Returning to the NHRA SuperNationals this weekend at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., will be a bittersweet time for Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Last year at this event, Beckman was in the "water box" preparing to perform a burnout before his final attempt to qualify when, on the track in front of him, Scott Kalitta lost his life in a tragic accident.

It was Beckman's last chance to qualify for the event and he failed to do so. He returned home to California the next day with a heavy heart.

Returning to the NHRA SuperNationals this weekend at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., will be a bittersweet time for Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Last year at this event, Beckman was in the "water box" preparing to perform a burnout before his final attempt to qualify when, on the track in front of him, Scott Kalitta lost his life in a tragic accident.

It was Beckman's last chance to qualify for the event and he failed to do so. He returned home to California the next day with a heavy heart.

"We didn't qualify last year for the SuperNationals, as the NHRA cancelled the rest of the qualifying that day when Scott had his accident," said Beckman, a cancer survivor and former Air Force sergeant. "It didn't matter to me. It's the first time that I could ever think of in my racing career where qualifying didn't actually seem all that important.

"It's never going to be the same," he said following the loss. "It's not like one day we went, OK, well, we're over that. You'll never get over it. There is a time frame when it hurts almost constantly. And then when you get past that it's a memory and a tugging at the heart when you think of the people we have lost.

"It's going to be bittersweet going back to Englishtown," he said. "We'll have a chance to honor Scott amongst all the crews and the teams and remember him for the great racer and person he was." 

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