Beckman is No. 11 in Pomona qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 6 of 6 in Countdown to 1 playoffs
Round 24 of 24 for season
45th annual AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.)
Nov. 12-15, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net
 
BECKMAN IS NO. 11 IN POMONA QUALIFYING

POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2009) - Driving the Valvoline Engine Guarantee/Mail
Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car, Jack Beckman collected the No. 11
position in qualifying for the 45th annual NHRA Finals, recording his
quickest pass of the weekend of 4.140 seconds at 302.28 mph in today's third
session.

His other passes included a 4.145/303.57 (No. 3), a 5.593/123.64 (No. 8) and
a tire-smoking 7.566/80.53 in his final try. He will face No. 6 qualifier
Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations. He also earned
three bonus points for being third quickest in the first session and second
quickest in the third session.

Robert Hight captured the 2009 Funny Car championship when he qualified for
the event in No. 3, leaving Beckman to fight for second place in year-end
points on Sunday.

"It's exactly all the excitement you wanted except the race is for second
right now," he said, listening to Hight's award presentation. "And it's a
huge race for second. It's between us, Ashley Force Hood, Tony Pedregon, Ron
Capps and Tim Wilkerson. All those drives have a great shot at second and
there's probably one or two others who could theoretically make it into
second.

"We have Wilkerson first round so we have our fate in our hands. He's outrun
us by several hundredths of a second here this weekend (4.080/301.54).

"The interesting thing is the two good runs that we made were in conditions
that we'll likely face on race day.

"The only underdog status that we have is that we don't have lane choice. It
probably won't be a big deal tomorrow, so it's going to be exciting.

"This is what we signed up for at the beginning of the year, for this sort
of excitement at the last race,² added Beckman, from Norco, Calif. ³We want
to put the No. 2 on the car next year and we have to start banging heads
tomorrow."

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