POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Local boy "Fast" Jack Beckman placed the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car in No. 7 during qualifying for the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals.
His quickest lap of 4.101 seconds at 310.91 mph came in the opening session on Thursday. He then matched it with a 4.104/307.93 in the final session, which was delayed for several hours because of oil downs and 50th anniversary festivities. In between, he posted a 7.562/84.82 and a 4.453/208.78.
"It was nice," said Beckman, of Norco, Calif. "We book-ended our runs with 4.10s. We opened nice, picking up right where we left off from testing in Jupiter, Fla., in January. The Valvoline/MTS group, including new crew chief Rahn Tobler, is working perfectly together right now.
"We went out there and tried a couple of things in the second and third runs and they didn't work. We needed to make sure that the car was back where we thought it should be for the last run so we could take it into Sunday.
"That long wait gave us a race track that we probably won't see even in the final tomorrow. So, on one hand, you could say that may not be a relevant run, but we adapted to it well enough to run a 4.10, which was third quickest of the session.
"I think, more importantly, it gives us a lot of confidence going into race day knowing that the changes we made resulted with a good run. And we just have to make four winning runs tomorrow."
Beckman faces Tony Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.
His quickest lap of 4.101 seconds at 310.91 mph came in the opening session on Thursday. He then matched it with a 4.104/307.93 in the final session, which was delayed for several hours because of oil downs and 50th anniversary festivities. In between, he posted a 7.562/84.82 and a 4.453/208.78.
"It was nice," said Beckman, of Norco, Calif. "We book-ended our runs with 4.10s. We opened nice, picking up right where we left off from testing in Jupiter, Fla., in January. The Valvoline/MTS group, including new crew chief Rahn Tobler, is working perfectly together right now.
"We went out there and tried a couple of things in the second and third runs and they didn't work. We needed to make sure that the car was back where we thought it should be for the last run so we could take it into Sunday.
"That long wait gave us a race track that we probably won't see even in the final tomorrow. So, on one hand, you could say that may not be a relevant run, but we adapted to it well enough to run a 4.10, which was third quickest of the session.
"I think, more importantly, it gives us a lot of confidence going into race day knowing that the changes we made resulted with a good run. And we just have to make four winning runs tomorrow."
Beckman faces Tony Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.
