (No. 15), you can never run that team light.
"So, we put a number in the car and it just didn't hold it. We'll figure it out.
"At 250 ft. it just lit the tires; didn't shake, didn't rattle. I don't think we were underpowered because then typically it will cause tire shake. It just drove into tire smoke. And then banged the blower. A lot of times it will give you some warning before they're going to smoke, and it didn't that run.
"The nice thing is between now and next race we get to go test," he added, referring to the two-day NHRA test session at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis this week. "If we think that it was something that we need to isolate, we can try a few things in testing and work on it.
"There's not really a silver lining in losing a race, but I guess it's not going to hurt us in the Countdown. We'll get to go test the thing, then we start the playoffs."
Next up for Beckman is the U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park and the start of the "Countdown to Four," Aug. 29-Sept. 3.
