Championship Drag Racing

NHRA Northwest Nationals
Seattle, WA
(July 22-24)

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Driver Profile

Jack Beckman Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger Top Fueler

Seattle, Sunday: “Fast Jack” Jack Beckman and the Menards/Mail Terminal Services Top Fuel  team didn’t get the result they were looking for at the CARQUEST Nationals in Seattle, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t encouraged by their performance. Beckman was defeated in the opening round for just the second time in five starts this year, but managed to make several consistently fast runs including a career best 4.603 elapsed time. Beckman also drove the Jimmy Walsh-tuned Menards/MTS dragster to a top speed of 322.65 mph eclipsing his previous career best by more than 12 mph.

“Obviously I would like to have won some rounds today but overall I think we preformed pretty well this weekend,” said the former NHRA Super Comp World Champ who turned pro earlier this season. “We’re whittling away at it.  One of the biggest problems we faced at earlier events was a lack of consistency. That wasn’t a problem for us this weekend. All but one of the runs we made was a nice clean run. I would say that consistency was the key word for the weekend.”

Beckman’s 4.60 run came in qualifying and it was good only for the tenth qualifying spot in a deep and talent-laden field. On race day, the Menards/MTS team was steady with a 4.63 in the opening round of eliminations, but it was not enough to beat David Grubnic, who prevailed with a 4.58.

“We ran as well as we could so I’m not depressed at all,” said the always upbeat Beckman. “We’ll take the things we learned here and head to Sonoma next weekend. The way I see this, it’s like starting a new job. After the first couple of weeks, most people start to feel comfortable. Now that this team has been together for five races, I’ve got that same comfortable feeling with [car owner] Dexter Tuttle and the rest of the team. More than ever I feel like we are capable of winning a race this year.”

The next appearance for the Menards/MTS Top Fuel team will be the 18th annual Fram Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., July 29-31.

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