Beckman wrecks in American Revolution car

[NHRAMike]

Here's Fast Jack's account on what happened:

The car started to spin a couple of hundred feet out and I pedaled it, but it started to spin again so I plugged second gear, but it never recovered, so I stepped off," said Beckman, who said he was able to better reconstruct what happened by looking at still images of the incident. "When the tires hooked back up the car started bouncing and then got up on the left tire, then the right tire, and then the left again and then turned left at the guardwall at about 50 or 60 degrees and hit the wall at about 1,000 feet. Ninety-nine times out of 100 you can get away with just lifting and this won’t happen, but this time it did. It was just an odd deal.

"When it hit the wall, it broke the drive hub portion of the left rear wheel and it hit the wall again at the finish line, then dug in and went onto its roof and slid. It spun around one and a half times on its roof before it came to a stop a couple of hundred feet past the finish line. It was surreal. I feel really bad for Lee and the crew because this was a beautiful car. I think I'm going to stick around here tomorrow and start a collection for them to be able to rebuild the car."


The whole story is over at NHRA.com

NHRA Story » Beckman uninjured in match race incident in nostalgia Funny Car

 

[Tim5636sc]

And for the record, this is Jack's second incident in that lane as he and Andy McDougal got waded up back in the early 90's in rear engine dragsters.

dang... Tree'd by the seasoned vet Sweeney! That was the end of 'the cookie car' but the birth of the 'BLACKBIRD'.

No more SATCO for that boy.

 

[ColeCoonce]

Word is a bracket-racer doorslammer crashed today also. This happened right before Funny Car qualifying.

In more positive news from Funny Car Fever, according to twitter.com/nitrokitty, McCain's Bomb Squad is #1 qualifier @ Funny Car Fever by 5/1000ths of a second! They turned a 6.003 @ 235 mph... #2 is Kris Krabill, at 6.008... Eliminations start soon...

 

[Fuel FC Fan]

Ouch........Glad to hear Fast Jack is o.k.

Looked real spooky with the wheels off the ground and that wicked hook towards the wall. I'm sure he tried everything possible to save it.

Last year I was at Sacramento and saw a guy with a beautiful high dollar Turbo Charged 69 Mustang fastback making some really stout passes until late in the afternoon when the car out of no where broke loose in the left lane and did what looked like happened here to Jack. If you blinked you missed it....it just lifted and went straight for the wall.

Is there an afternoon cross wind just past the bleachers???

 

[You!]

No Mike, there is a dip in that lane that upsets the cars.

 

[Fuel FC Fan]

No Mike, there is a dip in that lane that upsets the cars.

Oh!.............thanks Bill.

 

[ColeCoonce]

First round results (via a cell phone conversation, dictated from the back of a time slip as the tower had run out of xerox paper (!)):

The 1st round featured an improvised a 14-car eliminator... Of which, 12 cars actually made the call:

Jim Adolph didn't make it to the lanes, so Kris Krabill got a bye and posted a 6.005, 242 mph. Leah Pruett got a bye (staged and then shut it off) after the Jeff Gaynor-tuned Mike Halstead machine failed to show; Mike Savage in the Candies & Hughes tribute car beat Bucky Austin, who got loose at half-track in the left lane; Garrett Bateman set low ET thus far in the Plueger & Gyger entry, with 5.87 @ 237 mph and beat Steve Nichols, who turned a respectable 6.24 in the dreaded left lane.

Mark Sanders and the Mr. Explosive Nova posted a victorious 6.04, 237 and beat newly-licensed Josh Crawford in his '69 Mustang, who ran 8.04, 122.

John Powers 6.27, 230 beat Sean Dale's 10.08.

Mendy Fry clocked her first five in a Funny Car: 5.96, 239 mph and dispatched Dennis La Charite in the first round (I didn't get his time; the phone went dead).

Mendy and McCain's Bomb Squad have a bye-run in the 2nd round. She will face the winner of next round's Bateman vs. Savage contest. (Sorry, I didn't catch the other pairings...)

