By Jerry Jordan, Editor
LAS VEGAS – Qualifying for the MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge closed Saturday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the points leaders still standing on top in Top Fuel and Pro Stock while Funny Car delivered a first in NHRA history.
For the first time ever, every car in a qualified Funny Car field ran in the 3-second range. Jack Beckman sat above all 16 of them after his run of 3.836 seconds at 335.32 mph from Friday held through both Saturday sessions in the PEAK Chevrolet SS.
“First all-three-second field, Jack Beckman to Jeff Diehl. It’s neat to be a footnote to history. I geek out on that stuff,” Beckman said.
Funny Car
Beckman was quickest in each of the last three qualifying sessions and took 19 of a possible 20 session bonus points, missing a clean sweep by one thousandth of a second in the opening session. It is his third straight No. 1 qualifier and the qualifying points alone moved him from fifth to fourth in the standings heading into Sunday.
The bigger test may be the conditions. Beckman rolled to the line in sunshine for one run and waited out clouds and cool air for another and he told Kickin’ the Tires afterward that none of that pressure lands on the driver.
“None whatsoever. It’s all on Tim Fabrizio and Dan Hood,” Beckman said. “In fact, they came over, took the cover off the bell housing and that cover enables you to make changes on clutch weights there. And we rotated the clutch all the way around, verified what each of the six primary levers are. And then Tim says, okay, put a gram and a half on lever five, then button it up. And then it’s kind of like, and let’s hope that’s what it needed out there.
“But when our car is running the way it’s been running lately, and it did this last year for a period of time, our tune-up window was so big that even if we miss it, we still haul butt. I’ll give you an example, Q2 Friday night. We went 3.836, second quickest run of the weekend. We mowed through the clutch. Like, it probably would have run an 82 or a high 81 if the clutch wore what it typically does out there.”
Sunday adds wind to the puzzle, with gusts of 20 to 24 mph in the forecast for eliminations. Beckman said this track has one place where a swirling wind can reach into the cockpit.
“Vegas is the one track that can bite you because they are solid grandstands on the left side of the track,” Beckman said. “If it is a side or swirling wind, when you clear those grandstands at about 650 feet, it can move the car over quite a bit.
“Headwind, the biggest difference is the chutes hit a lot harder down there. Tailwind, the chutes don’t hit as hard down there. So I don’t know that we will do any tuning adjustments for the wind because it’s all subject to change anyway.”
Matt Hagan qualified second at 3.868 seconds and 332.51 mph and Jordan Vandergriff was third at 3.868 and 327.74. Hagan carries a 99-point lead over Vandergriff into eliminations and Beckman opens against Jeff Diehl, whose 3.968 in the No. 16 spot completed the all-3-second field.
Top Fuel
Shawn Langdon will start Sunday from the No. 1 spot for the ninth time this season after his Friday run of 3.672 seconds at 332.59 mph in the Kalitta Air dragster went untouched. Langdon opens eliminations against Cameron Ferre and he can leave Las Vegas with his second Top Fuel world championship if the day breaks right against the man chasing him.
That man is his own teammate. Doug Kalitta qualified fifth and the two Kalitta Motorsports drivers cannot meet until the semifinals. Asked what his perfect clinch scenario looks like, Langdon declined to write the script.
“I mean, obviously we need to race Doug in the semis. And yeah, if we can get around that, then I don’t know if we can actually clinch here. I think we’d have to probably show up to Pomona,” Langdon said. “It doesn’t really matter. We just got to get the job done. That’s just our goal. However it happens, whatever the scenario is, we’re prepared for it.”
The math runs like this. If Kalitta falls in the first round, Langdon clinches the title by reaching the final. If Kalitta loses in the second round, Langdon takes the championship by winning the event and collecting his ninth victory of the season. Tony Stewart qualified second at 3.676 seconds and 339.28 mph and Josh Hart was third at 3.688.
Langdon also has data for whatever Sunday’s weather brings. Rain is expected to wash the track overnight and Saturday swung from morning clouds to afternoon sun while he watched.
“With the sun being out today, that gives us some good information, obviously, for if the sun does come out tomorrow, but we feel like we have a good handle on the track with cloudy conditions,” Langdon said. “It looks like it’s going to rain, potentially rain. At least we have information both ways, so we feel very confident with that.”
Asked what a hard overnight rain does to the rubber and grip waiting for drivers on Sunday, Langdon said this surface handles a wash better than most.
“Here, they do a good job with it, so it should help. Some tracks, it wrecks the track pretty good, but this track is usually pretty good with it,” Langdon said. “Normally you don’t see this much rain. It’s pretty dry. So it’s a little bit different, but you just kind of make adjustments like we do everywhere else.”
Pro Stock
Dallas Glenn made the quickest Pro Stock run in both Saturday sessions and took the No. 1 spot at 6.620 seconds and 205.91 mph in the RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro, his fourth top qualifier of the season. The defending event winner opens against Alan Prusiensky, with Greg Anderson second at 6.622 and Matt Latino third at 6.628.
Glenn spent Friday night on his own mistake. His reaction to the shift light was late by only six or seven hundredths of a second and the miss cost him two and a half hundredths on the run.
“Your reaction to the shift light when you miss it is enough to kill two and a half hundredths and can easily make the difference in winning a round and losing a round. Tomorrow I’m just going to try to be more like I was today and do a better job,” Glenn said.
Asked about the consistency that keeps putting him at the top of the sheet in the Countdown, Glenn said the qualifying bonus points are what separate this title run from his earlier ones.
“It feels really good, especially to do it in the Countdown. I feel like most of my driving career, I pretty much just get murdered by bonus points throughout the Countdown and I try to make up for it on Sunday,” Glenn said. “But I feel like my car’s been good enough here the last two years that I don’t worry too much about the bonus points. It seems like we can at least keep pace or even outpace.
“So we have a great car, we’re going up there, we’re getting bonus points. Nobody’s pulling out on us. I don’t have to worry about Greg putting two or three rounds on me over the course of six races. We have a fantastic car, we just need to go up there and get win lights.”
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Gaige Herrera was the only rider to reach the 6.70s all weekend and he locked up his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season at 6.799 seconds and 197.91 mph on the RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki. Points leader Richard Gadson qualified second at 6.836 and Ryan Oehler was third at 6.844 and Herrera opens eliminations against Chris Bostick.
“I wasn’t too sure if it was possible to run in the 6.70s, but last night at dinner, I got a text from Andrew [Hines, crew chief] saying we’re going .70s tomorrow,” Herrera said. “He’s definitely got the bike figured out right now.”
Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.