Beckman reaches his sixth semifinal of year at U.S. Nationals

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

BECKMAN REACHES HIS SIXTH SEMIFINAL OF YEAR AT U.S. NATIONALS

CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 6, 2010) - "Fast" Jack Beckman advanced to his sixth
semifinal round of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series today at
the 56h annual U.S. Nationals, the first of six events in the Countdown to
the Championship playoffs. With Robert Hight losing in the opening round,
Beckman moved into second in points and held that spot through the rest of
the day.

En route to the semis, the driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services
Dodge Charger Funny Car defeated Tim Wilkerson with a 4.512-second elapsed
time at 219.97 mph, then Melanie Troxel with a 4.205/294.43. Without lane
choice in his semifinal match-up against Ashley Force Hood, he launched a
tick ahead of Force Hood, but she outran him to the finish line, posting a
winning 4.156/306.74 to Beckman's losing 4.209/298.93.

ŗYou know, we just lost, so the emotion is pretty high right now," he said.
"The wind gets sucked out of your sails when you realize youšre not winning
the U.S. Nationals. But, there is a silver lining. We did not have a good
car, we did not have a predictable car, and we went to the semifinals. And
we're leaving here second in points.

"Therešs a lot of good that came out of this. Wešre going to go back to the
Don Schumacher Racing shop and wešre going to check out the chassis. Therešs
some things with this new front half that are just not responding like we
want them to respond. We think we know how to fix it, and we have five races
­ actually wešve got about five days ­ to get it fixed because we need to
roll into Concord, N.C., with a predictable race car.

"Išm frustrated, but Išm really optimistic about the next five races. I
cannot wait for Concord."

Next up is the third annual NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, N.C., Sept.
17-19.

UNOFFICIAL COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS, after one event
(18 for the year):
1. John Force, 2206
2. Jack Beckman, 2146
3. Matt Hagan, 2145 (runner-up today)
4. Ashley Force Hood, 2137
5. Robert Hight, 2125
6. Ron Capps, 2091
7. Bob Tasca III, 2083
8. Tim Wilkerson, 2072
9. Del Worsham, 2043
10. Tony Pedregon, 2031

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