NHRA

Pomona: Jack Beckman Saturday notes

BECKMAN MAKES WINTERNATIONALS FUNNY CAR FIELD IN NO. 15 POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 9, 2008) - Local favorite "Fast" Jack Beckman drove the new Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car into the No. 15 qualifying spot for the ...

Published: Feb 11, 2008, 5:06 AM

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BECKMAN MAKES WINTERNATIONALS FUNNY CAR FIELD IN NO. 15

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 9, 2008) - Local favorite "Fast" Jack Beckman drove the new Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car into the No. 15 qualifying spot for the season-opening NHRA Winternationals.

Although Beckman struggled to get into the field this weekend, seven out of 23 familiar names failed to qualify for the top 16 spots. Beckman posted his quickest elapsed time in his first attempt on Thursday, a 4.864-second pass at 295.72 mph. His ensuing passes included an 8.517/95.74, a 4.981/294.50 and finally a 4.977/313.22.

"We struggled and, thank goodness, we unloaded with a good run, because that's the one we finally wound up sitting on," said Beckman, who holds the track record and national record of 333.66 mph set at Pomona Raceway in 2006.

"This new qualifying format of the top 12 cars going into Saturday is going to make it so confusing to try to figure out if you're in or out. I think the solution is we just need to haul butt on Friday and not even worry about getting bumped out," added Beckman, of North Hills, Calif. "It's challenging going up there for the last session with a good chance of not being qualified when you run. We're relieved to be in.

"We've got to fix a couple of things with the Valvoline/MTS Dodge. And we've got a teammate first round. It's going to be a very interesting story coming out of here, but, burnout to turnout, we don't have any teammates out there. Our goal is to put the Valvoline/MTS Dodge in the winner's circle."

Beckman faces new DSR teammate Jerry Toliver in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

-credit: dsr

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