Beckman holds provisional Funny Car pole at special Pomona, while DSR teammate Brown is second quickest in longshot battle
POMONA, CA – Jack Beckman’s life at the racetrack in Pomona, Calif., is filled with memories born there.
It is where he worked as a drag racing instructor when he learned he had Stage III lymphoma in 2004 and where his students celebrated after the disease went into remission.
It is where he hoisted the NHRA Funny Car world championship trophy a year ago for Don Schumacher Racing’s MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors/Valvoline Dodge Charger R/T team.
And seven years ago Thursday, he and Jenna, who he met at the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School, were married in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum within a mile of the finish line at Auto Club Raceway.
He can add to his list of special remembrances that he earned the provisional pole for the NHRA Auto Club Finals after completing his qualifying run Thursday afternoon in 4.077 seconds at 309.20 mph.
“That was a great run, but I don’t believe it will be the quickest in qualifying,” he said of the three sessions remaining before Sunday’s championship eliminations in the last of 24 Mello Yello Series events this year.
“I knew this was going to be a special weekend for us because we have a great soldier coming who will be here with us as a guest of Rodger and Karen (Comstock’s) MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors program,” he said of Jerral Steel Hancock, 27, of Lancaster, Calif. Hancock served in the U.S. Army in 2007 when he was paralyzed, lost his left arm and was severely burned after the tank in which he was driving on the streets of Baghdad was bombed.
“Being able to have him here with us and to be able to talk about the Chemotherapy Myths of Facts program already was going to make this a special weekend for us,” said Beckman, who lives in Norco, Calif.
“If our time doesn’t hold up then I think we’ll be the ones who run quicker.”
The drama in the Top Fuel world championship race continues after DSR’s Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team completed an excellent run in 3.787 seconds at the day’s top speed of 323.74 mph.
Brown, the reigning Top Fuel world champ, trailed points leader Shawn Langdon by 102 when the day started and Brown had to watch that grow to 103 when Langdon earned one more bonus point in qualifying after he posted the day’s low elapsed time of 3.772 (322.27).
The four-day format for the Finals included one qualifying session Thursday with another single run Friday followed by two on Saturday before Sunday’s championship eliminations, which begin at noon.