More later.

 

[ColeCoonce]

This just in: Results from the 2nd round of Eliminations:

Garrett Bateman defeats Mike Savage, with a 5.81 (wow!) and a top end speed of 239 mph for the Plueger & Gyger entry to Savage’s valiant 6.20.

Kris Krabill posts a 5.94 at a scintillating 243 mph to defuse Mr. Explosive, who trailed with a 6.45 at 215 mph.

John Powers beats Leah Pruett. Powers' 6.03, 231 was more-or-less unopposed, as her Holy Toledo Jeep was wounded, and limped down the track in 21 seconds.

By virtue of her low qualifier status, Mendy Fry got a single and swung for lane choice, posting her second-consecutive 5, this time a 5.94 at a simmering 241 mph. Practically speaking, these numbers, while impressive, are for naught as her semi-final opponent is Bateman, who ran the aforementioned .81.

The other semi-final pair is Krabill v. Powers, with Krabill picking his lane.

 

[ColeCoonce]

And finally: The last report I got says that Krabill beat Powers, but I didn't get the times. Krabill hurt it in the lights (hydralicked, even); the damage was insurmountable, as least as per returning for the final round.

In the other semi-final pairing, Bateman blithely recorded another 5.80-something, disposing of Mendy and McCain's Bomb Squad, who got got out of shape and out of the groove in the lefty-loosey lane and clicked it.

The final was a solo effort by Bateman and the badass Plueger & Gyger machine. He was on and off the throttle for the win. Your indisputable 2009 Funny Car Fever Champion: Garrett Bateman and Plueger & Gyger.

 

[Old Man]

Word is a bracket-racer doorslammer crashed today also. This happened right before Funny Car qualifying.

I read this on another board.

Sacto Safety Crew Saves Life.

Everyone that knocks on Sactos safety crew., man had heart attack, went off end of track, was DOA and was revived, lost, and revived by the safety crew until lifeflite showed up, 7 minutes from finishline to chopper:yay

 

[Shaggy]

That safety crew are some real heros....They definitly deserve some recognition for there heroic actions!

 

[The Little Lizard]

I have heard nothing specific regarding this bracket racing incident this morning. However, would add that life flights in Sacramento proper usually go to the University of California, Davis Medical Center located in Sacramento, California. They are about 8 miles away from the track and have multiple helo-pads and life flight choppers on stand by, usually at all times. The seven minute flight sounds reasonable given the chopper stand by status, and close location to the track. I'm sure that the healthcare professionals on site acted promptly and professionally it's just what they, and we do.

 

[Tim5636sc]

Even though as a fan i was hoping for a 'nitro kitty' victory, the 'tire buddy' Bateman Sure has come a long way! Congrats Garrett and the entire Steve P. team.

 

[shane]

Here is a link to some more photos of the beckman accident and aftermath... Photos are from Big Bob Snyder

Classic Funnycar Board

 

[ColeCoonce]

Here is a link to some more photos of the beckman accident and aftermath... Photos are from Big Bob Snyder

Classic Funnycar Board

Mark "Sharky" King also posted his sequence on his Funny Car News page...

 

[Toejam]

I'm convinced that if Jack couldn't save it no one could have! That guys driven anything and everything on the 1/4 mile! Aren't the N/FC shorter WB's shorter than the Current FC's?

 

[MM]

I'm convinced that if Jack couldn't save it no one could have! That guys driven anything and everything on the 1/4 mile! Aren't the N/FC shorter WB's shorter than the Current FC's?

some are some aren't.....both of the ones i work on are 125" but some are 118" or 120"

 

[Raconteur]

Aren't the N/FC shorter WB's shorter than the Current FC's?

The American Revolution was a 125-inch chassis, a little shorter now.

 

[BurkartFan]

I've been under a rock since Friday...very glad Jack's okay!! Sorry about the nice car crunched up, but I'm with everybody else - if Fast Jack couldn't save it, nobody could.

 

[Raconteur]

Take a look at the new cover of Drag Racing Online!