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BECKMAN HEADS TO ‘HOME AWAY FROM HOME’ TEXAS?

NORCO, Calif. (April 6, 2010) - This may be reaching, but California native "Fast" Jack Beckman says he's looking forward to returning to what he's begun to consider his home away from home - Texas - and the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals this weekend at Houston Raceway Park.

"By proxy, I guess I'm part Texan right now, because my dad (Bob) lives there in Arlington," says Beckman, who drives the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. "So, I definitely have a lot of Texans on my side. My dad's been in Texas on and off for the last 25 years working there, and now he lives there. And he's got a huge contingent of buddies, friends and car fanatics, who always come to both of the Texas races. It's kind of of become a home away from home.

"It's interesting,” adds Beckman, who was Funny Car runner-up in Houston in 2009. “We started off the year with three very interesting races, with one win, a rain delay, and some interesting things happening. Then we go to Concord for the four-wide 'novelty' race (according to Tim Wilkerson). The first two runs in Houston are going to seem a little bit odd with only two cars out there. You won't have this big drama of trying to get four cars up to the starting line.

"I think this is where we get back to business as usual and racing in conditions that we're used to. We're eager to prove that the way the Valvoline/MTS Dodge ran in Concord is the way that we're postured for the rest of the season," added Beckman, who is third in the point standings, following his No. 3 qualifying effort and a "semifinal" finish in Concord.

"We were never far off, but we picked away at this thing a little bit since Pomona (season-opener). I do believe that we are now one of the top cars in terms of quickness, and we definitely are in terms of speed." Beckman set his career-best elapsed time (4.040 seconds) and speed (313.66 mph) racing to 1000 feet in Concord.

"We can't wait to get to Houston and unload and prove that that quickness was no fluke and that we're still able to maintain that consistency that's been our hallmark for getting to the final round."

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 QUALIFIES NO. 8 IN HOUSTON

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 10, 2010) - Jack Beckman drove the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car into No. 8 in qualifying for the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.

He recorded his quickest pass of 4.097 seconds at 311.63 mph in Friday's second session. His other attempts produced a tire-smoking 8.210/75.68 (No. 16) early Friday, and a similar 7.353/90.61 (No. 8) on Saturday, followed by a 4.762/172.25 in the final round.

"Sometimes this sport seems so easy, and just when you think you have a handle on a nitro Funny Car you get a frustrating day like today," said Beckman. "When you miss it like this, one of the frustrating things is you wonder, Did we barely miss it and we make a tiny change and it will come back, or do we really have to make a big change into what we know is a safe zone for Sunday?

"And that's what keeps it exciting. You have 8000 horsepower and you have all these brains and hands trying to make it go down the race track and trying to outrun the person in the other lane.

"We're still top half and we still have lane choice for tomorrow, and I think everybody is going to be confident. It just threw us a little bit of a curve ball on Saturday, which we're not used to seeing.

"I'm trusting that Rahn (Tobler, crew chief) and John (Collins, assistant crew chief) are looking at the computers right now, seeing if everything makes sense - move this knob, turn that lever - so we can turn on four win lights tomorrow."

Beckman faces Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

 

BECKMAN BUMPED OUT IN HOUSTON OPENING ROUND

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 11, 2010) - It came down to a pedalfest between Jack Beckman and his opponent Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of eliminations at the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park. And after a few sashays down the 1000-foot track by both drivers, Wilkerson emerged the victor.

Wilkerson crossed the finish line in 5.051 seconds at 185.28 mph to Beckman's quicker but losing 5.030/225.71. Margin of victory: 10 feet. Beckman leaves the event fifth in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series point standings.

"It's frustrating," said Beckman. "It's very uncharacteristic for us to not get down the track four out of five runs this weekend. And being the last pair of Funny Cars, we heard all the tire-smoking runs in front of us.

"As a driver you're thinking you've got to be ready to catch it and that's what happened, and it turned into a pedalfest.

"To hear No. 1 in points lose (John Force), to hear No. 3 (Ashley Force Hood) lose in the points, you're thinking, Whoa, the door is opening up pretty good here.

"It's disappointing to lose any time. Maybe it's a little extra disappointing because we didn't really perform up to our potential the whole weekend and lost a golden opportunity to gain some ground.

"The upside of this is it's still so early in the season and we seem to do pretty well in Vegas (next event). We're going to run the race in Vegas, and we're going to stay later and probably test some things on that Monday after the race.

"Now we're starting to get into the hot summer months and in years past that was always our strength. But now that we've got a fast hot rod on cool tracks I'm not so sure that we've got that strength for the hot tracks. So, we need to try some things and see if we can calm this car down on tracks like Houston Raceway Park. It was just nasty out there.

"So, we'll shed a tear, we'll put the car back together, we'll keep our chins up [insert more cliches here].

"The thing about it is now we have to walk the walk. We've been saying that we're going to be in this deal all year long, and a nitro car is going to take a few first-round losses no matter how optimistic you are. Well, this was No. 2 for us this year. Now, we have to prove we're good enough as a team to rebound from this, go to Vegas, get this car down the track three or four times in qualifying and then go win rounds on race day.

"I know we're capable of doing that."