DSR Indy Report – Beckman Wins Traxxas Shootout
– Reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion Jack Beckman was as happy as he could be Monday leaving the U.S. Nationals considering 
he did not win his first Mello Yello Series title of the year after 18 races.
But he got within a wisp of smoke from sending crew chief Todd Smith, assistant Terry Snyder and the Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors team to the winner’s circle when he lost traction and lost in the championship round to Robert Hight of John Force Racing.
“It’s hard to complain but in drag racing there’s one winner and there’s one loser, and we had a chance to leave here as a double-winner.
On Sunday, Beckman and his Don Schumacher Racing team won the $100,000 Traxxas Nitro Shootout all-star event for Funny Cars, and by advancing to the championship round the following day in the last regular-season event of the Mello Yello Series Beckman moved up two spots in the standings.
The next event will start the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff for the top-10 teams in the series’ four professional categories and the standings were reset at 10-point increments after Indy for those contending for championships.
The Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger R/T also posted low elapsed time of eliminations when Beckman completed his run in 4.019 seconds at 316.45 mph in the opening round.
“This car is back. We still have not won a Wally yet this year,” said Beckman of the coveted NHRA winner’s trophy. “But we won a trophy in the Traxxas Shootout, but we still want a Wally. We want it bad. We have six more chances and I think we have a good chance at getting a couple or three of them.
“I like our progress lately. I think we’ve positioned ourselves pretty well for a strong run in the Countdown. Let’s face it, after they reset the points we are all bunched up pretty good at the top so I’m confident.
“It’s hard to ever leave being happy after you lost the race. But to reflect on everything, it was a really solid weekend for us.”
– No form of motorsports is as finicky as Top Fuel drag racing with its 10,000-horsepower land rockets.
Within about 18 hours, Antron Brown and his Matco Tools went from the very high to the very low in the 59th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals.
On Sunday evening, Brown with crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald went from the No. 16 to No. 1 qualifying position on the event’s last qualifying session with a time of 3.811 seconds at 320.58 mph at Lucas Oil Raceway. That made Brown’s 10-minute ride to his home in Pittsboro, Ind., a fun one.
But the ride to Pittsboro was not nearly as enjoyable Monday afternoon after the Matco Tools team lost in the opening round to Morgan Lucas, who qualified in the last spot in the 16-car field. Lucas quicker time of the opening round at 3.784 beat Brown’s 3.825.
“We’re really disappointed, especially after how we qualified (Sunday) night,” said Brown, the reigning Top Fuel world champion
“We went out there and threw a shot in the first round. The track was real good, so it sucked a little bit of it up. After running that 3.81 last night, we just built off that and we were going up there hoping to run a 3.77.
“The track just ate us up a little bit and we couldn’t make the number. We knew what Morgan Lucas and his team was capable of and we didn’t want to leave anything on the table. They threw a great run out there. They threw the number that they needed to win.”
The U.S. Nationals is the final regular season event in the Mello Yello Series, and the six-event NHRA Countdown to the Championship for the top-10 drivers in the series’ four professional categories begins Sept. 13 near Charlotte.
Brown, who owns four U.S. Nationals titles, started the event ranked sixth and held the spot for the Countdown after losing in the first round. After Indy, the Countdown standings were reset at 10-point increments with points leader Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing earning a 20-point bonus for being the regular-season champion.
Brown will be 70 points behind Langdon, who won the U.S. Nationals title, when the Countdown begins.
“Now it’s time to get ready for the Countdown,” Brown said. “This is where it counts for the championship and we’re sitting right in the middle of the field. We have our work cut out for us, but there isn’t anything that we can’t handle. We’re going to head in there with our heads up and we’ll need to bring our “A” game. We have to head into the Countdown with the attitude that we have nothing to lose, and we don’t. We’re going to go out there give it all we’ve got and have fun. We’re looking forward to getting to Charlotte.
“We’re definitely heading in the right direction. We’re not going backward, we’re going forward. It’s a good thing. It felt really good this weekend to go out there and get on the pole; we were on the pole at the U.S. Nationals. Everyone came out here and ran the best they could and we got that. Now we know what it takes to go out there and do what we need to do. We’ve got to go into Charlotte with the same game plan. We just have to go there, qualify well again and take it another step up.”
– Ron Capps’ love for the NHRA U.S. Nationals has not waned even after he missed making it to the championship round on Monday for the 18th time.
Capps qualified No. 5 at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis but still has not advanced to the final round of drag racing’s biggest and most prestigious event. He lost in the second round when his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T lost traction to end his hopes of advancing to the final round.
