Beckman Races HELLCAT Funny Car to Semis at 2019 NHRA Gatornationals:

Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car driver “Fast Jack” Beckman reached the semifinals Sunday in the 50th Annual NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Florida) Raceway and now ranks second in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car championships standings.

Beckman was looking to become the seventh driver to win back-to-back Gatornationals this weekend behind the wheel of his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car and was joined in Sunday’s second round by four other Charger SRT HELLCAT drivers — Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Cruz Pedregon. Leah Pritchett raced her Mopar Dodge Top Fuel dragster into the second round as well and holds the second position in the Top Fuel championship standings through the first three events.

The run to the semifinals for Beckman began with the 2018 Gatornationals champion defeating reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion J.R. Todd in the opening round. Next, it was an all-HELLCAT matchup between Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr.’s Make-A-Wish Charger SRT HELLCAT. Johnson defeated John Smith in round one, but Beckman came out on top in round two by 0.0007 seconds (approximately 4 inches). Beckman’s six-round winning streak in Gainesville came to a close versus Tim Wilkerson in the semis.

Hagan entered the Gatornationals as the most recent winner in the class and he raced the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car past Jonnie Lindberg in the opening round before losing to John Force. Pedregon was victorious over Shawn Langdon before bowing out to Wilkerson and Capps drove the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT to a first-round win over Bob Tasca III before being defeated by Hight. Jim Campbell was the sixth Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car driver in competition Sunday and was defeated in the first round by Force.

In Top Fuel, Pritchett was looking to become only the third female driver to hoist a Gatornationals Top Fuel Wally and positioned herself by qualifying the Dodge Mopar Top Fuel dragster No. 4 in the field. She was machine-like in her opening round match up with Pat Dakin, but was defeated by eventual Gatornationals Top Fuel champion Richie Crampton on a hole shot in round two.

2019 NHRA Championship — Point Standings After Round 3 of 24
(Season Wins in Parentheses)
NHRA Funny Car
1.  Robert Hight (2) – 330
2.  Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT – 225
3.  Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT (1) – 215  
4.  John Force – 200
5.  Tommy Johnson, Jr., Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT – 191
6.  Tim Wilkerson –  165
7.  Bob Tasca III – 163
8.  J.R. Todd – 159
9.  Ron Capps, Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT – 146
10.  Shawn Langdon – 143

NHRA Top Fuel:
1.  Doug Kalitta (1) –  246
2.  Leah Pritchett, Mopar HEMI – 204
3.  Steve Torrence – 197
4t.  Billy Torrence (1) – 178
4t. Richie Crampton (1) – 178
6.  Terry McMillen – 166
7.  Mike Salinas – 161
8.  Clay Millican – 157
9.  Antron Brown – 150
10.  Austin Prock – 138

Source: Mopar