Beckman second in first-round teammate match-up in Houston

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 1, 2007) - Following a three-hour rain delay of the
start of the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals eliminations rounds today, Jack
Beckman faced off against his teammate Ron Capps in the Funny Car opening
round.

It was a close race, Beckman had the edge in reaction times (.080 to .088),
but it was Capps first across the finish line, winning by a mere .0264 of a
second. Beckman, driving the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T for
Don Schumacher Racing, crossed the line in 4.906 seconds at 312.78 mph to
Capps' 4.872/313.95.

"It's unfortunate," said Beckman, of North Hills, Calif. As for the quicker
reaction time, "staging plays a little in the lights," he explained. "Our
right feet probably moved at the same time and we were within eight thou in
reaction times. 

"It's really interesting when you get three team Funny Cars with three great
crew chiefs and we all have access to everybody's information. The end
result was that Ron's and my runs were pretty darned close. They had lane
choice. They got after it a little bit more early in the run, we got after
it a little bit later in the run, but the numbers read almost the same if
you looked at the scoreboard - just 26 thousandths of a second apart. It was
great for the fans.

"It's still disappointing to not win, but everybody on the MTS crew did
everything perfectly, I drove all right on that run, I left on time, it just
wasn't good enough to beat the car in the other lane. It's easier to swallow
that than having a red light or crossing the center line or driving the car
out of the groove.

"So, we're not happy with not winning, but we know we still have a bad hot
rod to take to Vegas and Vegas looks like our place." Beckman won the second
event at The Strip in 2006 in only his fourth-ever Funny Car race.

Next up is the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway.