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Denver: Jack Beckman preview

BECKMAN SHOOTS FOR SECOND DENVER WIN NORTH HILLS, Calif. (July 6, 2009) - Jack Beckman, the most recent Funny Car winner of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, after claiming his second victory of the season in Norwalk, Ohio, is ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:41 PM

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BECKMAN SHOOTS FOR SECOND DENVER WIN

NORTH HILLS, Calif. (July 6, 2009) - Jack Beckman, the most recent Funny Car winner of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, after claiming his second victory of the season in Norwalk, Ohio, is shooting for his second triumph at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals this weekend at Bandimere Speedway.

Driving the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge in only his third full season of pro Funny Car competition, Beckman is looking to add to his success at the drag strip carved out of the side of a mountain in Morrison, Colo., just outside of Denver. He's the 2007 champion there racing to a quarter-mile and the 2008 runner-up at 1000 feet.

"This represents a full circle," said Beckman. "We're coming back to the track where we ran the first 1000-foot race in '08. All I want to do is go one round better than last year. I'm 7-1 in Denver in a pro car. I've only been there twice, and I've been in the finals both times and won once.

"Love the track and the Bandimere family. I went there in 1984 when I was in tech school in Denver for the Air Force," said the former Air Force sergeant. "And then I drove 500 miles one way for the next three years from Cannon Air Force base in New Mexico, where I was stationed at the time, to watch that race. It's always been a phenomenal facility.

"Love the family atmosphere, and the fact that the tune-up is un-applicable to any other facility that we run on. There's something mystical about racing up on the mountain and I can't wait to get back up there .

"That's where we started our surge towards the top last year," added Beckman, who went on to reach five more final rounds, winning twice, ending the season in third place with three wins in seven final rounds. "This year we started one race earlier, and we certainly want to continue that trend.

"You still have to enjoy a little bit of racing luck," he said. "Even the best cars get beat first round once or twice, so you just shouldn't get down from those. We need to do our best to make good quality runs and be very strategic with our qualifying.

"If it works to our benefit, we can use one or two qualifying runs to test, but our goal is to qualify in the top half in every race so we go into the first round of eliminations with lane choice and a more favorable pairing. That's what bit us earlier in the year. We seemed to have turned that around somewhat in Norwalk. We'll just see if we can continue that momentum."

Mail Terminal Services continues its popular "Mail From Home" campaign in 2009, supporting the U.S. troops serving in the war zones. In the past two NHRA seasons the campaign has sent over 195,000 post cards overseas signed by fans and supporters at each NHRA national event with messages of support for the troops, along with numerous NHRA National Dragster issues and other automotive magazines. Photos of cars and drivers were also included.

In 2009 the "Mail From Home" program has been challenged to exceed the previous records of cards distributed to hit a 120,000-card record for one season.

-credit: dsr

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