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Beckman No. 1 at Pomona a year after DNQ at Winternationals

Schumacher paces DSR dragsters with No. 3 spot in Top Fuel

POMONA, CA – A year ago at the end of the season-opening NHRA Winternationals, Jack Beckman and Don Jack Beckman - 2016 Winter Nationals, SaturdaySchumacher Racing’s Infinite Hero Funny Car team didn’t have to worry about racing on Sunday because they failed to qualify for the 16-car field.

What a difference a year makes.

Beckman with crew chief Jimmy Prock and assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham along with the Infinite Hero team will be racing on Sunday this year in the NHRA Circle K Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., as the No. 1 qualifier to open the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season at Pomona, Calif.

“It didn’t affect us at all last year with the Countdown (playoff) format and we wound up finishing first in the regular season anyway. It just really hurt our pride.” said Beckman, the 2012 Funny World champion and resident of nearby Norco who rallied after last year’s opener to win a career-best and category-leading seven event titles and seven No. 1 qualifying positions.

“As a hometown guy, there’s a little bit of extra pressure to do well and it’s a little more embarrassing if you don’t. But we’re over that now.”

“If you remember last year after we didn’t qualify I was still confident that we would have a good year but that not that good of a year.”

This year started out strong during preseason testing a week ago near Phoenix when the Infinite Dodge led all Funny Cars with three runs in the 3.8-second range. But a rare wheelstand bent the team’s No. 1 chassis from last season and were using a new unit built by the DSR fabrication shop led by manager Joe Fitzpatrick and prepared by the Infinite Hero team.

Right behind Beckman is teammate Ron Capps, another Southern California resident, in the No. 2 spot after his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane nearly cracked into the 3.8-second range with a time of 3.902 (324.51).

Capps was DSR’s most consistent Funny Car all four qualifying runs in the 3-second range: 3.995, 3.971, 3.971 and 3.902.

In Top Fuel, eight-time world champion, Tony Schumacher, and the U.S. Army team lead DSR into Sunday’s championship rounds that will air live on Fox network’s FS1 channel. He held the provisional pole after Friday’s two sessions but will start No. 3 with his best time of 3.751 (325.22).

Reigning and two-time world champion Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team will start in the No. 7 position with a time of 3.754 (322.73). That pairs him against DSR teammate Shawn Langdon, who qualified 10th with the Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant team.

The first-round matchup between Brown and Langdon marks the third consecutive race at Pomona in which the two drivers known for quick reaction times meet. At both Pomona races last year, however, it was in the championship round of the Winternationals and Finals in November and Langdon won both times.

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