Beckman finishes in semis in Seattle

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 FINISHES IN THE SEMIS IN SEATTLE

KENT, Wash. (July 11, 2010) - Jack Beckman got a lucky break in the opening
round of Funny Car eliminations at the 23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals,
then advanced to the semifinal round, where he was ousted by his Don
Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.

Beckman was ready to accept defeat when the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services
Dodge Charger struck the tires against 14-time champion and points leader
John Force in the opening stanza, until Force crossed the centerline and was
disqualified. Beckman grabbed the win with a 7.267-second pass at 82.46 mph.

He continued his run to the semis by dismissing another John Force Racing
driver, Robert Hight (second in points) in the second round, with a
4.347/281.77. Despite nailing Capps at the starting lights (.061 to .098
reaction time - .000 is perfect), he lost traction, ceding the win to Capps'
4.245/289.94 with a 5.099/173.45.

"I'm going to be positive and pragmatic about this," said Beckman, who holds
on to fourth place in the rankings. "We had good results from a below-par
performance for us. We went to the semifinals, which is good for points. But
we didn't make it down the track but two of the seven times and it's very
uncharacteristic of us.

"We were making it past that crucial shake zone - 50-150 feet - just fine.
This thing is a Chrysler 300 right now. It's quick early, it makes it
through there, so we solved those problems.

"For whatever reason, when we were trying to stack clutch on it out there at
300 feet, it wasnąt liking it. But we still kept getting data. (Crew chief)
Rahn (Tobler) is upset right now and any time Tobler's upset he's going to
find the issue. He and (co-crew chief) John Collins are two halves of the
same mind some days. They're going to take this data back, look at it for
three days, and figure out what we can tweak and tune.

"We got a real lucky break against John. Our car went out there and shook
and smoked and he had us. He smoked too, but he was driving away from us and
then his car went over to the centerline and I had another front-row seat
and I saw him get on the centerline. But, the rules say you have to cross
the centerline and I got on the radio and I said, Guys, they may have to get
the video tape and a ruler out for this one, I don't know if he got all the
way over.

"Fortunately for us we did get the win light. We don't want to win like
that, but we'll take these rounds, we'll take the lessons we learn from them
and we want to go to Sonoma and just kick their butts on brute muscle.

"We're still fourth in points. We want to get another win here real quick,
and next Sunday would be really fine with me."

Next up is the 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., July
16-18.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after 14 events:
1. John Force, 1057
2. Robert Hight, 1016
3. Matt Hagan, 922
4. Jack Beckman, 907
5. Tim Wilkerson, 891 (winner today)
6. Ashley Force Hood, 872
7. Ron Capps, 847 (runner-up today)
8. Bob Tasca III, 828
9. Del Worsham, 802
10. Tony Pedregon, 668

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