Beckman qualifies No. 10 at Gatornationals

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 3 of 23
41st annual NHRA GATORNATIONALS
Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
March 12-14, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BECKMAN QUALIFIES NO. 10 AT GATORNATIONALS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 13, 2010) - "Fast" Jack Beckman qualified the
Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car in No. 10 for the
41st annual NHRA Gatornationals today in only three rounds of qualifying
held because of rain on Friday.

He struggled some this weekend, posting his quickest elapsed time of 4.135
seconds at 306.05 mph right out of the box in Friday's single round. His
ensuing passes included a 5.349/136.66 and a 4.790/174.08 today.

³Thank goodness we ran well out of the trailer this weekend," said Beckman.
"You donıt know how youıre going to run the rest of the qualifying runs. We
played it conservative the first run. It rained out the first session on
Friday, so we were already down to one session and the conditions looked
pretty good, and Robert Hightıs 4.06 showed that. But we thought we wanted a
good low-teen to get in the show and thatıs what we got.

³In the second run we overpowered it a little bit, and in that last run we
broke the driveshaft. In hindsight, itıs such a relief to get that first run
and get in the show. With the playoff format you can stumble a little bit
these first four races and itıs not nearly as big of a deal. For morale and
for keeping that championship-winning attitude, youıve got to play every
single Sunday to get in that rhythm.

³We wonıt have lane choice tomorrow and we would like to have had that. I
donıt think itıs going to be an issue tomorrow because weıve won from the
bottom of the field and itıs not going to be a big deal for us. We still
feel like weıve got the car to beat tomorrow.²

Beckman faces Bob Tasca III in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

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