BECKMAN ALMOST TAKES THE POLE IN DENVER
MORRISON, Colo. (July 14, 2007) - Jack Beckman almost took the Funny Car pole position away from Robert Hight in the final qualifying round for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals after posting an identical run of 4.862 seconds. The tie-breaker was speed, and Beckman's 313.88 mph on that pass was just a hair slower than Hight's 314.02 mph.
Hight set his fast lap on Friday evening, Beckman established his under similar cool conditions today following a rain delay. The other runs for the driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T included a breakdown at the starting line in the opening round, when a supercharger part failed, a 4.900/313.37 Friday evening, and a 6.544/145.31 earlier today on a hot, slippery surface.
Beckman matched his previous season-best qualifying effort of last weekend in Bristol, Tenn. "No. 2 two weeks in a row," said Beckman. "I tell you, if you look at our qualifying, we've been stout lately. We went to a top-half car recently and now we're a top-four car in qualifying. Both of our stellar runs were basically in night-time conditions and we struggled in the hot conditions, which is almost opposite for us. We have an awesome hot-weather tune-up. But I'm so confident that we'll be right back tomorrow (during eliminations).
"The interesting thing is, you couldn't write a better script for the Countdown to the Championship points chase," said Beckman, who is in the coveted yet tenuous No. 8 spot. "I don't wish any ill on any Funny Car team or driver - I love and admire all of them – but, Cruz Pedregon and Ashley Force, who were on either side of us in the points, did not qualify today, TJ (Tommy Johnson Jr.) is breathing down our neck and we have him first round. So, we really have a chance to control our own destiny tomorrow and obviously the goal is to win the race. But, if we start chipping away at the round wins, we might find ourselves off that bubble position and in seventh, and maybe even higher."
As mentioned, Beckman faces Tommy Johnson Jr. in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.
