New time record set at NHRA Sonoma Nationals qualifying

SONOMA — Jack Beckman established a Funny Car national record for elapsed time Saturday and also made himself the favorite to win the NHRA Sonoma Nationals crown.

Beckman ran 3.958 seconds in his second Saturday qualifying pass, backing up his blistering time of 3.921 seconds set Friday and setting a national record.

Beckman is also the No. 1 qualifier for final eliminations Sunday, as he'll try to win at Sonoma Raceway for the first time in his 10-year NHRA career.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Chris McGaha (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are the other No. 1 qualifiers for Sunday.

Beckman's time Friday was the quickest pass ever in the class since it went to 1,000-foot races in 2008. According to NHRA rules, Beckman needed another pass of 3.96 seconds or faster, or within 1 percent of Friday's mark, this weekend to set a new elapsed time national record in Funny Car.

The former national elapsed time record in Funny Car was 3.965 seconds, set by John Force last February in Pomona.

Brown's track record time of 3.707 seconds in Top Fuel set late Friday night stood up through Saturday. It's the fourth time this season that Brown has been the No. 1 qualifier. Two other times when he's been No. 1, in Atlanta in May and Englishtown, New Jersey in June, Brown has gone on to win the event.

Brown also had the low ET Saturday at 3.775 seconds.

McGaha became the top qualifier in Pro Stock for the fourth time this season, as his track record time of 6.499 seconds set Friday night stood up through Saturday. McGaha has made it to the final twice this season, but is still looking for his first career event win.

Krawiec set a time of 6.787 seconds Saturday for the top mark in Pro Stock Motorcycle as he became the top qualifier in the class for the second consecutive week.

Krawiec battled inconsistency earlier this year when he failed to make it past the quarterfinals at events in Englishtown, Norwalk, Ohio and Chicago. He and his team tested to figure out what was wrong before the stop in Denver last week, then went on to win the event.

Krawiec also won the Pro Bike Battle tournament, an all-star bonus race, with a time of 6.952 seconds. Andrew Hines also advanced to the final in the tournament, but red-lighted at the start line by .01 seconds.