BRISTOL'S UNIQUENESS AND HISTORY BECKONS BECKMAN

NORCO, Calif. (June 15, 2010) - Jack Beckman has always been an NHRA historian, often reciting facts and statistics drawn from the "old" days of the sport. As he heads to this weekend's 10th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway this weekend, he can't help but talk about this track's history and how neat it is to race there.

"For me, as a racing historian, Bristol is one of those places that's got it all," said the driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger which will feature a tribute to the troops in Afghanistan in its paint scheme. "It's got history. NHRA first went there in 1965 for what was then the Spring Nationals. NHRA left in 1967 and after the 1997 season the original track closed and work began on an $18 million facility under the guidance of new owner Bruton Smith. The facility reopened in 1999 and hosted the first Thunder Valley Nationals in 2001.

“And if you've never been to that track you're missing a unique experience. Bristol completely stands out. It's the only track we race at that is literally in a valley, therefore the name Thunder Valley.

"When you hear the nitro cars warming up in the pits, and when some of them burp the throttle to seat the clutch, you can hear three or four echoes of that blip if you're standing off in the distance.

"If you haven't been there it's almost impossible to describe that feeling. Going down that track is amazing because you get to the shutoff area and there's trees lining both sides of it. It's just a completely unique place.

"And I think in terms of richness of history, the atmosphere, the Southern hospitality, the fact that this is the third of four in a row, the third of seven in eight weeks, this is where you want to continue banging out those round wins on Sunday.

"We phased in the brand-new chassis two races ago, and I guess it's about as perfect as can be expected, with two semifinal finishes in a row. We would like to get a win quickly with it. The tune-up numbers are looking good and we're postured really well to get all four win lights on Sunday.

"This is one of probably no more than four events throughout the year that we're going to actually run as late as we do on Friday night. (Pro sessions begin at 5 p.m.) Because dragsters run second Friday nights at national events, the Funny Cars more or less get a dusk session, where the Dragsters get a night session. In Bristol, because the sessions are so late, the fans will be able to see the Funny Cars and Dragsters run completely under the lights on Friday night. That's always a treat from the fans' perspective, but it's always a little bit of a nail-biter from the drivers' perspective.

"We should see the best conditions of the weekend Friday night. You have to run well on Friday if you want to qualify in one of the top four spots, and visibility in the nitro Funny Cars at 315 mph is highly under-rated, so it's pretty exciting from our standpoint."

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 <http://www.mailterminals.com/> .

 

BECKMAN IS NO. 5 QUALIFIER IN BRISTOL

BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 19, 2010) - Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car team qualified No. 5 for the 10th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, despite enduring the hottest track conditions of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series so far.

Beckman established his quickest pass of 4.199 seconds at 297.35 mph during the cooler Friday-night session, which followed a 4.333/278.58 (No. 5) earlier that day. In Saturday's runs on a track surface nearing 140 degrees, he posted two tire-smokers of 6.330/111.34 (No. 5) and 5.877/122.20.

"Struggling is today's word," said Beckman. "And I don't just mean our team. There was a lot of tire smoke among the nitro teams. It looks like NHRA is not prepping the track as heavy as it has at a lot of tracks. And we need to make an adjustment for that. And these are the hottest conditions that this new car of ours has seen. If we were missing it and everybody else was going down the race track, we would start wondering what they're doing different. But it looks like a lot of cars are missing it.

"But we're fifth best here, we're a top-half car, and we're postured to win this thing tomorrow. Sunday is probably not going to be as hot as today, and hopefully with the data from the last two runs, where we were too aggressive at the same spot in the track, either the track will come to us if the weather cools down or we'll back away from that a little bit.

"The fine line that you walk on is that you could back it off too much and you could get outrun. If you don't back it off enough and you smoke the tires, you get outrun. That's why (crew chiefs) Rahn Tobler and John Collins sit up there in the brain central part of the trailer.

"It's so cliché, but I have all the confidence in the world," added Beckman of the Valvoline/MTS crew. "These nine guys will figure out a way to get the Valvoline/MTS car four runs tomorrow. I'm just the lucky you-know-what that gets to sit in there and push the throttle down."

Beckman faces Jim Head in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

 

BECKMAN ENDS BRISTOL RUN IN QUARTERFINALS

BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 20, 2010) - Under hot, steamy conditions for the third straight day at the 10th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, No. 5 qualifier Jack Beckman raced the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car into the quarterfinal round before being bumped out by Del Worsham.

The California native first defeated Jim Head in the opening round, besting him by 16 feet with a 4.243-second elapsed time at 285.47 mph to Head's losing 4.296/268.17. When he faced Worsham in the quarterfinal, Beckman launched first by three hundredths of a second but, when both cars lost traction, Worsham recovered first to take the win with a 4.530/206.74 to Beckman's losing 5.120/208.17.

For the second round, the track temperature had risen to 138 degrees. "Any time the track is 138 degrees, short of the officials getting out there and hosing it down with ice cold water and then letting it dry, there's just not much you can do," said Beckman, who holds on to fourth in the class point standings.

"Backing down 8000 horsepower is a very slippery slope to walk on. And Del and I both smoked the tires. It's exciting for a driver to have a chance to win it in a pedalfest, and we just smoked them a little bit earlier.

"It's frustrating. And I think it's great that I'm frustrated because I know that we're so close to being back in the winner's circle and maybe doing it a couple of races in a row. Just having that anticipation knowing that this team and this car are that good is encouraging.

"I think every single Sunday we're capable of winning, so when we don't it's disappointing and I think that's a great position to be in, to always expect to win. So, I expect in seven more days we're going to get that trophy in Norwalk," he added, with a smile.

Next up is the fourth annual NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio, June 25-27.