[coverattach=1]NORCO, Calif. (Sept. 23, 2009) - Jack Beckman is quite vocal about his not being a fan of the new qualifying bonus points system the NHRA had instituted for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series' Countdown to 1 playoffs, which began last weekend at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. Despite his disfavor, the driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car plans to earn as many of those qualifying bonus points at this weekend's NHRA Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas.
Because he did not collect any bonus points (three, two and one for the top three, respectively, in each qualifying round) in Concord and then bowed out in the second round of eliminations, the California native enters the Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in sixth place, 45 points out of the top spot.
"It's too early to tell what will happen," said Beckman, who qualified fifth in Ennis last year and made it to the semifinals. "We're less than three rounds out of first place. We're certainly a lot closer to first than we've been since the second race of the year, because of the resetting of Countdown points.
"However, these new bonus points available for qualifying - which I'm not in favor of, as I believe that rules changes should be announced at the beginning of a season - are going to really shake things up. Unfortunately, I think that, in the long run, it's going to help determine the outcome of a couple of championships. It's certainly going to affect funny Car. So, we're going to have to suck it up.
"We're going to have to try to gobble up a couple of those points per race. We didn't get any of them in Concord. We have five races left, and, if we want to have a chance of ending up at the banquet at the end of the year with the big trophy, we're going to need to go 12 rounds and count on some of the lead cars stumbling a little bit.
"That means we've got to average better than a semifinal. So, we'd better try our best and get this Valvoline/MTS Dodge into the final in Dallas.
"Dallas has a reputation of being a fast track and it also has a reputation of being a very tricky track. It's really going to be interesting to see how things play out there.
"I said it before: We have a car that's capable of winning at any race. We haven't won for eight races, so we've got to get this thing back into a final round or two soon and we've got to get into the winner's circle again before the end of the season if we hope to contend for the championship."
JACK BECKMAN QUICK FACTS:
* No. 6 in Countdown to 1 playoffs standings, after one of six events
* No. 5 in 2009 Funny Car "regular season," after two victories (Atlanta; Norwalk, Ohio), one runner-up, three semifinal, five quarterfinal and seven first-rounds in "regular season"
* His 2009 round win-loss record is 23-17
* Qualified No. 5 at 2008 NHRA Fall Nationals, lost semifinal to Tony Pedregon
* No. 3 in 2008 Funny Car point standings, with three victories - Phoenix, Reading, Concord - in seven final rounds
* Was bumped out of the 2007 Countdown to Four playoffs standings at the Richmond, Va., event, after his teammates Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps reached the semifinal round. Ended the season No. 5 in points
* In his 83 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won eight times in 15 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 92-70
* Is the 2007 U.S. Smokeless Showdown winner ($100,000 bonus event held at U.S. Nationals)
* Set national elapsed-time record of 4.662 seconds and national speed record of 333.66 mph (on quarter-mile) at final 2006 event in Pomona, Calif. The ET record has since been eclipsed. Beckman still holds the speed record
* As a Funny Car rookie in the last five races of 2006, he qualified No. 1
once (Pomona 2), reached two final rounds (Las Vegas 2 and Pomona 2), won once (Vegas 2), and set both ends of the national record (Pomona 2)
* Residence: Norco, Calif.
* Hometown: Granada Hills, Calif.
* Date of birth: June 28, 1966
* Married, Jenna (wedding date 11/7/06), son Jason Russell (3/8/07)
* Height/weight: 6'0", 185 lbs.
* Former instructor and current consultant at Frank Hawley's NHRA Championship Drag Racing School; former Sergeant in U.S. Air Force (1984-88); cancer survivor; licensed in nine different NHRA categories
* First Start in TF: Las Vegas 1 2005
* First Start in FC: , Dallas, Texas, 2006
* Competed in only 12 TF events in 2005, ended season 15th in points
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.662 seconds (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) speed: 333.66 mph (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best TF (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.563 seconds (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* Career-best (quarter-mile) TF speed: 324.28 mph (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* In 2003 won Super Comp world championship in Lucas Oil Series and Division 7 Super Comp championship
* Leads 14-time champion John Force in head-to-head round wins: 9-5
SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, Sept. 25 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 2 and 4:45 p.m.
SATURDAY, Sept. 26 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 11:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, Sept. 27 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m.
FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 12:15 a.m. (ET)
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE: Friday, Sept. 25, 8 - 8:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal) (Analog feed)
Saturday, Sept. 26, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal)
Sunday, Sept. 27, 7 - 7:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal)
Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.
Because he did not collect any bonus points (three, two and one for the top three, respectively, in each qualifying round) in Concord and then bowed out in the second round of eliminations, the California native enters the Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in sixth place, 45 points out of the top spot.
"It's too early to tell what will happen," said Beckman, who qualified fifth in Ennis last year and made it to the semifinals. "We're less than three rounds out of first place. We're certainly a lot closer to first than we've been since the second race of the year, because of the resetting of Countdown points.
"However, these new bonus points available for qualifying - which I'm not in favor of, as I believe that rules changes should be announced at the beginning of a season - are going to really shake things up. Unfortunately, I think that, in the long run, it's going to help determine the outcome of a couple of championships. It's certainly going to affect funny Car. So, we're going to have to suck it up.
"We're going to have to try to gobble up a couple of those points per race. We didn't get any of them in Concord. We have five races left, and, if we want to have a chance of ending up at the banquet at the end of the year with the big trophy, we're going to need to go 12 rounds and count on some of the lead cars stumbling a little bit.
"That means we've got to average better than a semifinal. So, we'd better try our best and get this Valvoline/MTS Dodge into the final in Dallas.
"Dallas has a reputation of being a fast track and it also has a reputation of being a very tricky track. It's really going to be interesting to see how things play out there.
"I said it before: We have a car that's capable of winning at any race. We haven't won for eight races, so we've got to get this thing back into a final round or two soon and we've got to get into the winner's circle again before the end of the season if we hope to contend for the championship."
JACK BECKMAN QUICK FACTS:
* No. 6 in Countdown to 1 playoffs standings, after one of six events
* No. 5 in 2009 Funny Car "regular season," after two victories (Atlanta; Norwalk, Ohio), one runner-up, three semifinal, five quarterfinal and seven first-rounds in "regular season"
* His 2009 round win-loss record is 23-17
* Qualified No. 5 at 2008 NHRA Fall Nationals, lost semifinal to Tony Pedregon
* No. 3 in 2008 Funny Car point standings, with three victories - Phoenix, Reading, Concord - in seven final rounds
* Was bumped out of the 2007 Countdown to Four playoffs standings at the Richmond, Va., event, after his teammates Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps reached the semifinal round. Ended the season No. 5 in points
* In his 83 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won eight times in 15 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 92-70
* Is the 2007 U.S. Smokeless Showdown winner ($100,000 bonus event held at U.S. Nationals)
* Set national elapsed-time record of 4.662 seconds and national speed record of 333.66 mph (on quarter-mile) at final 2006 event in Pomona, Calif. The ET record has since been eclipsed. Beckman still holds the speed record
* As a Funny Car rookie in the last five races of 2006, he qualified No. 1
once (Pomona 2), reached two final rounds (Las Vegas 2 and Pomona 2), won once (Vegas 2), and set both ends of the national record (Pomona 2)
* Residence: Norco, Calif.
* Hometown: Granada Hills, Calif.
* Date of birth: June 28, 1966
* Married, Jenna (wedding date 11/7/06), son Jason Russell (3/8/07)
* Height/weight: 6'0", 185 lbs.
* Former instructor and current consultant at Frank Hawley's NHRA Championship Drag Racing School; former Sergeant in U.S. Air Force (1984-88); cancer survivor; licensed in nine different NHRA categories
* First Start in TF: Las Vegas 1 2005
* First Start in FC: , Dallas, Texas, 2006
* Competed in only 12 TF events in 2005, ended season 15th in points
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.662 seconds (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) speed: 333.66 mph (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best TF (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.563 seconds (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* Career-best (quarter-mile) TF speed: 324.28 mph (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* In 2003 won Super Comp world championship in Lucas Oil Series and Division 7 Super Comp championship
* Leads 14-time champion John Force in head-to-head round wins: 9-5
SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, Sept. 25 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 2 and 4:45 p.m.
SATURDAY, Sept. 26 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 11:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, Sept. 27 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m.
FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION:
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 12:15 a.m. (ET)
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise three hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
SATELLITE: Friday, Sept. 25, 8 - 8:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal) (Analog feed)
Saturday, Sept. 26, 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal)
Sunday, Sept. 27, 7 - 7:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 15 / Transponder 6 K (11820 MHz, horizontal)
Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.
