Dodge//SRT Mopar driver “Fast Jack” Beckman closed off the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season by racing the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car of Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) to his second victory of the season at the 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif. 

The win for Beckman, his 30th career Funny Car class victory, concluded a season where four drivers raced Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars to 11 wins in the 24-race NHRA campaign. 

Beckman and fellow Dodge//SRT Mopar and DSR driver Matt Hagan made strong championship bids, but both came up short in the end. Beckman finished second and Hagan, winner of the two previous NHRA events, finished third in the final season standings. 

(“Fast Jack” Beckman was victorious racing his Dodge Charger – during the 2019 season ending AAA Auto Club NHRA Finals)

“I’ve never won in Funny Car at Pomona,” said Beckman. “If you win at the Winternationals (in February), the rest of the year is going to be okay because you’ve already won something, but if you do it in the finals (at the end of the year), your off-season is fantastic. My Infinite Hero Foundation guys have given me such a great race car lately. I stumbled a couple of times, and I don’t want to ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda’ myself in the off-season. We finished solidly in second, capped off the year with a win. We have a phenomenal Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, and things are awesome right now. I’m feeling on top of the world.”

Beckman opened the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff with a victory in the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania and was in contention throughout. He advanced to the final in Charlotte and established new track records in Las Vegas en route to a semifinal finish before this weekend’s season finale in Pomona. After qualifying second, “Fast Jack” was within two rounds of the top spot in his Dean Antonelli/John Medlen-tuned Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. His machine-like performances all day included consistent runs for the 2012 Funny Car champion starting with his pass of 3.946 seconds to defeat John Hale.

He ousted J.R. Todd in the second round and took down upset-minded Blake Alexander in the semifinal to advance to his seventh final of the year. The final was a rematch of both the season opener, also at Auto Club Raceway, and the Charlotte Countdown race versus eventual Funny Car champion Robert Hight. Beckman made the fastest pass of race day with his lap of 3.920 to secure his first Auto Club NHRA Finals victory, but he came up just eight points short of earning his second Funny Car title.

(Matt Hagan set both low ET and top speed of the event during qualifying)

Event Essentials:   NHRA AAA Auto Club Finals (Nov. 14-17th, 2019) 

(Robert Hight clinched his 3rd career NHRA Mello Yello Championship when he beat Matt Hagan in a dramatic semifinal showdown — by a 3.9977 324.59 to 4.015 326.95 mph count)

JR Todd’s last pass as the defending NHRA FC World Champ came in round #2

Blake Alexander had s strong “final four” finish in the Pronto-sponsored Ford Mustang

Posted with files by Bill Klingbell and Bruce Biegler

Photos by Randy Anderson – Courtesy of National Dragster & Auto Imagery