Wallys for Beckman, Grubnic, and Johnson at Topeka

TOPEKA, KANSAS – It was a great day for Jack Beckman as he claimed his first Funny Car Wally of the season at the Fram . Up against teammate Ron Capps in the final round, Jack’s 4.158 sec, 303.09 mph blast bettered Ron’s 4.107 sec, 304.39 mph by his near-perfect 0.004 sec reaction time. The Schumacher teammates switched cars, crews and trailers following the Vegas race and this is the first time that Beckman has been able to make it happen. “It’s a big win for us,” Beckman said. “We’re right back in the hunt... That was my 13th win, and I try to appreciate every win because you never know when it can be your last.” He continued, “They [the NAPA team] were clearly outrunning us. When we saw them run 4.12 in the semi's, we knew we couldn’t run that without stepping too far that the risk of smoking the tires was too great. Our strategy was to put a 4.15 in it and hope something happened with their car. I think I dodged a bullet on the starting line. I had a hiccup in staging in the final round that could have bit us. The irony is that I don’t know if we could’ve won any other way.”

In Top Fuel, David Grubnic ended up top dog beating out Spencer Massey in the finals. Grubnic ran a 3.893 sec, 319.07 mph against Massey’s 3.910 sec, 309.98 mph run. This is the Australian-native’s first win since 2006. “My whole career has been ups and downs, but you have to go through these troughs to appreciate the peaks,” Grubnic said. “Today is one of those peaks. My first win came here in 2005, and it’s great to do it here again. Why we have success here in particular is beyond me, but we’ll take it where we can get it.

It was a surprise in Pro Stock with Allen Johnson beating the Summit boys. Allen Johnson ran strong all-weekend and was paired with Greg Anderson in the final round. Allen ran a respectable 6.587 sec, 210.54 mph run. Though running in the quicker left-lane, Anderson experienced a bit of tire-shake and only managed a 6.696 sec, 210.21 mph run. “The whole crew for the Mopar Dodge Avenger was just so strong and so consistent all weekend,” said Johnson, “today our mission was to be consistent and maintain lane choice. We did that until the final round, and it just so happened that in the final the right lane turned out to be better than the left, and Greg shook the tires a little bit. So it worked right into the palm of our hands. We’ve been after them [the Summit cars] for the last few races and finally got the win and gave them a run for the money. This Pro Stock battle for the rest of the year will be a knock-down drag out.”