Phoenix: Jack Beckman final report

BECKMAN DELIVERS QUARTERFINAL FINISH IN PHOENIX

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 22, 2009) - Jack Beckman, driving the Vavoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car and the 2008 event champion, delivered a quarterfinal finish for Don Schumacher Racing and his team sponsors today in eliminations at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway.

Beckman first defeated 2007 Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon in the opening round, using his quickest pass of the weekend, a 4.075-second run at 305.22 mph to do so, then was eliminated by Tim Wilkerson in the second round. Beckman struck the tires early, crossing the finish line in 5.845 seconds at 122.53 mph, while Wilkerson took the win with a less-than-stellar 4.286/228.42.

"It's frustrating, because Wilkerson definitely left us a window," said Beckman. "He dropped a couple of cylinders out there. We're not quite sure what happened to us. We think we may have backed it down too much thinking the sun was going to be a problem with the race track, and it just went out there and shook into tire spin.

"The upside of this is we got three pretty good runs in in qualifying and we hauled butt first round. I think we were probably just a little conservative second round, but this is stuff that we log data on and it's going to help us down the road.

"Remember, our strength is going down the track, especially on warm or marginal race tracks. So I think in the next four or five races we'll be right back into our stride."

Next up is the 40th annual NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 13-15.

-credit: dsr