NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Jack Beckman qualified No. 1 for the second time this season, fending off all challengers for his 26th pole position with his Friday pass of 3.873 holding fast.

“I’m not usually into green [low qualifier] hats –- I like the yellow [winner] ones better – but getting the green hat means a lot because of the points that go with it,” said Beckman. “We’ve traded [bonus points] back and forth with Robert Hight this weekend and if Pomona comes down to a three- or four- or five-point championship it will be who best managed qualifying, and we got 13 points in qualifying here. Anyone who tells you that don’t count points is either lying or they’re bad at math. We’ve got a great hot rod right now and got a lot of good data, even on the runs we missed a little bit, and we even learned more about the car on those runs.”

Beckman charted a solid 3.888 on his final qualifying pass, but teammate Matt Hagan had the best numbers of the session with a 3.880 to slide into the No. 3 spot behind Beckman and Robert Hight, who ran a 3.878 on Friday, that assures that Hagan also be a player in Sunday’s final eliminations.

Beckman’s other Dodge teammate, Ron Capps, ran a pair of 3.8-second passes to settle into the No. 4 spot at 3.882, just ahead of 16-time champ John Force’s 3.890 and the 3.891 of Bob Tasca III’s Ford.

After a pair of 4.23s Friday and a 4.58 in Q3, crew chief John Collins finally got all of the knobs lined up in the final session, tuning Tommy Johnson Jr. to a 3.950 that lifted the Make-A-Wish Dodge from the uncharacteristic No. 15 spot into the No. 8 position and first-round lane choice. 

Johnson’s run made his the 12th Funny Car to qualify in the three-second zone and Jonnie Lindberg, who had flirted with the threes through qualifying, got Jim Head’s machine there with a 3.972 to make it a baker’s dozen in the sub-four club.

Veteran Dale Creasy Jr. ended up on the bump spot with a 4.385 as breakage took its toll on a number of cars who did not compete in the final session. Creasy will take on low qualifier Beckman in the opening round.