Beckman bolstered by Chicago performance at E'town nears
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES Round 11 of 23 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals Old Bridge Township Raceway Park Englishtown, N.J. June 11-13, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net BECKMAN BOLSTERED BY CHICAGO PERFORMANCE AS E'TOWN RACE NEARS NORCO, Calif. (June 10, 2010) - Bolstered by the excellent performance of the all-new Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car at last weekend's Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill. (outside of Chicago), its driver Jack Beckman is eager to race it again at this weekend's 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J. The California native set a track record speed of 314.16 mph in the semifinal round, albeit losing to Robert Hight in the other lane, and is fifth in the point standings. He's earned one victory so far in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season. "Winning the second race of the year for us was big," said Beckman, a cancer survivor who helped raise over $56,000 during his 10-week campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. "I think everybody on the crew now recognizes that we are going to contend for the championship. "Points-wise, the last six races of the year are definitely more important (when the Countdown to 1 playoffs are run), because they're going to reset the points going into the Countdown. Right now we're in the most hectic part of the schedule (four back-to-back events followed by a weekend off and three more in a row), and I think that this is a time when nobody is going to set themselves apart. The way I see it there's going to be five or six strong contenders for the championship. But now is certainly the time to get your tune-up, your combination and your attitude aimed in that direction for the championship. I think getting the win in Englishtown would help towards that goal. "We unloaded the brand-new car in Joliet and it ran great, but the changes we made to it we thought were going to help us out on the hot tracks. "Ironically, we didn't have a hot track to race on in Chicago. So it's going to be very interesting how this car, with some weight moved around in it, responds to a hot race track. "We've been going rounds on a pretty consistent basis and that's a great feeling, but it's almost like stopping in the middle of a great dinner. You want to finish the thing. You know you have a contending car, you know you've got the best team out there, but what you really want is to park that thing in the winner's circle on Sunday. "For the Funny Car class, Englishtown is one of the most historic races there is. It's very, very rich in history from the Funny Car perspective, and I've never won there. I would absolutely like to a add my name to the record books as an Englishtown Funny Car winner." Mail Terminal Services will continue to send boxes of post cards of support and encouragement, along with hand-out cards of DSR drivers, National Dragster and Drag Racing Action magazines to soldiers overseas. This year the program expands the opportunity to participate beyond just the NHRA fans and are including schools and service organizations. If a school or organization would like to write post cards of encouragement to the U.S. troops, the request should be sent to mts.mfh@gmail.com. MTS will be pleased to send post cards for the project and signed handout cards from Funny Car driver Jack Beckman and a Certificate of Service for the school or organization. To find out more about Mail Terminal Services go to www.mailterminals.com <http://www.mailterminals.com/> . JACK BECKMAN QUICK FACTS: * No. 5 in 2010 Funny Car points after 10 events: including three semifinal finishes, a victory in Phoenix and a runner-up in St. Louis * Has never won in Englishtown * Qualified No. 16 in 2009 E'town; lost first round to Ashley Force Hood * Ended 2009 No. 5 in point standings, winning two events in five final rounds (Atlanta; Norwalk, Ohio) * Entered 2009 Countdown to 1 in fifth place * His 2009 round win-loss record is 29-22 * No. 3 in 2008 Funny Car point standings, with three victories - Phoenix, Reading, Concord - in seven final rounds * Was bumped out of the 2007 Countdown to Four playoffs standings at the Richmond, Va., event, after his teammates Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps reached the semifinal round. Ended the season No. 5 in points * In his 98 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won nine times in 19 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 112-84 * Is the 2007 U.S. Smokeless Showdown winner ($100,000 bonus event held at U.S. Nationals) * Set national elapsed-time record of 4.662 seconds and national speed record of 333.66 mph (on quarter-mile) at final 2006 event in Pomona, Calif. The ET record has since been eclipsed. Beckman still holds the speed record * As a Funny Car rookie in the last five races of 2006, he qualified No. 1 once (Pomona 2), reached two final rounds (Las Vegas 2 and Pomona 2), won once (Vegas 2), and set both ends of the national record (Pomona 2) * Residence: Norco, Calif. * Hometown: Granada Hills, Calif. * Date of birth: June 28, 1966 * Married, Jenna (wedding date 11/7/06), son Jason Russell (3/8/07) * Height/weight: 6'0", 185 lbs. * Former instructor and current consultant at Frank Hawley's NHRA Championship Drag Racing School; former Sergeant in U.S. Air Force (1984-88); cancer survivor; licensed in nine different NHRA categories * First Start in TF: Las Vegas 1 2005 * First Start in FC: , Dallas, Texas, 2006 * Competed in only 12 TF events in 2005, ended season 15th in points * Career-best elapsed time racing to 1000 feet is 4.040 seconds (Concord 1 '09) * Career-best speed racing to 1000 feet is 314.61 mph (Chicago '10) * Career-best FC (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.662 seconds (Pomona 2 '06) * Career-best FC (quarter-mile) speed: 333.66 mph (Pomona 2 '06) * Career-best TF (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.563 seconds (TF, Brainerd 2005) * Career-best (quarter-mile) TF speed: 324.28 mph (TF, Brainerd 2005) * In 2003 won Super Comp world championship in Lucas Oil Series and Division 7 Super Comp championship * Leads 14-time champion John Force in head-to-head round wins: 11-6 (2-1 in final rounds) - DOES NOT INCLUDE CONCORD FOUR-WIDE EVENT SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, June 11 FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. SATURDAY, June 12 FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at noon and 3 p.m. SUNDAY, June 13 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Saturday, June 12, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute race preview show, at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 4 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE: Friday, June 11, 8:30 - 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (Digital SD feed) Saturday, June 12, 6:30 - 7 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K Sunday, June 13, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (11800 MHz, horizontal; Data Rate: 18.295441161 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 13.235 Ms; FEC: 3Ž4; Bandwidth: 18 Mhz) Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winnersı interviews on Sunday. ***