U.S. Nats 2008 runner-up Beckman eyes win in Countdown opener
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES Round 18 of 23 Round 1 of six in Countdown to the Championship 56th annual U.S. Nationals O'Reilly Raceway Park Clermont, Ind. Sept. 3-6, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net U.S. NATIONALS 2008 RUNNER-UP BECKMAN EYES WIN IN COUNTDOWN OPENER BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Sept. 1, 2010) - Everyone who knows Jack Beckman knows he analyzes just about every possible aspect when it comes to competing in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. He is true to form as he prepares to race the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car in this weekend's 56th annual U.S. Nationals, the first event of the six-race Countdown to the Championship. During and after a productive test session at O'Reilly Raceway Park last Thursday, where the U.S. Nationals will be held this weekend, Beckman, the 2008 U.S. Nationals runner-up, took notes and came up with a fluid scenario for a successful weekend. "The truth of the matter is," he said, "big numbers in testing are awesome but they don't give you points or trophies for testing. We only made four runs, while a lot of teams made five, six or even seven. We didn't run once it cooled down because we're very confident with the way our car runs on cool tracks. We smoked the tires once, and made two planned half-track shutoff runs. One would have been a 4.08 (-second run) or a 4.09, so we were right there. And then we went out in the heat and ran 4.16 at 301 mph, and we were pleased with that. "This is the first year that Indy is actually going to be a Countdown race, and this event is so big that it if you did nothing else all year and you won Indy it would be a year you would never forget," added Beckman, who enters the Countdown third in the standings. "But, now, the points are reset and it's like the start of a new season. There are 10 of us who have tightened way up in the points and have a shot at the crown. For our Valvoline/MTS team, if we win this race, we will come out of it in first or second place. "To say that we don't care about points right now wouldn't be completely accurate because, yeah, we want to win the race and the points will handle themselves, but NHRA kind of threw a wrench into the works last year adding these extra bonus points for qualifying, and the way the points reset for the Countdown, all the cars are within a half a round or one round of each other (round wins earn 20 points). "Well, that means if you can pick up one point in qualifying relative to the other cars, it's huge at the end of the season. It's absolutely enormous. It's not that we don't try our best in every qualifying session, but right now you have to try to get at least one point, as the top three cars will get three, two, one points in every single qualifying session. "If there's no weather-related issues, we have 25 opportunities during the Countdown to earn qualifying bonus points (Indy has a fifth qualifying session). That means there's potentially 75 points available if youčre quickest each round through the end of the year, not even counting regular qualifying points. It's important to grab as many of those as you can. "Indy is also unique that it's the only race where you start out qualifying with a night session," continued Beckman who has never won the U.S. Nationals in his nine career victories in 21 final rounds. "And it would be fantastic to run quick out of the box, make a statement early, and try to get some of those bonus points on Friday. "In addition, we have many cool things going on this week in Indianapolis that will keep us busy, including a visit to the Riley Hospital for Children on Wednesday and the Don Schumacher Racing Open House on Friday. The event is a day longer than any other event, but they give away the same-sized trophy. The finals are on Monday instead of Sunday, and I'd love to be standing there holding that trophy on Monday afternoon." 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 JACK BECKMAN QUICK FACTS: * No. 3 in 2010 Funny Car points entering the Countdown after 17 events: including five semifinal finishes, a victory in Phoenix and three runner-ups (St. Louis, Sonoma and Brainerd) * 2008 U.S. Nationals runner-up (Tony Pedregon) * Qualified No. 14 at 2009 U.S. Nats, lost first round to Mike Neff * Has 28-16 round-win record for 2010 * 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 105 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won nine times in 21 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 126-91 * 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: 12-6 (2-1 in final rounds) - DOES NOT INCLUDE CONCORD FOUR-WIDE EVENT SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, Sept. 3 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 5:30 p.m. SATURDAY, Sept. 4 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 3 and 6 p.m. SUNDAY, Sept. 5 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. MONDAY, Sept. 6 - Pre-race ceremonies, 9:30 a.m. FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Sunday, Sept. 5, ESPN2 HD will televise one hour of qualifying coverage at 10 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 5, ESPN2 HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute magazine show at 11 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 5, ESPN2 HD will televise two hours and 30 minutes of qualifying coverage at 11:30 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 5, ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 5 p.m. (ET). Monday, Sept. 6, ESPN2 HD will televise five hours of eliminations coverage at 1 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE (Digital SD feed): Friday, Sept. 3, 9:30 - 10 p.m. (ET) - AMC 3/ Transponder 21K Saturday, Sept. 4, 9:30 - 10 p.m. (ET) - AMC 3 / Transponder 21K Sunday, Sept. 5, 8- 8:30 p.m. (ET) - AMC 3 / Transponder 21K Monday, Sept. 6, 6:30 - 7 p.m. (ET) - AMC 3 / Transponder 21K (12120 MHz, horizontal; Data Rate: 18.295441161 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 13.235 Ms; FEC: Ÿ; Bandwidth: 18 Mhz) Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners' interviews on Monday. ***