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BECKMAN WAXES PHILOSOPHICAL ENTERING VEGAS EVENT

NORCO, Calif. (April 14, 2010) - Jack Beckman has already racked up one Funny Car victory in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and stands fifth in the point standings. So, it's a perfect time for the articulate, thoughtful driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing to wax philosophical about this weekend’s NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the rest of the season.

"Here's where I want to live up to what we've talked about," said Beckman, Las Vegas 2 winner in 2006, and LV2 runner-up last year. "We go to the semifinals and get a win in the first two races. We performed well in the four-wide race in Concord, N.C. - but I almost think of that as more of a distraction on the tour, because that race will never happen again this year - and then we go to Houston and we cannot find a handle on our race car.

"I'm not so sure they weren't doing different things with the Houston track preparation," added Beckman, who lost in the first round there after losing traction. "In all of Sunday's eliminations in the nitro category there are 60 passes between the Dragsters and the Funny Cars. I cannot remember a race in all my years of going to races where I've seen so many of those 60 runs be tire-smoking passes.

"With that being said, our teammate Matt Hagan - and I am so happy for the entire DieHard team - outperformed everybody and they got the win. So, even when conditions may not be ideal, somebody is going to win that day.

"We typically do have ideal conditions in Vegas. And here's where you can get out that home-run bat again and take a swing with it. And typically the track is consistently good all four runs on race day. The wrench that can be thrown into the works is that the weather in Vegas can change so radically over the course of a week or even a day. We're not even sure if we're going to have a cold or a hot race track.

"We have to, have to, get back on that horse right now. So, we are going to be collaborating with the NAPA team and add a couple of tweaks to our setup in Vegas. In qualifying, between our two teams, we're going to get eight runs of data on new parts. We know we need to step into that direction as we get into the warm-weather race tracks.

"We're going to try to accomplish two things in Vegas: get a better handle on what could be a warm race track with some new parts and get back deep into Sunday's eliminations program. It's OK to stumble a couple of times; it's going to happen to every nitro team out there. And with the Countdown format it's not nearly as critical as it was years ago in the early part of the season.

"But, when you realize why we do our jobs - that thrill of competition, setting the standard high, getting the trophy, representing our sponsors real well - all that dictates is that on Sunday we need to be around late in the day, and that's out goal again."

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. 12 IN VEGAS

LAS VEGAS (April 17, 2010) - Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car team had a tough time in qualifying for the 11th annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They pulled out only one solid pass to get into the 16-car field and that was in today's third session, a 4.289-second elapsed time at 287.47, the quickest pass of that round.

His other tries produced a 7.194/93.98 (No. 16), a 8.615/72.28 (DNQ), and a 7.440/91.78.

"It's not what we were looking for," said Beckman. "Getting down the race track one out of four times is not what we're capable of doing. After Houston, where we struggled similarly at the first real hot race of the year, we knew we had to make changes in the clutch to get ready for the summer months, when most of the points races are going to be on hot race tracks.

"This is that 'one step backwards, two step forwards' type of thing. But, any time you make these sort of changes - and the NAPA team (with Beckman's teammate Ron Capps driving) is doing something similar as we are and having similar results - we know it's going to pay off. We know it's the right direction to head in. Right now everybody is a little bit frustrated and the plan is to turn it around staring first round tomorrow.

"We're still very capable of winning the race tomorrow. We want to be the car with the '1' on it next year, and this is something that's necessary to do for that long-range goal."

Beckman faces his teammate Capps in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

 

BECKMAN BUMPS OUT TEAMMATE IN VEGAS OPENING ROUND, FINISHES IN QUARTERS

LAS VEGAS (April 18, 2010) - Jack Beckman bumped out his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps in the opening round of Funny Car eliminations at the 11th annual NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but was then ousted by Tony Pedregon in the quarterfinal.

No. 5 qualifier Capps (in the left lane) struck the tires early, and Beckman, who qualified No. 12 in the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger, made it down the 1000-foot track to take the win with a 4.319-second elapsed time at 290.07 mph.

Track conditions continued to change as the ambient temperature rose steadily, and lane choice became a factor in the second stanza. The left lane was beginning to humble cars on its path and Beckman, without lane choice, was relegated there. He lost traction early in the run, allowing Pedregon to sail to the win with a 4.316/289.01 to Beckman's losing 4.987/194.58.

Not ready to blame the lane, Beckman said, "Let's not make this a politically correct, nicey nice interview. Let's just tell it like it is. We got behind the 8-ball in qualifying, we took a step back to try something that we think is going to be better for warm race tracks during this 10- or 12-race stretch of the season, and we struggled with it.

"And so did (Capps' crew chief) Ed McCulloch over with the NAPA car. Our original plan was to not do it until testing tomorrow, but now that Goodyear has ramped up the introduction of the new tire, we have to be able to test that tomorrow as well. So, we decided to implement our clutch changes for the race and attempt to get a handle on it. And we got a little bit behind.

"We were able to win first round without lane choice. It certainly wasn't in our favor not having lane choice, but right now we're having a problem with this car in that 60- to 100-foot range and we have to figure out how to fix that. When we fix that we'll be about as quick as anybody in the other splits in the race track.

"We're upset with ourselves. We're a team that's used to winning, but we also realize that we're going to start winning again pretty soon and we just have to pick away at this thing.

"These nitro cars are tough. You come back, you download the data recorder - there's 47 graphs to look at - and you make a small change to one and it affects 25 of the other parameters on the race car. So, everybody from our cylinder head guy, to the driver, to the crew chiefs, is going to stay positive, we're going to bounce ideas off each other and the other DSR teams, we're going to pick away at this thing, and we're going to make it work."

Next up is the 14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., just over the bridge from St. Louis.