BECKMAN BOLSTERED BY CHICAGO PERFORMANCE AS E'TOWN RACE NEARS

NORCO, Calif. (June 10, 2010) - Bolstered by the excellent performance of the all-new Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car at last weekend's Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill. (outside of Chicago), its driver Jack Beckman is eager to race it again at this weekend's 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J.

The California native set a track record speed of 314.16 mph in the semifinal round, albeit losing to Robert Hight in the other lane, and is fifth in the point standings. He's earned one victory so far in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.

"Winning the second race of the year for us was big," said Beckman, a cancer survivor who helped raise over $56,000 during his 10-week campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. "I think everybody on the crew now recognizes that we are going to contend for the championship.

"Points-wise, the last six races of the year are definitely more important (when the Countdown to 1 playoffs are run), because they're going to reset the points going into the Countdown. Right now we're in the most hectic part of the schedule (four back-to-back events followed by a weekend off and three more in a row), and I think that this is a time when nobody is going to set themselves apart. The way I see it there's going to be five or six strong contenders for the championship. But now is certainly the time to get your tune-up, your combination and your attitude aimed in that direction for the championship. I think getting the win in Englishtown would help towards that goal.

"We unloaded the brand-new car in Joliet and it ran great, but the changes we made to it we thought were going to help us out on the hot tracks. "Ironically, we didn't have a hot track to race on in Chicago. So it's going to be very interesting how this car, with some weight moved around in it, responds to a hot race track.

"We've been going rounds on a pretty consistent basis and that's a great feeling, but it's almost like stopping in the middle of a great dinner. You want to finish the thing. You know you have a contending car, you know you've got the best team out there, but what you really want is to park that thing in the winner's circle on Sunday.

"For the Funny Car class, Englishtown is one of the most historic races there is. It's very, very rich in history from the Funny Car perspective, and I've never won there. I would absolutely like to a add my name to the record books as an Englishtown Funny Car winner."

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

 

BECKMAN IS NO. 12 QUALIFIER IN E'TOWN

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 12, 2010) - Jack Beckman placed the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car into No. 12 in qualifying for the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

He posted his quickest lap of 4.262 seconds at 291.95 mph in today's third round. His other laps included a 5.931-second pass, a 4.69/181.47 and finally a 4.727/172.87.

"When you arrive at a race track you have in your mind how you want things to go that weekend," he said. "You would love to muscle your way into the winner's circle with amazing times and stellar performances.

"When we win this one tomorrow," he said with a wry smile, "that will not have been the way that we got there. We really struggled in qualifying, but it wasn't the hot race track. The only time we missed the tune-up was right there in Q4. We were a little bit aggressive on that one and, ironically, that might be the one that was our best run of the weekend in terms of giving us a path to go on tomorrow.

"We were on an absolutely monster run last night. It would have been a 4.02 or a 4.03 and we broke the driveshaft. Now, a lot of things that happen to race cars are preventable. Because of that one we're going to do something different and hope it doesn't happen again. I think the fortunate break was it didn't happen Sunday in eliminations.

"We can win ugly, but I think we can win this thing."

Beckman faces his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps in the opening round of Sunday's elminations.

 

BECKMAN ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS IN E'TOWN

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 13, 2010) - "Fast" Jack Beckman advanced to the semifinal round today at the 41st annual NHRA SupeNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

After qualifying 12th in a field of 15 cars, Beckman raced the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger past his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps in the opening round with a 4.232-second elapsed time at 292.08 mph, then dismissed Jim Head with a 4.178/295.92 before meeting up with Del Worsham in the semifinals.

With the track temperature soaring to 124 degrees and the air heavy with moisture, Beckman lost a close match-up, as the pair crossed the finished line with nearly identical lap times. Worsham hit the stripe first, posting a winning 4.180/303.30 to Beckman's very close 4.185/296.44.

"Yesterday, I don't know that the odds makers would have thought that we were going to do this well today," said Beckman, of his No. 12 qualifying effort. "We certainly found the combination for eliminations.

"I've never had anything happen like what happened in the semis," he added. "Going up to stage the car, the parachute cable snags the sleeve of my fire suit and I'm trying to pull the thing loose when I go into stage, and I couldn't get if off of there. I drove the whole run with just my left hand on the steering wheel. Very interesting deal.

"We were only five thou (thousandths of a second) off of Del's car and I think we showed everybody that we could run well in the less-preferred (right) lane. We really turned this program around from a lackluster qualifying effort to a semifinal finish. So, now we've got some hot-weather data on this new chassis and it seems like we have tune-ups for cold and hot tracks now.

"We're disappointed today and we're excited about having two more races in two more weeks, because I think we can win one of those." Next up are the Bristol, Tenn., race this coming weekend, followed by the Norwalk, Ohio, the following weekend. Beckman moved up to fourth place in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series class point standings.

The Valvoline/MTS Dodge featured a photo of a U.S. Army soldier this weekend. "It's a photo of Sgt. Shane Morris of the U.S. Army, who is serving in Afghanistan right now," said Beckman. "His father, Robert Buck, has been involved with the NHRA on the manufacturers' midway for years and runs the Mechanix Wear trailer. Mechanix Wear is also a sponsor of the Valvolne/MTS team. And his sister Cheyenne is out here as well.

"So, it's nice to feature one of the troops on the car with some support around here from his family. It really puts a personal face on the tribute that we're trying to give all the soldiers out there.

"All the Valvoline/MTS guys got luggage and backpacks from Mechanix Wear. It was kind of their way of saying thanks for supporting Mechanix Wear. We appreciate everything they have done for us."

As of 3:45 p.m., the final rounds of all pro classes are halted because of rain in Englishtown. Following are the points, as they stand before the final. The number in parentheses is the number of points that driver will receive if he wins.