‘Fast’ Jack Beckman leads off this weeks Pre-race DSR Report
SONOMA, CA – Jack Beckman is surprised that his Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors team will not have won an NHRA Mello Yello event title this season when they arrive this week at Sonoma Raceway near San Francisco.
The team that won the 2012 NHRA Funny Car world championship in one of Don Schumacher Racing’s Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars has advanced to only one championship round this season but holds sixth place in the championship standings.
He will attend Thursday night’s annual dinner to celebrate the life of the late Eric Medlen, who died at age 33 in a 2007 testing accident, after winning several NHRA Funny Car titles. The byproduct of the night is raising money for the Eric Medlen Outperformers Scholarship Fund.
Then on Friday afternoon, Beckman, a cancer survivor, will meet with media to announce he will continue as a national spokesman for the Chemotherapy: Myths or Facts™ campaign.
For the second year, Beckman will be traveling across the country as an ambassador for the Chemotherapy: Myths or Facts™ campaign and will make his first campaign stop at the NHRA Nationals at Sonoma this weekend. As part of the campaign, he hopes to help debunk some of the common myths associated with chemotherapy and encourage those dealing with cancer to speak openly with their doctors to get the facts about their treatment.
“It’s important for people with cancer to sit down with their doctor to get the facts about chemotherapy so they better know what to expect during their treatment,” Beckman said. “When I was diagnosed, there’s obviously a state of shock, but that’s the most important time to speak to your doctor and get good guidance and information.”
Moments after his news conference in the Sonoma Raceway media center, Beckman intends to continue the trek of getting Don Schumacher Racing’s Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge Charger R/T into the Sonoma winner’s circle.
“We have to get our Valvoline/MTS Dodge into the winner’s circle – pronto,” an emphatic Beckman said.
“Our car and team is too good to be this far into the season to be looking for the year’s first trophy. We have continued to improve and we did well last weekend at Denver, but right now we’re focused on winning a title more than gaining points on the drivers ahead of us.”
Beckman with crew chiefs Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder qualified their Dodge No. 2 last weekend near Denver in the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. After winning in the first round, Beckman lost a close race to former NHRA world champion Robert Hight.
Winning an event title is worth much more than a trophy to Beckman and his team.
Two spots remain with two races left to qualify for the eight-car Traxxas Nitro Shootout, which will pay the winner $100,000 during the all-star race held within the U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis.
– Matt Hagan is ready to get back to business as usual this weekend as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series visits stop two in the three-race Western Swing in Sonoma, Calif.
Sonoma Raceway is where Hagan’s 2012 season turned around with a trip to the final round of Funny Car eliminations. In 14 races in 2013, the Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar Dodge has reached five final rounds and earned three event titles.
“It was at Sonoma last year where our season really started to turn around but this year we’ve already accomplished so much,” Hagan said. “I’m incredibly proud of my guys for all of their hard work. It’s that time in the season where it’s the toughest part but it’s also where you have to go rounds and get that momentum going because the Countdown (to the Championship) is right around the corner.”
The six-race playoff for the Funny Car championship kicks off Sept. 13 near Charlotte.
“I’m looking forward to Sonoma. It’s a beautiful atmosphere, the track is always nice. It’s beautiful country, the racing is always good and it’s a cool track with the road course inside it. We just have to roll in there and do our thing and get back to it.”
The team will put the 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T back to a normal, sea level configuration after last week’s event near Denver, which required the teams to make major changes for the engines to perform at nearly 6,000 feet of elevation.
“We stumbled a bit in Denver but it’s not that we didn’t have a good race car,” he said. “We just had to race our teammate (Ron Capps) first round and we just got beat in a good, close drag race.
“You have to change so much when you race in Denver that when we get to Sonoma our car will be just like it was before. Dickie is great at putting me in a consistent race car and that’s what we need.”
Despite the first round loss in Denver, the Magneti Marelli/Rocky Boots team has a two round lead in NHRA Funny Car points lead over Cruz Pedregon in second.
– Participating in the three-week “Western Swing” in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is a dream come true for Spencer Massey.
But what happened at last Sunday’s NHRA event at Bandimere Speedway was an even bigger accomplishment.
The 30 year old Texas native grew up dreaming of driving a Top Fuel dragster. Last Sunday near Denver, Massey captured his 13th career Top Fuel win, tying him with one of his idols, Eddie Hill, on the NHRA all-time Top Fuel win list. Hill was named No. 14 on NHRA’s Top 50 driver list in 2001.
“In the Winner’s Circle on Sunday Lewis Bloom with ESPN came and told me that I’m now tied with Eddie (Hill) for career wins,” Massey said. “I really couldn’t believe it. I grew up watching him and wanting to be like him. When I first started going to drag races, I saw Eddie. Back then his nickname was the Texan. And I’m from Texas so he was my idol.
“I used to stand behind his trailer at the ropes. I got his autograph, his wife Ercie’s autograph and everyone’s autograph really. I would write him and his wife would write me back. She sent me t-shirts, diecasts, anything. They are genuine people.
“Here I am getting to do exactly what I dreamed of doing. I never thought I could do this. I never thought I would tie my hero Eddie ‘The Thrill’ Hill in wins. To have my name next to his is amazing.”
It was his third event title of the season on Sunday in four final round appearances. The Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher team sits third in NHRA Mello Yello points standings, just two rounds behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in second.