“It’s Indy,” he said. “When Tim Richards was my crew chief he told me you win Indy when Indy decides it’s time for you to win Indy.”
And Indy decided 2013 was not to be Capps’ year.
But it was far from woe for Capps, crew chief Rahn Tobler, assistant John Collins and the NAPA team because they clinched the No. 2 seed for the six-event NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff that begins Sept. 13 near Charlotte for the top-10 drivers in each of four Mello Yello Series professional categories.
When the 18-event regular season ended Monday, points standings were reset at 10-point increments with Capps’ DSR teammate Matt Hagan earning the top seed and a 20-point bonus as the regular season champ to start the Countdown with a 30-point lead over Capps.
“The competitive nature of Funny Car is so close that we could have dropped four spots today and that would have been 40 more points we’d have had to make up in the Countdown,” said Capps, who owns 41 NHRA event titles including three this season.
“We knew we couldn’t catch Matt and we really wanted to at least be second going into the Countdown. We lost the championship by two points last year (to DSR teammate Jack Beckman) so 10 points is a lot. We realize how important points are.
“I was in our NAPA Dodge getting ready to do the burnout for the second round looking at all the people in the grandstands. I was thinking about the events that go along with Indy and the anxiety that comes with it.
“That helped us to start getting mentally ready for the Countdown. We could have 48 runs during the Countdown and there are a lot of points up for grabs. There will be pressure every single run whether it’s qualifying or eliminations. Every run will feel like they did today at Indy.
“I love that. We have a great race car and we’re hitting our stride. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
– Spencer Massey’s Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster was in the first pair of Top Fuel dragsters that went on the Lucas Oil Raceway track near Indianapolis at 11 a.m. on Monday.
– Matt Hagan had the most consistent Funny Car throughout qualifying at the prestigious U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis.
In various conditions, Hagan’s Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T tuned by crew chief Dickie Venables put together four solid qualifying runs ranging from 4.00 seconds to 4.10 seconds.
But NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series teams were greeted by different conditions late Monday morning when it was cool and overcast.
Those are conditions that Hagan’s 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T thrives on. But then Hagan’s Funny Car did something it hadn’t done all weekend; it hazed the tires.
“It’s disappointing,” Hagan said. “I think Dickie (Venables) is the most disappointed. It’s tough. Honestly, I still have so much confidence in Dickie and our team and stuff like this happens.”
Hagan put everything in perspective by comparing his 2012 season, where he lost in the first round of championship eliminations nine times and never won an event title of pole to this season where the team has visited the final round eight times and four times.
“Where we are this year compared to where we were last year there’s just no way I can hang my head or those guys should hang their heads,” he said. “We have to come together as a team and stayed positive and moved forward.
“What’s done is done. You have to learn from it and move forward. You can sit around and cry about it but that’s only going to put us further behind.”
In Hagan’s mind, he’s already moved on to focusing on the six-race Countdown to the Championship, which begins in two weeks at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte. Hagan will be seeded No. 1 in the Countdown with a 30-point lead on Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.
“I think that we’ll just roll into the Countdown and we’ll have 30 points on everyone and we’ll go do our thing. As bad as it stings, as bad as it hurts you just have to go out there and keep your chin up and keep digging and work hard.”
But Hagan didn’t want to set any expectations for the remaining six NHRA Mello Yello series events.
“It’s the Countdown,” he said. “That’s why we run it. If I knew the races we were going to win I’d only show up on those days and I’d be farming every other day. That’s why we race on Sunday.
“I have no expectations in the Countdown. This is a humbling sport. Like I told Dickie a couple of races ago, if we don’t win another round, which I hope we do, it’s been a good year for us. We might be down but don’t count us out.”
But none of the other DSR teams advanced past the second round and all three Top Fuel teams along with Funny Car points leader and pole winner Matt Hagan lost in the first round, including Antron Brown, who qualified No. 1 in Top Fuel.
The U.S. Nationals marked the end to the 18-event regular season in the Mello Yello Series. When the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 13 near Charlotte for the top-10 drivers in the series’ four professional categories, DSR will own four of the top-five spots in Funny Car led by regular season champ Matt Hagan.
In Top Fuel, DSR’s Spencer Massey will be seeded second, Tony Schumacher third and Brown sixth.
Point standings will be reset for the Countdown at 10-point increments with Hagan and Top Fuel leader Shawn Langdon of Al-Anbabi Racing each receiving a 20-point bonus for leading the standings after Indy.
