Jack Beckman joined his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps on the sidelines at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals after each lost in the opening round of eliminations. Beckman’s demise came in the form of a mechanical problem on the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car.
After a stellar qualifying effort placed him No. 3, Beckman was ready for a solid outing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the defending Funny Car champion. It was not to be in his match-up against Del Worsham. The MTS Dodge broke immediately at the hit of the throttle and Beckman coasted to a stop mere feet from the starting line. Worsham was there for the taking, as he posted a 5.402-second elapsed time at 259.66 mph to earn the victory.
“It seized the bearings in the blower drive, ” explained Beckman, “which happens like once every 15 years. The irony is we had the same problem that Robert Hight had in the same lane in the same race in the same round last year.
“It’s just a bitter way to lose and then to watch Del go out there and have to pedal it and run slow makes it sting a little worse. But crying about it isn’t going to get us a rerun. So, we’re going to test here tomorrow, and we’re going to go to Pomona to do what we should have been able to do here: win the race. “
Beckman holds onto fifth in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series point standings, as he heads to Pomona, Calif., for next weekend’s Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona Raceway.
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