Beckman collects top-five starting position

April 16

Handling the controls of the Aaron’s Dream Machine/Valvoline Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, “Fast” Jack Beckman swiped the fifth starting spot here today during final qualifying for Sunday’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

Beckman’s 4.074-second pass at 314.02 miles per hour in the third round was good enough to fall in behind John Force, Robert Hight, Cruz Pedregon and Mike Neff, respectively, in the race day order.

The California resident will join Neff, Jeff Arend and Tony Pedregon for the first round of final eliminations beginning at noon EDT.

“I can’t wait until tomorrow,” he offered. “You only have to win one round to take home the Wally (the third or final round; coming in second in the first two rounds puts a driver into round three). I just want to see the win light in round three.”

Beckman, sixth in the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship points, is seeking his first win of the year. To date in 2011, he has a first round loss, semifinal round loss and a quarterfinal round loss to his credit.

“We truly believe we’re about to bust out,” he said. “This is a good race team and we know how to put up good numbers. We’re looking forward to a great Sunday.”

His confidence is based on qualifying performance.

“We came out of the trailer Friday and put up a good number in the first round (4.110/307.93mph), so we went for a homerun in the second and smoked the tires,” he explained. “We had our best run in today’s first session, again went for a homerun in the final one and again smoked the tires.

“This kind of performance by the Aaron’s/Valvoline team is why I am really confident in our chances for tomorrow.”