Beckman has eye on championship as NHRA heads to Texas
DON SCHUMACHER RACING 2010 NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES Roud 20 of 23 Round 3 of six in Countdown to the Championship 25th annual NHRA Fall Nationals Texas Motorplex Ennis, Texas Sept. 24-26, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell 203-243-2438; jstropus@earthlink.net BECKMAN HAS EYE ON CHAMPIONSHIP AS NHRA HEADS TO TEXAS ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 22, 2010) - Now that Jack Beckman is just four points out of the Funny Car lead in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series after his runner-up finish in Concord, N.C., last Sunday, he's aiming to move even closer to winning his first Funny Car championship, driving the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car. He enters this weekend's 25th annual NHRA Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas (south of Dallas), in second place after two of six playoffs events, with an excellent chance of moving into No. 1. Had he won in Concord, he would have taken over the top spot. He knows it's within reach in this highly-competitive Countdown to the Championship. "I think we had a pretty close-to-perfect weekend in Concord," said Beckman, who has never won in Ennis, but was runner-up last year. "We would have loved to have earned that gold man at the end of the day there, but maybe in Dallas we can have that perfect weekend. "I've got to be consistent. I've said that it was race wins in the regular season that counted, round wins in the Countdown. That doesn't mean that we're satisfied with just making it to the final and coming up runner-up, but it means that we're doing all the things necessary to keep us in contention for the championship. "We've had some luck in Dallas before. I have never been in the winner's circle, but I've been in the final, and I went to the Motorplex as a spectator for its very first race back in 1986. I watched Don Garlits win it then, and I'm still as big a fan today as I was 25 years ago. "I have a lot of friends and family in the area. My dad lives in that area and he's coming out to the race. I'm really hoping to have a big entourage up in the winner's circle with me Sunday afternoon." Mail Terminal Services continues 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 includes 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: * 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. * No. 2 in 2010 Funny Car points after two of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs (semifinalist and runner-up) * Is just four points out of the lead (John Force) * Entered the Countdown in No. 3 after 17 events of the "regular" season: five semifinal finishes, a victory in Phoenix and three runner-ups (St. Louis, Sonoma and Brainerd) * Texas Motorplex runner-up in 2009 * Qualified No. 7 here in 2009, lost final to Robert Hight * Has 33-18 round-win record for 2010 * In his 107 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won nine times in 22 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 131-93 * 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 * 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) * 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. 24 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 2:15 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. SATURDAY, Sept. 25 - FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 11:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. SUNDAY, Sept. 26 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m. TELEVISION: Sunday, Sept. 26, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise one hour of qualifying highlights at 1 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 26, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will re-air one hour of qualifying highlights at 10 a.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 26, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 6:30 p.m. (ET). Sunday, Sept. 26 ESPN3.com will televise of coverage of eliminations starting at noon (ET). Sunday, Sept. 26, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 7 p.m. (ET). SATELLITE (Digital SD feed): Friday, Sept. 24, 8:30 - 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 24K Saturday, Sept. 25, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 24K Sunday, Sept. 26, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 24K (12180 MHz, horizontal; Data Rate: 18.295441161 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 13.235 Ms; FEC: ¾; Bandwidth: 36 Mhz) Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners' interviews on Sunday. ***