![\"Settling](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/John-Medlen-Dean-and-Kelly-Antonelli-Jack-Beckman-min.jpg\")
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NHRA\u2019s third race of the year was fraught with emotion. The 49th annual Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals took place over the St Patrick\u2019s Day weekend and featured all of the Mello Yello professional categories, together with J&A Pro Mod and a slew of Lucas Oil Sportsman classes. It was also the start of this year\u2019s Factory Stock Showdown class, featuring entries from Chevrolet, Dodge\/Mopar and Ford.<\/p>\n
While it was great to see Richie Crampton back in the Top Fuel winner\u2019s circle with Kalitta Motorsports, along with sophomore Pro Stock standout Tanner Gray\u2019s Chevrolet Camaro and Eddie Krawiec, reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champion on his Vance & Hines Screamin\u2019 Eagle V-Rod hoisting their Wally trophies, the exclamation point for this particular weekend was the Funny Car victory for Jack Beckman, who had the Dodge Charger R\/T hot rod to beat throughout the race meeting.<\/p>\n
Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car class champion, has had an up-and-somewhat-down career, seemingly always having to contend with rotating crew chiefs and crews. Still, the driver of Terry and Doug Chandler\u2019s Don Schumacher Racing Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R\/T has won races and been in the hunt for a Funny Car title most every single season the former Vietnam War combatant and cancer survivor has raced on Don Schumacher\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
For the past couple of years, Beckman\u2019s hot rod has been tuned by veterans John Medlen, Dean \u201cGuido\u201d Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh, who last year came over to the Funny Car side of Schumacher\u2019s mega-team from the U.S. Army Top Fuel squad for eight-time champion Tony Schumacher. They appear to have gelled well as a team, particularly this year.<\/p>\n
![\"Settling](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Jack-Beckman-with-trophy-min.jpg\")
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Gainesville will always be a tough race for Medlen and Antonelli, both formerly employed by John Force Racing (JFR). It was at this venue, 11 years ago, that Medlen\u2019s son Eric, a championship-capable driver, had an accident in testing his JFR Mustang Funny Car the day after the race, a traditional time for nitro teams to test. Five days later John Medlen\u2019s son and Dean Antonelli\u2019s best friend was gone.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s acknowledged that racing is a cruel sport, Eric Medlen\u2019s 2007 death hit the NHRA community exceptionally hard. In fact, at Sonoma Raceway each year, the track holds an ice cream social in his honor, as the wine country dragstrip was the closest professional venue to the Medlen family home where Eric grew up attached to horsepower of a different type – he loved riding rodeo as well as racing cars.<\/p>\n
Every year since that fateful day, John Medlen and Dean Antonelli have returned to Gainesville, Florida looking for, if not closure, at least some sort of satisfaction. This past weekend they found it as the DSR Infinite Hero trio tuned Beckman to eight runs down a very tricky track that had almost everyone scratching their heads as they battled heat, cool, wind – but thankfully no rain.<\/p>\n
Beckman led qualifying to earn the pole sitter\u2019s green hat and marched through the bracket, dealing with No. 16 qualifier Jim Campbell\u2019s Toyota Camry, the Camry of former champ Del Worsham, Kalitta Motorsports\u2019 Shawn Langdon and teammate\/points leader Matt Hagan in an incredibly close final, which he nabbed by posting a better reaction time of .051 to Hagan\u2019s .062 seconds. Hagan was quicker (4.034 to Beckman\u2019s 4.035-sec) but the Californian beat the Virginia cattle farmer in speed, 323.58 to 322.04.<\/p>\n
Close races like that are what make NHRA nitro competition so compelling. The fact that this was John Medlen\u2019s and Dean Antonelli\u2019s first Gainesville win since that fateful day in 2007 brought the entire NHRA community to tears of joy for all of them. Because Beckman finished fourth in 2017\u2019s final standings, he uses the same number this year that Eric Medlen carried in his final races.<\/p>\n
While Sunday\u2019s results didn\u2019t bring back Medlen\u2019s son or Antonelli\u2019s best friend, it did settle a score with the track. Those that loved Eric Medlen couldn\u2019t have asked for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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