Fast Jack Beckman’s #1 qual shot leads of the Seattle DSR Report

Smith sends Beckman to No. 1 spot for first time in 10 months as MTS/Valvoline Dodge will face DSR teammate in first round

KENT, WA – Jack Beckman won his first pole since last October to put the MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors/Valvoline MaxLife Dodge Charger R/T in the top spot for Sunday’s championship eliminations of the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.

Beckman hopes starting in the No. 1 spot is what his reigning world championship team needs to win their first national event title of the Mello Yello Series season.

“It’s great to qualify No. 1, but we really just want to win a trophy. It’s been a while,” said Beckman, who used a tune-up provided by crew chief Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder to record a time of 4.049 seconds at 303.64 mph for the ninth pole of his career.

Their last NHRA title came at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis the week before his last pole when he set the NHRA record for elapsed time on Oct. 7 at Maple Grove Raceway at Reading, Pa.

“This is our first pole since Maple Grove last year, look how many No. 2s we’ve had. This car has been near the top of the pack of pretty much every race it’s been to. We had the luxury of swinging harder on the second session because we knew we were firmly in. It didn’t stick but it’s OK, we probably learned from that. Nothing surprises me with (crew chief) Todd Smith.

“He is – here’s an oxymoron – conservatively aggressive. In other words, he’ll go down the track far more often than not on the first few runs and it’s almost always near the top of the pack too.

“The forecast is calling for a much warmer day tomorrow so I don’t see those sort of numbers, if things go according to forecast. It could be an interesting day tomorrow too because some of the data from today might be useless.”

His reward for earning the pole, so to speak, will be to face Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray, who has won four titles this year, in the opening round.

“That’s just how tough NHRA Funny Car racing is,” Beckman said.

No one knows that better than another DSR teammate, Ron Capps.

Capps lost traction early and slowed to a 7.582 at 96.87 mph on his last chance and did not qualify for Sunday’s eliminations one week after he won the title at Sonoma, Calif., and moved to second in the points standings.

Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS team misses field for Sunday’s championship eliminations of NHRA Northwest Nationals

– Ron Capps suffered a setback Saturday in his quest for a first NHRA Funny Car world championship when he did not qualify for elimination rounds in the rain-shortened Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.

Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team lost traction on their first qualifying attempt Saturday afternoon and then were unable to gain traction just past the starting line to end up qualifying ranked 17th for Sunday’s 16-car field.

“That’s how this sport goes sometime, especially when you only get two chances to qualify,” said Capps, who last DNQ occurred in April 2012 at Las Vegas.

Rain on Friday afternoon cancelled the first two qualifying sessions marking the fifth Mello Yello Series event this year when sessions were lost to inclement weather.

Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team were coming off their second title of the season after winning Sunday at the Sonoma Nationals near San Francisco. The win moved Capps up to second in the championship standings and only 27 points behind Matt Hagan, one of his Don Schumacher Racing teammates.

“This hurts because we had a chance to leave Seattle with the points lead, but I know how good our NAPA Dodge is and we’ll be ready for the next race.”

Capps and his team will have next weekend off before the series resumed April 16-18 at Brainerd, Minn.

“We had so many of our friends from NAPA out here with us and letting them down is what’s most disappointing to me,” Capps said.

“I know we’re still in the hunt for the championship but it would have been very special to have all of my NAPA family in the winner’s circle with me.”

Magneti Marelli Funny Car performs under pressure during qualifying for rain-shortened NHRA Northwest Nationals

Friday’s two qualifying sessions were rained out, leaving NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series teams just two sessions to qualify for Sunday’s eliminations.

Pressure was taken off Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables after the team produced a 4.091-second pass during the first session on Saturday.

“I think Dickie (Venables) hit the nail on the head today,” said Hagan. “We talked about it earlier. It’s so critical to get a good first lap. It takes the pressure off and you know that once you get on the sheet you can go up there and be a little bit more relaxed, I wouldn’t say try something, but kind of be more comfortable.

“Dickie set it up and it’s doing what he wanted it to. Obviously we would’ve liked to be No. 1 but looking at that draw, Johnny Gray is in the 16th spot and that’s not a draw you want for first round. So we wanted to press it, but not too hard.

“Sometimes you have to play the game a little bit. That’s going to be a pretty tough match-up first round between Jack (Beckman) and Johnny (Gray). We improved on our qualifying position, moved into the No. 4 spot and I just feel confident about this whole weekend. I’ve been here all week long waiting for this. We got rained out yesterday (Friday) and I didn’t get a chance to crawl into my race car.”

Hagan was able to improve to the No. 4 spot in the second session after the Dodge Charger R/T produced a 4.067-second pass at 303 mph. Hagan is already thinking about Sunday’s points and how he can gain ground on Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps, who failed to qualify for Sunday’s eliminations and is second in points.

“We got to come out here and have some fun today. I feel good, I feel confident. We made two great laps today. We’ll have lane choice tomorrow and we need to go some rounds. We picked up 20 points on Capps and the NAPA car right away because they didn’t qualify which is huge.

“I hate it for them but we are out here to win championships and everyone has the same amount of pressure on them. We’re trying to keep that point lead going into the Countdown, and we’ll just keep trying to scoop up the points along the way and hopefully we will have a long day tomorrow.”