This Is Why You Never Give Up – Insane Funny Car Comeback!

Drag races, by their very nature, are over in a matter of seconds. From stock daily drivers to nitro funny car, things just don’t take long on the drag strip. That being the nature of the sport, there aren’t a lot of huge comebacks on the track, but every now and then, a single race will remind us why you always keep the throttle to the floor, no matter how far behind you are. While we were in Sonoma at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, we got to witness one of those races, and it’s been chosen as the NHRA’s #12 most memorable moment of 2017.

In the semifinals of eliminations on Sunday, JR Todd brought his DHL Camry to the line to face off with the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T of Jack Beckman. Todd, a rookie in Funny Car but certainly no stranger to nitro as a 9-time winner in Top Fuel, was seeking his first win in a flopper. However, it looked as though his hopes of finding paydirt in Sonoma were dashed as soon as he smashed the gas and blew the tires off. Beckman would have no traction issues and streaked toward what looked to everybody on the property an easy win and a berth in the final around. However, just before half track, Beckman’s Charger lost power inexplicably, leaving him with nothing to do but coast toward the finish line.

Meanwhile, back around the sixty-foot mark, Todd had reigned in the tire-smoking Camry and was back on the throttle, despite being several hundred feet behind. With his car hooked up and all 11,000 horsepower pounding the pavement, JR set about reeling in the coasting Beckman and would drive around him just feet before the finish line to snatch the win from certain defeat.

As they crossed the finish line, Todd was moving more than twice Beckman speed, with a 165 MPH advantage going to the DHL car at the stripe! I remember vividly just how loud the crowd erupted when Todd’s win light came on, the improbable comeback electrifying the capacity crowd!

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