Jack Beckman capped off a dream weekend by bringing home a victory in the event every drag racer wants to win, racing his Mopar-powered 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a Labor Day triumph at the 61st annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Beckman set both ends of the track record at Lucas Oil Raceway on Saturday, banked $100,000 in the Traxxas Funny Car Shootout bonus event on Sunday and doubled up with a win on Monday at the historic race nicknamed the “Big Go.”

The victory was the first for Beckman at Indy in three final appearances, his sixth of the season and 21st of his career in 42 final rounds. It also marks the first NHRA U.S. Nationals win for a Mopar-powered machine in the NHRA Funny Car class since Mike Ashley scored the 2007 victory in a Dodge.

The new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car body ends the regular season with 14 wins in 18 events, and final round appearances in all but one race. Beckman heads into the six-race NHRA “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs, which begin in two weeks near Charlotte, holding a 30-point edge over the No. 2 spot, held by Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Matt Hagan, and 40-point spread over yet another Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Mopar Dodge driver, Tommy Johnson Jr.

“On behalf of everyone at Mopar, I would like to congratulate Don Schumacher Racing and especially Jack Beckman for earning the prestigious U.S. Nationals title and his sixth win of the year with the new 2015 Dodge Charger R/T,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO — Mopar Brand Service, Parts and Customer Care, FCA. “The success the DSR team has had with the new body in the regular season is phenomenal and a testament to the investment and hard work that went into bringing to fruition the new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car. We can’t wait to see what our Mopar drivers can do with it in the Countdown in defense of the 2014 Funny Car Championship.”

Driving his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T, Beckman started from the U.S. Nationals pole after setting both ends of the track record with a 3.936-second elapsed time at 323.74 mph, earning his fourth consecutive No. 1 of the year and first-ever at the “Big Go.” He had the quickest car in the first round, using a 4.047-second elapsed time at 302.55 mph under hot, humid track conditions to eliminate No. 16 qualifier Bob Bode.

It was an all-Mopar Dodge matchup in the quarterfinals, with Beckman pitted against his DSR teammate, Ron Capps. The two Mopar drivers had nearly identical reaction times (Beckman’s .060 to Capps’ .062), but Beckman pulled away with a 4.057/311.41 (once again quickest of the round), and soon after Capps slowed to a 4.516/219.54.

In the semis, Beckman (4.058/307.72) took out Del Worsham (4.189/299.20), setting up a classic DSR vs. JFR fight against Robert Hight. Entering the final round, Beckman was 12-0 against JFR cars in 2015, but his previous two final round appearances at the U.S. Nationals had ended in runner-up finishes to Robert Hight.

Given a third opportunity, Beckman wasn’t about to let his chance at a first U.S. Nationals victory slip away. The DSR veteran proved it takes both driver and machine to win races, notching a holeshot win with a faster .034 reaction time to Hight’s slower .063 mark, which provided his 4.058/310.77 effort enough advantage to hold off Hight’s quicker 4.045/309.77 by about eight feet at the finish line.

(The Funny Car final saw Beckman defeat Hight on a holeshot)

“I guess it’s about like getting to the top of Everest” said Beckman of his first U.S. Nationals event win “You really don’t get to celebrate until you get down, get back home and into a cozy area. I don’t know when it will sink in.  A lot of times the problem is it’s hard to enjoy what just happened because you’re just worn out.

“Yesterday after Traxxas (the bonus event), I was trashed. It was a miserably hot day that ended up wonderful. Getting through today was the key. I think surviving this is an effort onto itself. I’m going to let that trophy sit on the shelf for a while so I can realize that we actually did it.

“When Jimmy (Prock) was let go last year (from his previous team) and Don (Schumacher) brought him on and put him on our car for the last two races, maybe in a greedy sort of way I started looking ahead,” said Beckman of his crew chief. “I knew what Jimmy was capable of doing and I felt like if we could just stay together on this, maybe we would be able to go win some races and do something like this.”

Event Essentials:   NHRA Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals (Sep. 2-7th, 2015) 

(Robert Hight had runner-up finishes X2 at Indy last weekend)

Posted by Pat Caporali
Photos by Bruce Biegler & Auto Imagery