Beckman Takes Provisional No.1 Spot with Three-Second Run at NHRA SpringNationals

  • Jack Beckman took his DSR 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T to provisional pole position at NHRA SpringNationals near Houston, Texas
  • Beckman posted Royal Purple Raceway’s first sub four-second pass with a 3.988 second run at 318.17 mph
  • DSR teammate Ron Capps runs a track record speed of 319.67 mph to sit in provisional third spot
  • Richie Stevens makes his Pro Stock season debut with Johnson & Johnson Racing in a Dodge Dart
April 24, 2015 , Baytown, Texas -  Don Schumacher Racing pilot Jack Beckman drove his Infinite Hero 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the first three-second pass ever posted at Royal Purple Raceway to take the provisional No.1 qualifying position at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) SpringNationals event near Houston, Texas, during the Friday night session.
 
A number of short rain delays throughout the day for a slight drizzle pushed the Friday evening session later into the schedule and into cooler conditions that made it ripe for setting records.
 
Beckman, who has two runner-up finishes at this event in 2009 and 2014, posted an elapsed time track record with a 3.988 second pass at 318.17 mile per hour (mph) to take the provisional pole position. This is Beckman’s second three-second run of the year after posting one during eliminations at the Charlotte NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on his way to a national title win.
 
“What I like most than being No.1 is that three bonus point deal,” said Beckman who sits tenth in the points standings. “We are looking at every point. If we were in first or second, I think you could kind of take a little breather and recognize that the countdown is where it becomes important.  But right now we’re in tenth and we desperately need to move deep into the top ten and right now those bonus points are going to make a huge difference.”
 
Leading the Funny Car points standings is DSR teammate Matt Hagan, the defending 2014 NHRA World Champion, who earned his very first career win at Houston in 2010. Hagan drove his Rocky Boots/Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T to a best Friday qualifying run of 4.051 sec. at 314.61 mph put him sixth on the provisional ladder.
 
Ron Capps, who earned wins at Houston in both 2006 and 2007 and most recently had a runner-up finish in 2012, was third in provisional qualifying after racing his 2015 Dodge Charger R/T to an E.T. of  4.038 seconds and set the track speed record at 319.67 mph with his second run of the day.
 
Teammate Tommy Johnson Jr., posted a quick 4.064 / 310.05 mph run to put the Make-A-Wish 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T eighth overall but ended the run with some fireworks that will necessitate a return to last year’s Funny Car.
 
In Pro Stock action this weekend, Allen Johnson and Johnson & Johnson Racing got some much anticipated company as the Mopar team adds a second entry with the addition of Richie Stevens Jr. to the field for the first of at least ten events this season. The New Orleans native took the wheel of a new Dodge Dart chassis, prepared by Jerry Haas and a HEMI® engine tuned by Roy Johnson, to mark his return to Pro Stock competition since Reading, Pennsylvania, where he posted his career best elapsed time run of 6.506 seconds and best speed of 212.25 mph.
 
On Friday, Stevens was the first car out in the first qualifying session and posted an elapsed time run of 6.676 seconds at 208.91 mph then improved on his second run with a 6.629 /209.39 to sit in 14th spot heading into Saturday’s two qualifying session.
 
Last year’s No.1 qualifier, Allen Johnson, finished runner-up in 2014 for a third time in his career at Houston. His Magneti Marelli Dodge Dart ran a 6.609/210.34 in the first session then moved up from tenth to the provisional seventh spot with a clean 6.574 /210.34.
 
The HEMI-powered Dodge Dart driven by V. Gaines was provisionally 11th after posting a 6.598/210.37.
 
Television coverage for the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals, the sixth of 24 events in the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, will begin with a two hour qualifying broadcast from Houston on ESPN2 this Saturday, April 25, starting at 5 p.m. ET. Three hours of eliminations coverage will air live on ESPN2 this Sunday, April 26, starting at 2 p.m. ET.
 
2015 NHRA Championship Points Standings
(following the NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas):
 
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Jason Line – 426 (1)
2.         Erica Enders Stevens – 391 (1)
3.         Greg Anderson – 379 (1)
4.         Rodger Brogdon – 352 (1)
5.         Chris McGaha – 338
6.         Drew Skillman – 300
7.         Vincent Nobile – 285
7.         Larry Morgan – 268 (1)
9.         Allen Johnson (Dodge Dart) – 249
10.       Shane Gray – 233
13.       V Gaines (Dodge Dart) – 177
           
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Matt Hagan (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 369 (2)
2.         Del Worsham – 360
3.         Robert Hight – 323
4.         Tommy Johnson Jr. (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 316
5.         Ron Capps (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 313 (1)
6.         John Force – 287 (1)
7.         Alexis DeJoria – 271
8.         Cruz Pedregon – 257
9.         John Hale (2014 Dodge Charger R/T) – 256
10.       Jack Beckman (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 249 (1)
About Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but it truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support.

Today, Mopar is FCA’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 27 customer contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands.

Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This offers a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at: www.mopar.com.

Mopar-first Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:
  • Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with customers
  • Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format. First to offer complete vehicle-information kits in Spanish
  • Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
  • Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless charging for portable devices
  • Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
  • wiADVISOR: first to provide factory-connected tablet technology in the service lane for instant vehicle diagnosis
  • wiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network
  • 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car
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