“Things are starting to jell a little better but we’ve been going to semifinals, we’ve been going rounds and now this is our third win. Coming off this win, it’s boosted our confidence levels up.”
But don’t mention anything about sweeping the Western Swing to Massey or his Battery Extender team members.
“Everybody talks about something to do with a broom going into Sonoma and Seattle, I don’t want to jinx myself,” he said. “We’ll talk about that when we get to Seattle if the situation is there. I’m just happy to be doing what we’re doing.”
And racing at tracks he’s attended since a youngster makes the eyes of Ron Capps open wider at the thought of driving his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car on California pavement.
The native of San Louis Obispo, Calif., who lives in Carlsbad near San Diego with this family, will get his chance this week when the series competes at Sonoma Raceway, which is located about 275 miles north of his birthplace.
“It’s one of our home tracks,” he said. “It’s on the West Coast so we’ll have a lot of friends and family with us at the track, and it’s the last week of our annual family vacation so nothing is better than to end with all of us in the winner’s circle.”
He nearly delivered a California win in February when he was runner-up at the season-opener at Pomona, Calif., before winning his only title of the season the following week near Phoenix.
Capps and family have been on California roads the past two weeks and have had their motorhome at Pismo Beach the past week before they will pack up and drive to Sonoma on Wednesday.
Capps, a devout San Francisco Giants and 49ers fan, visited on the radio airwaves Monday with Bay Area sports giant KNBR 680 with popular duo of Bob Fitzgerald and Rod Brooks. Capps handled a parabolic microphone for the station at this year’s NFL Super Bowl.
“I love KNBR and the guys over there, and thanks to Mike (Hohler, a KNBR producer) I got to work on the sidelines of the Super Bowl and had a great time even though the Niners lost,” Capps said.
Other activities this week that add to the luster of the Sonoma event will be visiting with a large group of NAPA customers and a very special Thursday, when daughter Taylor turns 17. That night, Capps and his family will attend an annual dinner that celebrates the memory of the late Eric Medlen, a winning Funny Car driver from Northern California who died at age 33 in a 2007 during a testing accident.
Then on Friday when qualifying begins, Capps will focus on moving his NAPA AUTO PARTS team with crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins further up the ladder in the championship standings where they are ranked fourth.
Capps, who qualified eighth last weekend at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, defeated series points leader and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan in the opening before losing his next match against Cruz Pedregon, who went on to win the event title.
“We gained 20 points at Bandimere and beating Matt and that team was huge because right now they’re the team to beat,” said Capps, who has won three titles at Sonoma and was runner-up twice.
“Our NAPA team is ready for Sonoma. We get back to racing at sea level and under conditions like we’ll see a lot more during the rest of the season.”
Brown expects Sonoma to breathe fresh air into his Matco team and looks for third straight Top Fuel title at scenic racetrack
– Antron Brown couldn’t be any farther from his hometown in New Jersey when his Matco Tools team arrives at Sonoma, Calif., this week for the 15th event on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing tour.
Sonoma Raceway feels just like home with its proximity to an ocean similar to where he grew up in New Jersey. But what will make it most comfortable is the success he and crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald have enjoyed at the scenic venue.
The reigning world championship Top Fuel Matco Tools team has won the past two titles at Sonoma and three of the last four.
“What I enjoy the most about going to Sonoma is when you get there and see everything that surrounds you,” said Brown, who lives near Indianapolis with his family. “It’s hilly and you’re in the wine country. You go out there, take a deep breath and you can feel the energy it has and the aura of the racetrack.
“The cool thing about going to Sonoma is you’re able to unwind and get back to what you’re used to doing (at near sea level). It’s a really high level racetrack and the weather conditions usually are as good as we have all year.”
Brown and the Matco team are looking for a breath of fresh air. The team is ranked fifth in points but has had numerous little mechanical gremlins creep into its Don Schumacher Racing dragster since winning two of the first seven Mello Yello titles this season.
“We were breaking out of it until we got to Denver, and that race is so unique because of the thin air in the high altitude. You don’t make the power and the clutch discs we use are very aggressive. When we go to Sonoma where we can make the power it will be a reawakening for our team.
“We’re smart enough to know you have to go through growing pains at some time and this has been a good time to do it.”
The team is coming off an opening-round loss Sunday in the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway near Denver where the thin air robs the 10,000-horsepower engines of considerable power.
Brown posted a respectable time of 3.974 seconds at 310.34 mph in a loss to current points leader Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing if the first run Sunday. While Brown’s run would have won three of the other seven first-round match-ups, it didn’t get him to the second round.
“We could’ve beaten a lot of people in that round, but we lined up against one of the best teams out here,” Brown said.
“Our Matco dragster was too tame on the mountain, but at Sonoma it will be like we’re letting a raging animal out of the cage … it will be back in beast mode. The car will be in a totally different mode.”
The team is looking forward to Sunday’s championship eliminations, but first things first and that’s qualifying on Friday and Saturday.
Brown has only qualified in the top half of the 16-car elimination fields once in the past six events.
“Our goal will be to attack that first round of qualifying hard. We’re going to attack it just like it’s the final round of eliminations, attack each and every qualifying session and change our recent trend of not qualifying in the top half of the field. And then we’ll attack it on race day.”
