Jack Beckman is notorious for taking a long time to talk about a short pass.
 
But after taking over the Funny Car class' provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday at the NHRA's O'Reilly Winternationals with a 4.045-second run, he tried to be a little more concise.

Jack Beckman is notorious for taking a long time to talk about a short pass.
 
But after taking over the Funny Car class' provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday at the NHRA's O'Reilly Winternationals with a 4.045-second run, he tried to be a little more concise.
 
Still, Beckman couldn't help himself at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. And he spoke with humility, humor, and a "hat's off" to his Valvoline M-T-S crew. He said he knows this Number-One spot might not last through Saturday's final two sessions. But -- like his Funny Car championship -- Beckman is enjoying the moment.

"We are half way through qualifying," said Beckman. "We're not even close to declaring who's going to take the No. 1 position. It was gratifying because we struggled on the first run, and it was gratifying because that first run and the 19 test runs we made in the off season didn't really go the way we had hoped they would. We thought we had a pretty good hot rod at the end of last year."

Video footage courtesy of NHRA, ESPN. Photos by Roger Richards.

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