Fresh off the heels of achieving NHRA national event win No. 350 on Saturday evening, Don Schumacher Racing continued its triumphant streak on Sunday when Jack Beckman raced to victory to deliver the ninth consecutive Funny Car Wally trophy for drag racing’s winningest organization.
Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals
Event No. 6
Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
September 4-6, 2020
DSR Elimination Highlights:
- Fresh off the heels of achieving NHRA national event win No. 350 on Saturday evening, Don Schumacher Racing continued its triumphant streak on Sunday when Jack Beckman raced to victory to deliver the ninth consecutive Funny Car Wally trophy for drag racing’s winningest organization.
- Beckman is a two-time winner and four-time finalist in 2020, and moved back into the Funny Car point lead
- DSR campaigned entries in three categories – Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Factory Stock Showdown – and had a contender compete in the final round of each of the three classes
- Leah Pruett led the DSR Top Fuel brigade by driving the Dodge Hellcat Redeye dragster to a runner-up finish and moved into second in the Top Fuel point standings
- No. 2 Factory Stock qualifier Mark Pawuk advanced to the final round, and made sub-eight second passes in each of the five elimination rounds
- DSR maintained its stronghold on the Funny Car category with three Dodge Hellcats occupying the 1-2-3 spots
- Jack Beckman Extends DSR’s Funny Car Win Streak to Nine-in-a-Row
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (September 6, 2020) – Fresh off the heels of achieving NHRA national event win No. 350 on Saturday evening, Don Schumacher Racing continued its triumphant streak on Sunday during the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Jack Beckman defeated J.R. Todd in the Funny Car final round to deliver the ninth consecutive Funny Car Wally trophy for drag racing’s winningest organization.
Beckman’s march to the winner’s circle began by qualifying seventh with his Q3 run during the rescheduled NHRA Summernationals (Indy 2) final round. Beckman and DSR teammate Matt Hagan squared off to vie for the Indy 2 crown, and the chance to win the 350th title for Don Schumacher on the 50th anniversary of the drag racing patriarch’s first NHRA national event win. Hagan outran Beckman to capture the victory, but Beckman didn’t have to wait long for another shot at redemption.
On Sunday morning, Beckman’s run through the Funny Car field began when he drove the Doug Chandler-sponsored Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a stout 3.909 E.T. against Cruz Pedregon’s tire-smoking effort. In the quarterfinals, the 2012 Funny Car world champion ousted teammate Ron Capps before trailering Tim Wilkerson with a holeshot victory during the semifinals. In his second final round appearance in a 24-hour period, Beckman lined up opposite J.R. Todd to battle it out for the event championship. The Infinite Hero machine blasted down the track in 3.908-seconds to post the win over Todd’s 3.960-second effort and keep DSR’s Funny Car win streak, which dates back to October 2019, alive.
“This may be the last time I race at Indy, and that Infinite Hero Dodge Charger team left nothing on the race track,” said Beckman referring to the recent news announcing the conclusion of the Chandler family Giving Car program at the end of the 2020 season. “This is what drag racing is all about. A huge thank you to Terry Chandler for starting this program, and Doug Chandler for keeping it going. We had six wonderful years, a whole lot of Wally trophies, and a whole lot of amazing fans. I also want to give a special shout-out to Judy Pittman. It’s her birthday today. She’s the Chandler family representative and is by our side at every race, and we were glad to be able to get this done on her birthday. I hope I can keep racing next year but I’m going to revel in this. Our team was awesome today.”
With his win at ‘the Big Go,’ Beckman, a two-time winner and four-time finalist in 2020, reclaimed his position at the top of the Funny Car standings. Beckman held the point lead through the first four events, before briefly falling to second at the last event.
Qualified: No. 7 (3.940 E.T. at 325.53 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.909 E.T. at 327.74 MPH defeated Cruz Pedregon 7.734 E.T. at 87.81 MPH
E2: 4.003 E.T. at 316.01 MPH defeated Ron Capps 5.454 E.T. at 137.79 MPH
E3: 3.915 E.T. at 329.10 MPH defeated Tim Wilkerson 3.914 E.T. at 324.59 MPH
E4: 3.908 E.T. at 327.35 MPH defeated J.R. Todd 3.960 E.T. at 324.28 MPH
NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship Standings:
Top Fuel
1. Doug Kalitta – 492
2. Leah Pruett – 442
3. Steve Torrence – 432
4. Justin Ashley – 370
5. Billy Torrence – 331
6. Shawn Langdon – 330
7. Antron Brown – 316
8. Terry McMillen – 305
9. Clay Millican – 279
10. T.J. Zizzo – 179
Funny Car
1. Jack Beckman – 517
2. Matt Hagan – 482
3. Tommy Johnson Jr. – 460
4. J.R. Todd – 387
5. Ron Capps – 376
6. Bob Tasca III – 355
7. Tim Wilkerson – 348
8. Alexis DeJoria – 241
9. Cruz Pedregon – 234
10. Paul Lee – 225
About Don Schumacher Racing:
Established in 1998 as a single-car Top Fuel team, Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) has grown to become the winningest organization in NHRA Drag Racing history. Including team owner Don Schumacher’s five NHRA Funny Car titles from the 1970s, DSR’s current win count stands at 351, and DSR is one of a very small handful of teams in the motorsports industry to surpass the 350 milestone. DSR owns 17 world championships in three different NHRA categories.
Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana, DSR currently fields eight professional teams competing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. In Top Fuel, the Matco Tools/Global Electronic Technology/Toyota dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown, the Nordic Boats/Revchem Composites/Hawkeye Industries dragster driven by Cory McClenathan, the Mopar/Pennzoil dragster driven by Leah Pruett, and the Okuma/Sandvik Coromant machine driven by eight-time world champion, Tony Schumacher. In Funny Car, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driven by 2016 world champion Ron Capps, the Mopar Express Lane/Pennzoil/Sandvik Coromant Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat piloted by two-time series title-holder Matt Hagan, and in Doug Chandler’s ‘giving cars,’ 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, and Tommy Johnson Jr. behind the wheel of the MD Anderson Dodge.
DSR also campaigns two Factory Stock Showdown entries. The duo is piloted by Pruett, the 2018 Factory Stock Showdown Series champion, and former Pro Stock racer Mark Pawuk.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at Shoeracing.com, on Twitter and Instagram at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.
