Beckman, Langdon & Hartford Win NHRA Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge At Pomona
Story By: NHRA – POMONA, CA – John Force Racing’s Jack Beckman captured the NHRA Funny Car Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge specialty race on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip at the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals.
Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) also won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge.
Beckman went 3.831-seconds at 330.72 seconds in his 11,000-horsepower PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS, defeating Paul Lee in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and claiming his first win in the specialty race.
“Paul Lee’s car is an A-level competitive car and when we went 3.83 in round one, we were feeling pretty spicy and then they go 3.82 and got lane choice, but we knew it didn’t matter,” Beckman said.
“These conditions are A-plus-plus, as good as it gets out there. The issue when the track gets as good as the crew chiefs don’t have much data on this. We know what to do when the track gets good, but when the track gets great, you can count on one hand, typically, the number of runs a year you get when the track is phenomenal. In all likelihood, all the runs tomorrow are going to be in those type of conditions.”
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon kept Kalitta Motorsports rolling and continued his recent dominance as well, beating teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round with a run of 3.662 at a near-record 338.68 in his 11,000-horsepower Kalitta Air Careers dragster. It denied Kalitta a chance at a perfect weekend, but Langdon kept rolling along, capturing his second straight Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory.
Langdon also won the event in Phoenix last weekend as the car continues to perform at an extremely high level. The run in the Challenge final was his best of the weekend and puts him third heading into eliminations, while the speed marked the second-fastest run in Top Fuel history. The points leader will now have a chance to double-up for the second straight race in his red-hot early-season start.
“Honestly, it’s a great feeling to come back from the run and see the smile on Connie’s [Kalitta] face and see the smiles on the team’s faces. All their hard work, everything’s paying off,” Kalitta said. “The cars are running good, which is great. They’re responding well to what the crew chiefs have been doing.
“It’s obviously a great feeling when everything’s clicking, and the biggest thing now is we got a good, fast, consistent race car. Now it’s just a matter of maintaining it and trying to see if we can kick off a couple wins along the way and get ready for the Countdown at the end of the year.”
In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford defeated Greg Anderson in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, going 6.496 at 210.67 in his GETTRX/Total Seal Camaro to get his second win in the specialty race. The first came two years in Pomona as the veteran continued his strong performance at the historic facility. Next up on Hartford’s list is an event win, which would be his first since the 2023 campaign.
“This is as good a car as I’ve ever had. It’s hateful,” Hartford said. “Over the winter, we made a very easy decision to make sure that we continued in our older chassis and to try to reinvent the wheel every run or make changes that we don’t know. Let’s use facts and work off data.
“A win is the next thing for us, but you’ve got to get through first round and take it one round at a time. When you look at the qualifying sheet, I can promise you of the 16 cars, none of them you want to race first round because they’re all good. The conditions tomorrow are going to be hateful. If you think the runs that you’ve seen over the last four runs were good, wait until tomorrow. The cars are all going to pick up tomorrow.”
