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When Jack Beckman arrives at Memphis Motorsports Park for this weekend’s second round of four of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series’ Countdown to Four playoffs, he’ll be making his first visit to this venue, and with a new Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T chassis.
In his first full season of NHRA Funny Car competition, Beckman has faced not only the challenge of competing in one of the most difficult pro classes, but of learning a number of new courses at the same time. He’s done quite well, of course, as he earned a top-eight spot in the Countdown to Four, and stands fifth as he aims for a place in the top four in the next three races. The winner out of those final four in the last two season events will be declared the champion.
“Memphis is the only track I have never been to, ” said Beckman, who claimed two national-event victories in two final rounds this season, and captured the $100,000 Skoal Showdown bonus event at the U. S. Nationals in his first try. “This will be the last track that I will be a first-timer at. “
“The interesting thing about this Countdown, ” said Beckman, “is, when baseball goes to the playoffs, those teams don’t play against the rest of the teams. We still have all the other cars out there. It’s not so much how you do overall, it’s just how you do relative to the other seven cars in the Countdown.
“And since we really can’t affect qualifying positions and pairings, the game plan hasn’t changed. You just want to win the race. I figure we’re entirely capable of winning at least one of the next three races. “
This week, Beckman and the Don Schumacher Racing team held a test session at O’Reilly Raceway Park. “We’re out here testing our brand-new chassis right now, ” said Beckman on Monday. “And, although the one I have been driving has served us well, we think it’s getting a little bit long in the tooth for a slip-tube car. We knew that we were going into the part of the season where we’ve got 16 rounds to perform, and we don’t want to have any issues with a possibly over-used chassis. We just ran a 5.07 (-second elapsed time) shutting off early, so it looks pretty good. “
Mail Terminal Services will feature Camp Kaisu this weekend in Memphis, in its “Mail from Home” program. Postcards will be available to send to this war-zone camp at the Don Schumacher Racing hospitality area as well as at a kiosk in the U. S. Army “Racing Zone, ” the U. S. Army Interactive area located in Nitro Alley.
