Fri, 11 Oct 2019, 22:05 PM Beckman, S. Torrence, Enders and Savoie Rise to Provisional Top Spots Friday

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2019 NHRA/National Dragster At NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals

Jack Beckman

CONCORD, N.C. – Jack Beckman wowed the crowd during NHRA Prime Time qualifying on Friday, powering his way to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Funny Car during the 12th annual NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the third of six races in the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Beckman went 3.873-seconds at 334.07 mph in his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. If his pass holds, he'll snag his second No. 1 qualifier of 2019 and 26th of his career. In the provisional second qualifying spot is Robert Hight with a run of 3.878 at 334.07. Beckman’s teammate Ron Capps is in the No. 3 spot after running 3.882 at 330.55.

“I was a little surprised at the E.T.," said Beckman. "We did a lot of things at the last minute there. (John) Medlen (Crew Chief) will get on the radio and say, 'Here's the deal. There's a couple bald spots; we are going to put you over on the right side of the lane.' He says, 'You can't let the car get to the right anymore. You've got to drive it back over toward the middle.' The point is, I just didn't get to enjoy any part of that run. It just didn't feel that fast to me because I was thinking so much about the things that I needed to do right. And when the 87 came up there it was awesome. We were in and we were in solid. There's no way I thought that was going to hold simply because you had six more pairs of cars behind us that just saw what the race track was capable of."

Steve Torrence

Current Top Fuel world champion Torrence put down an impressive 3.711 at 325.53 in his Capco Contractors dragster. It would give Torrence his third No. 1 qualifier this year and 23rd in his career if it holds. Richie Crampton is currently in second place after his run of 3.742 at 328.06 followed by Antron Brown who ran 3.758 at 328.94 to snag the third spot.

Erica Enders

In Pro Stock, Enders’ 6.506 at 211.86 rocketed her to the provisional No. 1 spot in her Melling Performance / Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Enders is after her third consecutive No. 1 qualifier in the Countdown to the Championship. Her teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. is currently in second with his pass of 6.524 at 210.37 and Jason Line rounds out the provisional top three with a run of 6.534 at 211.53.

Jerry Savoie

Pro Stock Motorcycle's Savoie raced to the top spot on his White Alligator Racing Suzuki, going 6.801 at 196.85. It would be his first No. 1 qualifier of the season if it holds. Eddie Krawiec is currently qualified second with a pass of 6.818 at 198.47 and his teammate Andrew Hines sits in third with a 6.837 at 198.41.

Qualifying continues Saturday at the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at 1:15 p.m.