Jack Beckman, the 2008 Funny Car champion at Firebird Raceway, qualified the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car No. 11 for this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals. The California native posted a 4.125-second elapsed time at 301.40 mph in the cooler Friday evening session, which followed a tire-smoking 8.954/178.16 in the earlier round that day.
His two final attempts today produced a steady 4.145/301.13 and a similar 4.145/296.57.
“We’re right back to where we were last year,” said Beckman. “First run I don’t know. It was either too much of everything or not enough race track; we’ll take the blame for it. And then it was right back to (crew chief) Johnny West’s m.o.: right down the race track, good solid runs.
“We weren’t the quickest car in each session but we were close to being the quickest car in each lane for the session. And I think it speaks volumes that we are able to go down the track three runs in a row like that.
“However, we’re not going to have lane choice tomorrow. We have a car that can haul butt, so we have to aggressively run the race track tomorrow. And I think we’ve got the tune-up to do it.”
Beckman faces Tony Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations.
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