Beckman Powers Mopar Funny Car to Top Qualifier Position for 2016 NHRA Season Opening Event

Pomona, CA – The 2016 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing series season is officially underway with four qualifying sessions in the books to set the eliminations ladder for the 56th annual Winternationals taking place at the historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California. Leading the way for the Mopar contingent was “Fast Jack” Beckman, who posted the quickest runs of the final two Funny Car qualifying sessions to earn the No. 1 Qualifier position for Sunday’s eliminations rounds.

Ten Funny Cars qualified in the 3-second range with Beckman’s Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T topping the timing sheets on his final lap to earn the No. 1 spot on the eliminations ladder with a stellar 3.888 second elapsed time run at 326 miles per hour (mph) and just four-thousandths of second off his NHRA national record pass at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona last fall.

After smoking the tires on the first pass and shutting off on the second, Beckman crossed the finish line for the first time on his third qualifying attempt with a stout 3.934 second/322.34 mph hour effort to earn three points for low E.T. of the session and adding another three points by lowering the mark on the last pass. Reflecting on the fact that he failed to qualify for last year’s opening event but ended the regular season atop the standing and finished runner-up in the championship, the California native still appreciates being able to go into the first race of the new season in top spot and build from there.

“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,” said Beckman with good-natured chuckle after rebounding from last year’s DNF start to win a career and class-best seven national titles and seven top qualifier positions. “If you remember last year after we didn’t qualify I was still confident that we would have a good year, but just not that good of a year.”

Beckman will have John Hale’s Dodge Charger as his opponent in the opening round of eliminations.

Nipping at Beckman’s heels in qualifying was DSR teammate Ron Capps who after driving his Dodge Charger R/T down the lane for a consistent quartet of 3-second passes earned the No. 2 spot with a best time of 3.902 seconds at 324.51 mph. Capps will line up next to Jeff Diehl for the first round.

Also posting a run under four-seconds was the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T of Matt Hagan who not only is the defending Winternationals winner but has four event titles in six final round appearances. While Hagan posted a solid 3.993-second pass at 323 mph in Q3, it wasn’t quite enough to put him into the top half of the eliminations ladder.

“One lap doesn’t define you or make or break you,” said Hagan whose 10th place seeding will match him up with Chad Head in the first round. “We have a good race car, a good team and I’m really confident and positive about tomorrow. I think that we are learning a lot as we go. We have a brand new racecar. Just getting a feel for things doesn’t happen overnight. (Crew Chief) Dickie (Venables) is a smart dude, and I really feel like he’s going to get it figured out tonight. He’s one of those guys that takes the work home and thinks about it and sleeps on it and makes it happen. I’m really positive.”

Tommy Johnson Jr. took his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T for a 4.256/225.22 lap to put it 14th overall and see Robert Hight as his first opponent of the season. The seventh Dodge in field is that of Gary Densham who qualified 11th to face off against Courtney Force in the opening round.

Pro Stock drivers took full advantage of all four qualifying session to get to know their new factory hot rods better after the implementation of new rules changes this season that ushered in a new era of electronic fuel injection (EFI), a limit of 10,500 rpm, the removal of the hood scoop, and shortened wheelie bars.

“It’s the future of the class, no doubt,” said Jeg Coughlin Jr. who is already a big fan of the changes and the new look of his Mopar. “This is much more like what factory cars look like and operate like, and the response has been great. Personally, I enjoy the drive-ability of my Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar Dodge Dart. I think we all have lots of room for improvement, and I’m anxious for the engine guys here at Elite Motorsports to really get a chance to go through these brand-new HEMI engines, but all things considered, we’re off to a great start.”

Coughlin was the top Mopar qualifier with the eight quickest pass overall after rolling his Dodge Dart GT right off the trailer and down the track for a 6.645 second pass at 208.55 mph to initial put him fourth, but kept him in the top half of the eliminations ladder through three more session. Those laps gave the five-time Pro Stock champ and his crew a chance to experiment and make some aggressive changes, but ultimately didn’t help him improve his position on the ladder for Sunday’s battle for the Winternationals title.

“We ended up mid-pack with (an eighth-best) 6.645 at 208.55 mph, and although I think we could have been quicker, we are in the fight and have a car that can go rounds tomorrow,” Coughlin said. “The only bummer, if there is one, is we face Erica (Enders) in Round 1.”

The unfortunate Mopar versus Mopar first round pairing came about after Erica Enders made steady improvements to her Elite Motorsports Mopar Performance Dodge Dart GT with each outing and posted her best run in the final session with a 6.651 second/ 207.88 mph to put her ninth overall. Despite the unfortunate seeding, the two-time defending champion remained optimistic about the gains the team is making.

“We have slowly picked away at it through these four qualifying sessions,” Enders said. “We made a pretty big change for that last run just to see how the car would take it. It adapted well so that gives us a little confidence going into tomorrow. We certainly have a lot of work to do and Pro Stock is really interesting in that aspect. You don’t always have to have the fastest car to win. We’ve proven that many times before.

“My job remains the same tomorrow and that’s to do my best behind the wheel and cut some good lights and hit my shift points and hopefully drive this Elite Motorsports Mopar Dodge Dart to the winner’s circle and that’s our goal. When we put this whole program together we knew it would take a little time to get acclimated as far as building the horsepower is concerned, tuning the EFI, and drivability for me is a huge change for me. We’re all learning and this is just the beginning.”

Rounding out the top-ten was Allen Johnson’s Marathon Dodge Dart with a best elapsed time run of 6.653/208.33 for a first round match-up against Alex Laughlin. Also making the 16-car elimination field were Deric Kramer’s Dodge Dart (6.686/207.75) for a 14th place seeding to face Bo Butner, and V. Gaines in 15th spot (6.715/207.21) to pit his Dodge Dart against Jason Line in the opening round.

Qualifying coverage for the 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the first of 24 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events this season, will be broadcast by new television partner FOX Sports on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 1 a.m. (ET) and then an eliminations broadcast including live finals is scheduled for Sunday, February 14 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.