Last year's Norwalk champ Beckman goes for two in a row
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES Round 13 of 23 Fourth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park Norwalk, Ohio June 25-27, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net LAST YEAR'S NORWALK CHAMP BECKMAN GOES FOR TWO IN A ROW NORCO, Calif. (June 23, 2010) - Jack Beckman, winner of the 2009 Funny Car title in Norwalk, Ohio, is targeting his first repeat victory in two consecutive seasons at this weekend's fourth annual NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny car Don Schumacher Racing won last year's event on his birthday. "Last year my birthday was on Sunday, this year it is on Monday. So, I intend to get my trophy a day earlier for my birthday present this year," he said, with a cautious laugh. With only five national events remaining before the Countdown to 1 playoffs begin for the top 10 in points in the final six races of the reason, what Beckman is serious about is clinching a spot in the top 10. Entering the Norwalk event, he is fourth in the rankings, 29 markers behind his DSR teammate Matt Hagan, in third. Second place is 97 points away (Robert Hight), and John Force holds the points lead by 155. "Barring (crew chiefs) Rahn Tobler and John Collins deciding to join the Peace Corps and leaving tomorrow, I think that we're a solid lock for the Countdown. The way we're running, I think our chances of being a top-three car for the Countdown are pretty good. And I think if you're in the top six you've got a really good shot at winning the championship. "At this point, once you get in the Countdown, I think the goal is pretty singular. It's the championship and that's going to be achieved by round wins. But, when you're this much into the season - we just passed the halfway point - we look like we're going to be right there amongst the top five cars for the rest of the regular season. We really want race wins now. "When we lost at Bristol last Sunday in the quarterfinal, we didn't lose because of a parts malfunction and we didn't lose because of an error, and that means that we ought to be able to take that data and learn from it. "Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway was the hottest race track we've been on on all year long and we're going to have more of the same coming up, but I think in this sport you have to learn from your mistakes and you have to learn from your successes. "I don't think there's any race track that we pull into that we're not absolutely capable of winning," added Beckman, who has earned one victory so far this year and raced in his 100th national event in Bristol. "And I think all the Funny Car competitors realize that. It's just a matter of learning from every single run and applying that. "I've never won two events in a row at the same venue. I've won Phoenix twice, but there was a year in between them. I would love at the end of this week to say that I won an event back to back. I've won two consecutive events the same year, in Denver and Seattle in 2007, but I've never won the same race two years in a row. And I think we can do that." Beckman commented on John Medlen¹s taking over from Ed "Ace" McCulloch as crew chief on the NAPA AUTO PARTS car at DSR: "I think it might be a very intelligent thing to do and it might actually make our car better,² he said. ³Up until now we could bounce ideas off of Ace and he could bounce ideas off of us at the race track, but he had a car to tune and we had a car to tune. If he's freed up to devote a third of his weekend to each of the DSR Funny Cars, that could be a huge deal for all of us." 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. 4 in 2010 Funny Car points after 12 events: including four semifinal finishes, a victory in Phoenix and a runner-up in St. Louis * Is the 2009 Norwalk Funny Car champion * Qualified No. 6 in 2009 Norwalk, beat Bob Tasca * 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 100 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 116-86 * 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 WEEKEND SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, June 25 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 4:45 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. SATURDAY, June 26 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 12:10 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. SUNDAY, June 27 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Saturday, June 26, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 7 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 4:30 p.m. (ET). Sunday, June 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 7 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE: Friday, June 25, 9:30 - 10 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (Digital SD feed) Saturday, June 26, 6:30 - 7 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K Sunday, June 27, 7 - 7:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 5K (11800 MHz, horizontal; Data Rate: 18.295441161 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 13.235 Ms; FEC: ¾; Bandwidth: 18 Mhz) Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners¹ interviews on Sunday. ***