Championship Drag Racing

Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals
Sonoma, Calif.
(July 25-27)

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Driver Profile

Jack Beckman Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger

Sonoma, pre-race: Jack Beckman is banking on the momentum he and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team have gained in the first two events of what is considered the grueling Western Swing (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, Calif.) to get him in the winner’s circle for the second time this season at this weekend's 21st Annual NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Debuting a new "safer" chassis, as required by the NHRA, racing on a new Goodyear tire, and competing to the 1000-foot finish line for the first time at the Denver event, have presented challenges to all the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series pro nitro competitors. But Beckman and the Valvoline/MTS Dodge team have turned those challenges into a reward by earning a spot in the top 10 of the standings after a runner-up finish in Denver and a quarterfinal result in Seattle.

Only the top 10 will compete in the Countdown to the Championship which kicks in following the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.

"I think we've still got momentum," said Beckman, who came into last year's Sonoma race as a back-to-back winner in the first two venues of the Western Swing, but was unable to sweep the Swing. "We made eight good runs in Denver, we made six good runs in Seattle. The Valvoline/MTS guys are going to have their chins up and looking proud and I think we're going to march in Sonoma.

"If anything, this is going to fire us up a little bit. We are going to need to be a little bit more aggressive and still get the car safely down the track. This might be that fire that we needed to motivate us to do that. I think we're in good shape for Sonoma."

Mail Terminal Services continues its "Mail from Home" program in 2008. Fans at each NHRA national event have the opportunity to sign special cards at the Don Schumacher Racing hospitality area and at the U.S. Army Racing Zone in the midway, which MTS then ships, free of charge, to the troops in war zones overseas.

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