Beckman bags No. 9 in Richmond qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 21 of 23
TORCO RACING FUELS NHRA NATIONALS
Virginia Motorsports Park
Dinwiddie, Va. (south of Richmond, Va.)
Race Date: RESCHEDULED to Oct. 13-15, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

BECKMAN BAGS NO. 9 IN RICHMOND QUALIFYING

DINWIDDIE, Va. (Oct. 14, 2006) - "Fast" Jack Beckman, driving in his
third-ever NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car event, qualified the
Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T in No. 9 for the rescheduled Torco
Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, out-qualifying his Don Schumacher Racing
teammates Ron Capps (No. 13) and Gary Scelzi (No. 12).

Beckman, still learning the ropes of driving a Nitro Funny Car, established
his quickest pass of 4.831 seconds at 304.87 mph in Friday night's cooler
conditions, but each of his laps, although not perfect, produced consistent
lap times. He clocked a 4.975/244.38, a 4.926/245.36 and a 5.139/257.14, in
which the car caught fire. No damage, but it's something Beckman will
remember.

"The car was a consistent car all four runs," he said. "Nobody's been here
for a long time (NHRA has not raced at Virginia Motorsports Park since 2000)
and it's got a new treatment. The asphalt is not quite as good as the last
couple of tracks we've been to.

"The problem is, you're making big horsepower because of the (cooler)
weather and the track can't take all that power from half-track on. That's
why you're not seeing a lot of big speeds. The cars run quick early and then
spin the tires.

"So, in the first and third runs I shut off pretty early because the motor
started revving up and I don't have the experience to know if that's a
savable run. I didn't want to hurt anything. God, I sure made up for that on
this (last) run.

"On the night run our numbers looked pretty good. I shut off a little bit
early on that one, but we still ran that 4.83. And then in the third one we
tried taking power out of it for the race track, and the car moved over,
dropped a cylinder and moved over even more.

"We took power out of it for the final pass. It looked like it knocked a rod
out of the thing and that's my first Funny Car fire. It's an experience, but
it was something I was kind of hoping I'd put off for another 100 runs or
so.

"The reality is that this is just part of nitro racing. Some of the best
drivers in the nation have had their cars blow up. I feel bad because
sometimes it's a chicken and egg thing. You're not sure if it's a tune-up
issue that made the car get out of the groove or driver error that let the
car get out and cause the tune-up issue. The reality of it is that you have
a bunch of blown-up pieces. I guess the upside is that this is the first
time I've blown anything up in the car and hopefully it won't happen for a
bunch more runs."

Beckman faces Del Worsham in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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