Brown, Beckman, McGaha, Krawiec on Pole at Sonoma
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| Jack Beckman |
NHRA Funny Car driver “Fast" Jack Beckman can now consider himself the fastest ever, as the 2012 World Champion set a new National Record for the quickest pass in Funny Car history during qualifying for Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.
Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Chris McGaha (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec earned top qualifier honors in both their respective classes in Saturday’s qualifying.
Beckman set the new national record with a jaw dropping time of 3.921 seconds at 323.43 mph set during the twilight hours on Friday, easily beating out the new quickest driver, Beckman’s Don Schumacher Racing teammate and Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan, who ran a 3.967.
For the new record to stand, Beckman had to “back up" his time with another run of at least 3.960 or better, and had two rounds of qualifying on Saturday to get it done – in far less favorable track conditions.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]In the opening round, Beckman was again paired with Hagan and looked to have a strong run lined up, but both drivers began hazing the tires and the halfway point.
With just one chance left, Beckman and Hagan lined up as the final pair of the day in round two. Hagan’s car broke on the starting line and never made a run, but Beckman locked in with a stellar run to clock in at 3.958 seconds to for a new National Record, as well as a nice 20-point bonus in the points standings.
“I think it’s bitchin to be the quickest Funny Car driver in the world, but I want the trophy at the end of the day," said Beckman, who earned his second top qualifier of the season and 12th of his career. “The national record is for the crew chiefs. If we can win tomorrow I think that’s one that over time would be looked upon as domination. If you can qualify No. 1, set a national record and convert that to the trophy that is one for the history books."
Despite qualifying second, Hagan was not to be out-done, taking away some Beckman’s thunder with his run of 3.967 at 325.77 mph to set the track speed record.
Seven-time Sonoma winner John Force, who held the previous nation ET record, was third with a 3.970, 322.96, followed by Ron Capps (3.970, 322.19) and Robert Hight (3.974, 322.96). Tony Pedregon took the bump spot to face Beckman in the first round.
DSR continued re-writing the record books in Top Fuel as well, as Antron Brown picked up his series-leading fifth no. 1 qualifier of the season and 42nd of his career, besting his DSR teammate Tony Schumacher for the top spot with a record-setting run of his own.
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| Antron Brown |
Brown, a three-time Sonoma winner, set a new track ET record with a time of 3.707 seconds at 326.95 mph in Friday’s second round, bumping Schumacher, who eventually fell back to fifth.
“The run we just made gears you up for the first round tomorrow," said Brown, who will face Steve Chrisman in the opening round on Sunday. “It gives you a great deal of confidence going into tomorrow, but you have to remember it’s nitro and anything can happen with these cars. I have all the confidence in the world in my team. I need to do my job to keep it in the groove and have a good reaction time. If we all work to the best of our abilities, we have a chance at winning the race tomorrow."
Dave Connolly rallied all the way from 13th to take the second spot with a low ET of 3.713 seconds at 329.10 mph to set a new track seed record. J.R. Todd (3.724, 328.30), Steve Torrence (3.732, 325.61) and Schumacher (3.738, 325.69) rounded out the top five.
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| Chris McGaha |
The new track records kept on coming as Pro Stock finished up their qualifying sessions with Chris McGaha atop the leaderboard with a new track ET record, besting points leader Greg Anderson and Jason Line with a single pass.
Anderson held the top spot after the opening round, running a 6.507 at 212.16 mph to break the track ET record. That record held up for about an hour before Line reset it with a 6.507-second run of his own, earning a tiebreak with a faster speed of 212.26 mph.
Line’s record lasted less than Andersons, as McGaha came up in the next pair with Anderson and blew both their doors off, running a 6.499 at 212.36 mph to write his name in the record book.
It was the fourth top qualifier of the year for McGaha and sixth of his career, as well as his first ever at Sonoma.
“We got a lot of data today that was very helpful because this was more like race day," McGaha said. “The weather was a bit worse so we didn’t have to tone it down too much. When you make those late [night] runs on its fun, but it’s mostly throwaway information. As a rule, the Pro Stock guys are good at adapting to the track. Very seldom do we have problems unless the conditions change when we’re in the lanes. That happens occasionally but we had a good handle on it today."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]With the tiebreaker, Line took second over Anderson, followed by Jeg Coughlin (6.524, 211.86) and Vincent Nobile (6.525, 212.29). V Gaines took the bump spot.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Eddie Krawiec scored his second no, 1 qualifier of the season and 25th of his career, covering the distance in 6.787 seconds at 196.99 mph.
Andrew Hines (6.837, 195.25), Jerry Savoie (6.838, 196.39), Chip Ellis (6.853, 195.34) and Hector Arana Jr. (6.867, 198.79) rounded out the top five qualifiers.