Heating Up

It didn’t take long for Team Mopar® HEMI® -Powered NHRA POWERade drag racers to put a “W” in the win column in ’08, as Jack Beckman and V. Gaines tattooed the competition with a 1-2 punch at the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals in Phoenix.

Words: Darren Jacobs

Jack Beckman wasn’t feeling well. In fact, he felt awful.

The Don Schumacher Racing driver had contracted a vicious case of the flu. Most rational folks would hibernate in their beds when the flu bug strikes, but not Beckman. He is, after all, a drag racer. Rational thought does not often enter into the equation for a man who regularly drives 330 miles per hour in a 7,500 horsepower racecar.

So Beckman denied his achy, fevered body its rest, and instead willed it into the cockpit of his Mopar HEMI-powered Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car at the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals, held on February 22–24 in Phoenix, Ariz.

“You get up in the morning and you just feel like hell,” said Beckman of his health during the race. “I’m thinking it will go away … and it didn’t.” To add to his misery, Beckman had qualified 15th for the Phoenix event and would be without lane choice in his first round match against John Force Racing driver Mike Neff.

In the end, Beckman’s perseverance paid off with a visit to victory lane—how’s that for a cold remedy! After ending Neff’s day early, he defeated his Don Schumacher Racing teammate and the driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T, Gary Scelzi, in the second round, Jim Head in the semis, and Robert Hight, also from the John Force Racing stable, in the finals. The unlikely victory, the fourth of Beckman’s career, propelled him into the No. 2 spot in the NHRA Funny Car point standings at press time (Scelzi was in fifth).

“Look at us, we squeaked in in the 15th [qualifying] spot and had a good car on race day,” said Beckman. “If you can get in, you can win.”

It seemed to be the weekend for stunning victories by Mopar-powered drivers. It was a long time coming, seven years to be exact, but NHRA Pro Stock driver V. Gaines once again owned the top spot on the podium, pulling off a stunning upset and seizing the win at Phoenix. Gaines drove his Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus R/T to a first-round win over Greg Stanfield, then mowed down former Pro Stock champs Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin and, in the finals, Jason Line, breaking his seven-year drought. The win moved Gaines to fourth in the NHRA Pro Stock standings.

HEMI power also claimed the pole for the event, as Allen Johnson earned the No. 1 qualifying spot in his Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T. Johnson knocked off fellow Mopar-powered racer Johnny Gray before losing to Mike Edwards in the quarterfinals, but the Phoenix performance, coupled with his semifinals run at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals, had Johnson in the fifth spot in the Pro Stock standings. His strong start was a welcome change from 2007, when Johnson was way back at 16th in the points standings after the Phoenix stop.

“I feel like we’ve got the stuff,” said Johnson about the performance of his Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T. “The car is really working well. We’ve got great power [courtesy of his engine builder and father, Roy Johnson, and crew chief Mark Ingersoll] from our Mopar HEMI engine.”

Victories, poles, multiple drivers in the top five of the points—with the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season only two events old, Team Mopar drivers looked as strong as ever. Just imagine how good they’ll do once flu season passes!