All three Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car team cars were ousted in the opening round of eliminations at the O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex today.
Following a short rain delay after six pairs had run, next-in-line Jack Beckman, who had been on a roll of late in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, was the second of the DSR drivers to fall after his teammate Ron Capps. Driving the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger R/T, Beckman lost to Tony Pedregon in a dual tire-smoking match-up. Pedregon nailed a near-perfect reaction time of. 009 (. 000 is perfect) and recovered first to take the win with a 5.040-second elapsed time at 277.03 mph to Beckman’s losing 5.652/184.37.
With Pedregon’s second-round victory over Tommy Johnson Jr., Beckman fell to third place in the Countdown to Four point standings. Tony Pedregon went on to win the event over his brother Cruz Pedregon and took over the points lead.
“It’s frustrating, ” said Beckman, who is fresh off a runner-up finish in Memphis last Sunday, which had earned him second place in the standings. “We’re still leaving in the top four. I guess there’s a silver lining to it, but it’s frustrating. We had an opportunity to make some big moves in the points here (with No. 1 in points Robert Hight not qualifying) and to have all three Schumacher cars lose early was upsetting. With our Valvoline/MTS Dodge, it wasn’t one of those runs where we said, OK I see what we missed on that tune-up. It was going along just fine and then just ripped the tires loose out there.
“We sat on the starting line for a rain delay. I don’t think it had anything to do with that, but that’s just one where you want to bang your head on the wall.
“The upside is we’re still going into Richmond in the top four. Pressure. It’s going to be a real tough deal for all three of the Schumacher cars. We have to perform at Richmond now. “
Next up is the final event of four which will determine the top four drivers who will compete in the Countdown to One in the last two events of the season: the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, outside of Richmond, Va., Oct. 5-7.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Tony Pedregon, 2259
2. Robert Hight, 2243
3. Jack Beckman, 2213
4. John Force, 2191 (involved in serious crash today after winning two rounds)
5. Ron Capps, 2188
6. Gary Scelzi, 2186
7. Mike Ashley, 2176
8. Jim Head, 2072
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