Beckman banks No. 9 in Seattle qualifying

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 14 of 23
23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals
Pacific Raceways
Kent, Wash.
July 9-11, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

BECKMAN BANKS NO. 9 IN SEATTLE QUALIFYING

KENT, Wash. (July 10, 2010) - Jack Beckman banked the No. 9 qualifying
position for the 23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals, racing the
Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car to a 4.275-second
pass at 284.03 mph on Friday evening under hot conditions.

Temperatures cooled slightly for Saturday, but Beckman was unable to
improve, posting two tire-smoking laps of 4.708/178.54 (No. 8) and
4.730/175.39). He also lost traction in his out-of-the-box pass on Friday,
producing a 6.181/105.67 (No. 14). He will face 14-time Funny Car champion
John Force in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

"Oh, my gosh, we've got all our tire-smoking runs out of the way in
qualifying and that's a good feeling," said Beckman.

"Good air conditions here, which means decent power, warm race track. And
those are kind of tip-toe conditions. Both lanes look equal. We're excited
about tomorrow. Not having lane choice should not be an issue tomorrow,
though we would have preferred it.

"We have John Force and we're very excited about that because now we have a
chance to take out the No. 1 guy early and that's really what you have to do
if you want to make up points on those top positions," added Beckman, who is
No. 4 in the rankings.

"We only went down the track one time, but the other three times we made it
far enough to learn something. We'll see if our lessons pay off tomorrow.
So, the goal is get rid of the Force car early, and get rid of the next
three throughout the day. Period!" he added with a grin.

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