Memphis: Jack Beckman Sunday rain notes

RAIN POSTPONES NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS TO MONDAY

MEMPHIS (Oct. 4, 2009) - Because of persistent rain, the NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park have been postponed until Monday at 10 a.m.

Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car, who qualified second and faces Jeff Arend in the opening round of eliminations, commented on the rain delay:

"Well it's cold and rainy," he said. "Today I've done the driver intros that we have in the Don Schumacher Racing hospitality area and met with the honorary crew members who bid at that auction we had to raise money for a special cause. Since we haven't done anything on the race track, I took them on an extensive tour of the facility here.

"I've signed some autographs for the fans who were hearty enough to come by in the rain. I signed a stack of items for our Mail Terminal Services employees who are going to one of the terminals soon, and hung out with the crew for awhile.

"A lot of people put so much into the psychology. It's simple, if it rains we don't race and if it dries up, we do. Drag racing is interesting. For most other forms of motorsports, once the car starts you keep going until the race is over. With drag racing, on a good day, you are in the car four different times so you've got to kind of even out your temperament or it can be a roller coaster ride sometimes. So I don't care about the rain, really."

-credit: dsr