Beckman rocks to No. 2 in Memphis qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of six in Countdown to 1 Playoffs
Round 21 of 24 for season
NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS
Memphis Motorsports Park
Oct. 2-4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BECKMAN ROCKS TO NO. 2 IN MEMPHIS QUALIFYING

MEMPHIS (Oct. 3, 2009) - "Fast" Jack Beckman rocketed to his highest
qualifying position of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series this
weekend when he launched the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny
Car into No. 2 in qualifying for the NHRA Mid-South Nationals.

Following his runner-up finish in Ennis, Texas, last Sunday, Beckman moved
to third in the Countdown to 1 playoffs standings and the team continues to
demonstrate its prowess of stepping up when it counts.

He recorded his quickest lap of 4.101 seconds at 306.46 mph in Friday's
evening session, for which he earned two bonus points for the second
quickest pass of the round. That was preceded by a 4.206/296.76 (No. 11)
earlier that day, and today's first run produced a 5.877/120.60. He remained
in No. 2 and then set a 4.744/175.18 in his final try.

"We unloaded with a decent run," he said. "By making it down the track on
Q1, we could afford to lean on it for Q2, and the result was second best of
the session and second lowest of qualifying, which is our highest of the
year. Outstanding.

"Now that the NHRA is implementing these bonus points and the standard
qualifying points, we need so start gobbling up a bunch of them. Today we
went out and smoked the tires twice. We were able to put a different blower
and injector on to make sure that we have two equal pieces.

"It wasn't a testing thing. It was to make sure that we have a good spare of
everything down the stretch. So, I don't think that we really showed our
potential today on the two tire-smoking runs. I think we've got enough
tune-up info to go back to it for first round tomorrow.

"This is exciting. This is the position we have to put ourselves in, where
we go into race day as one of the favorites. We've always known we have that
capability and potential and we just haven't showed it in qualifying this
year. This might be that corner that we're turning right now, where for the
rest of the year we can be a top-four car in qualifying and get lane choice
for first round."

Beckman faces Jeff Arend in the opening stanza of Sunday's eliminations.

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