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SUPERSTITIONS, JINXES DON'T HAUNT BECKMAN

NORCO, Calif. (April 26, 2010) - Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing, won't let any of his crew members' superstitions haunt him as he seeks his second victory of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series at this weekend's 14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Beckman has never won at Gateway International Raceway, located just outside of St. Louis in Madison, Ill., in his short four-year pro career in which he’s collected nine victories in 18 final rounds, but he doesn't count out doing it this weekend, despite any jinxes presented to him.

"It's funny," said Beckman, sixth in the class point standings. "One of our crew guys, Joe Chrisman, has been with DSR for years and was on one of the Pro Stock cars before coming over to the nitro camp. And it's funny to hear people talk about their superstitions and their jinxes and he thinks that St. Louis has been a jinx to him so far.

"I'm not a real superstitious driver. I'm a routine-oriented driver. I suit up the same each time when I get in the car, and do it the same each time. And it's just because as a driver the less you have to think about the more effective you can be behind the wheel.

"It's interesting to see how a lot of crew guys have their lucky shoes, have certain handshakes in the staging lanes, doing it the same way each time. So, I figure we can really go a long way towards dispelling this myth and break that St. Louis jinx if we can just go out and win this weekend."

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 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.