Jack Beckman takes championship lead with today's win in the NHRA Arizona Nationals outside Phoenix

October 16

Jack Beckman drove the Aaron’s Dream Machine/Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car into the Firebird International Raceway winner’s circle here – and to the top of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship standings – with his victory in today’s 27th-annual NHRA Arizona Nationals.

The 45-year-old Californian defeated Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray in the final round to gain his first-ever lead in the standings, as well as recording his third win of the season (in five final rounds) and consecutive wins in this event. Beckman ran a 4.354-second lap at 28.29 miles per hour to top Gray’s tire-smoking 5.870 at 120.67.

“This was a great weekend because we won the race,” said Beckman. “This was a marathon today (discussing conditions which included air temperatures nearing triple digits and track temperatures well above that), which takes its toll. I wasn’t feeling so great and would get the chills; I’d feel like I hadn’t eaten anything for hours – but then we’d get a win light and I’d feel okay for the next hour or so.”

Beckman began the weekend in fifth place, 55 points behind Countdown leader and DSR teammate Matt Hagan. The victory, coupled with Hagan’s second-round loss (to Gray), accounted for Beckman’s five-point lead.

“I said before the race we were three rounds back with 12 rounds left – and we really needed to win this one to put us in a good position in the Countdown,” he explained.  “Obviously, we did our part and our main competitors had their issues, so we did even better than just improving our position.

“I’ve always said I wanted to be able to control our destiny. I’m happy to be the points leader, it’s a testament to the excellence of my Aaron’s/Valvoline crew led by Rahn Tobler (crew chief) and John Collins (assistant crew chief), but the reality is with two races left and the points so tight we are definitely back in the hunt. My goal was to go into Pomona (last race of the season) within a round or two of the lead – we might be even better than that.”

Coming out of the fifth-starting spot, he began the day defeating reigning Funny Car champion John Force. He then defeated Robert Hight, who started the day ahead of him in the standings, in the second round before taking out the 16th-qualifier Jeff Arend to earn a trip to the finals and a meeting with Gray.

“You always hear a round win is a round win; they’re all equal, but that’s not true in the Countdown,” Beckman explained. “When you race someone you’re fighting with, like we raced Robert in the second round, it’s really a potential 40 point swing – the 20 you get for winning and the 20 you deny him. These are the must wins!

“And it doesn’t matter if the driver in the other lane is a DSR driver. As you saw today when Johnny took out Matt in round two, we always race straight up at DSR, and it’s a testament to Don Schumacher that he insists on this.”

Beckman heads to Las Vegas in less than two weeks for the penultimate race of the season heading up a five-driver pack separated by 58 points or less than three rounds.