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NORTH HILLS, Calif. (May 13, 2008) - In the dark of night last Wednesday, Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team were spotted at Rockingham Dragway secretly testing a new, trick Funny Car under the lights. Well, that's one way to start a rumor.
In actuality, Beckman and the Don Schumacher Racing crew were shooting a commercial for the team’s primary sponsor Valvoline at the North Carolina facility in the shadow of Rockingham Speedway, the one-mile oval that hosts NASCAR events, among others.
"It was great," said Beckman, who is currently No. 8 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car rankings. "I've never been to Rockingham before. Steve Earwood manages it and he gave us the total red-carpet treatment.
"All we did was two short squirts in the same Valvoline/MTS car we've been running all year and we dragged the parachutes on a couple of runs just to get that certain kind of effect. It was really fun."
A veteran of commercial shoots as an instructor at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, Beckman was prepared for the late-night staging, and showed more concern for his crew. "I filmed a lot of TV stuff at the drag racing school over the last 10 years," said Beckman, "so I had a pretty good idea of how it worked. They wanted all night-time stuff so we filmed from like 7:30 p.m. to just past midnight. But the crew got out there and started setting up in the rain at 11 a.m., and didn't get out of there until 2 in the morning and then they had to take everything back to the shop. So, they really had to do double duty there.
"They were shooting different camera angles. It was very interesting in that I had to launch the car into a smoke screen, which they generated with a big smoke-making machine. That is something that I've done in other film shoots with the Super Comp dragster with a radio talking to another instructor making sure everything was clear. I had never done that in a nitro Funny Car before.
"And then they had some floodlights on the car when I staged. So it was a little bit tough to see relative to what you would expect in one of those cars.
"We did a lot of shots with the engine off where they just pushed me back and forth and simulated what the crew does when they lower the body and I pull up to stage. We also idled the car a little over two minutes so they could get the effect of the exhaust coming out of the pipes, with the crew simulating all the last-minute adjustments, dropping the body down and pushing me forward and then pulling me straight back. So we had to do three consecutive takes of that with the engine running. That was interesting.
"It's only going to be a 15-second spot they say, so I think they were concentrating mostly on the car and the crew. I think the theme is something like 'Valvoline is the brand trusted by car guys,' and that 'More top NHRA crew chiefs use Valvoline.' So I don't think there's going to be anything of me in there."
BECKMAN SHOOTS VALVOLINE COMMERCIAL AT ROCKINGHAM
NORTH HILLS, Calif. (May 13, 2008) - In the dark of night last Wednesday, Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team were spotted at Rockingham Dragway secretly testing a new, trick Funny Car under the lights. Well, that's one way to start a rumor.
In actuality, Beckman and the Don Schumacher Racing crew were shooting a commercial for the team’s primary sponsor Valvoline at the North Carolina facility in the shadow of Rockingham Speedway, the one-mile oval that hosts NASCAR events, among others.
"It was great," said Beckman, who is currently No. 8 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car rankings. "I've never been to Rockingham before. Steve Earwood manages it and he gave us the total red-carpet treatment.
"All we did was two short squirts in the same Valvoline/MTS car we've been running all year and we dragged the parachutes on a couple of runs just to get that certain kind of effect. It was really fun."
A veteran of commercial shoots as an instructor at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, Beckman was prepared for the late-night staging, and showed more concern for his crew. "I filmed a lot of TV stuff at the drag racing school over the last 10 years," said Beckman, "so I had a pretty good idea of how it worked. They wanted all night-time stuff so we filmed from like 7:30 p.m. to just past midnight. But the crew got out there and started setting up in the rain at 11 a.m., and didn't get out of there until 2 in the morning and then they had to take everything back to the shop. So, they really had to do double duty there.
"They were shooting different camera angles. It was very interesting in that I had to launch the car into a smoke screen, which they generated with a big smoke-making machine. That is something that I've done in other film shoots with the Super Comp dragster with a radio talking to another instructor making sure everything was clear. I had never done that in a nitro Funny Car before.
"And then they had some floodlights on the car when I staged. So it was a little bit tough to see relative to what you would expect in one of those cars.
"We did a lot of shots with the engine off where they just pushed me back and forth and simulated what the crew does when they lower the body and I pull up to stage. We also idled the car a little over two minutes so they could get the effect of the exhaust coming out of the pipes, with the crew simulating all the last-minute adjustments, dropping the body down and pushing me forward and then pulling me straight back. So we had to do three consecutive takes of that with the engine running. That was interesting.
"It's only going to be a 15-second spot they say, so I think they were concentrating mostly on the car and the crew. I think the theme is something like 'Valvoline is the brand trusted by car guys,' and that 'More top NHRA crew chiefs use Valvoline.' So I don't think there's going to be anything of me in there."
