Beckman finishes U.S. Nats in quarters, is fifth in Countdown

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2007 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 18 of 23
Countdown to Four
U.S. NATIONALS
O'Reilly Raceway Park
Clermont, Ind.
Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BECKMAN FINISHES U.S. NATS IN QUARTERS, IS FIFTH IN COUNTDOWN

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 3, 2007) - Jack Beckman's first visit to the
prestigious U.S. Nationals as a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car driver in
his first full season of Funny Car competition was a dream weekend, despite
his failure to double-up and earn a $50,000 bonus by winning the Skoal
Showdown and the national event.

He collected $100,000 for his Showdown triumph on Sunday, qualified No. 3 in
the field, earned for his crew another Full Throttle Pit Challenge Award for
consistency in qualifying, and finished in the quarterfinals. As for the
Countdown to Four point standings, the driver of the Mail Terminal Services
Dodge Charger R/T is fifth, 18 points out of fourth (Ron Capps).

In eliminations, Beckman initially defeated Scott Kalitta with another
consistent pass, a 4.902-second lap at 318.24 mph, then knocked off a solid
.039 reaction time (.000 is perfect) against Mike Ashley's .091 in the
second round. Unfortunately, in 90-degree heat, Beckman's uncharacteristic
tire-smoking 5.305/299.66 didn't hold up to Ashley's winning 4.882/324.12.

"We just overpowered the race track," Beckman explained. "It's tough. The
track temperature was a very hot 127 degrees. Mike Ashley had lane choice,
and we knew we had to lean on the car to run with him. Hats off to that
team, they put up a great number.

"We tried to run a high 4.80 to run with him, and that's what it would have
taken to win that round.

"The good news is four of the Countdown cars didn't get out of the first
round. We definitely did ourselves a little bit of good. We just need to go
win Memphis and set things straight.

"That's just a byproduct of winning the race," he said of missing the
doubling-up opportunity. "I'm very disappointed we didn't win the race. Our
car was so consistent in the heat yesterday. Mike Ashley's car is like a
home-run-hitting car. If they don't smoke the tires, they're going to haul.
We can't take the chance that they're going to smoke the tires, which means
we'd better set ours up to haul. But we also are incredibly consistent in
hot weather conditions. It was actually a surprise to me that the car smoked
the tires."

Next up is the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn., Sept.
14-16.

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