BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Oct. 12, 2016) – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Foundation team head to Texas Motorplex near Dallas for the fourth race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.
Beckman says he and Texas Motorplex have a long relationship.
“Me and Dallas, have a ton of history,” he said. “I went the very first NHRA national event there in 1986. My buddy from the Air Force and I drove 500 miles one way to see that race.
“My dad, who was a contractor and traveled the country, had settled in Dallas just prior to that. I raced my first national event there in Super Comp in 1998 then I raced my first Nitro Funny Car race in Dallas in 2006.
“And with all of that, I’ve had zero success there. I have never left there with a trophy.
“Now, maybe more so than ever, it is the race that I want on my resume. My dad is 79 years old and he lives 45 minutes from the track and I want to have him in the winner’s circle and present him with that cowboy hat, which is the token of winning the national event there. That is high on my priority list.”
At the Texas Motorplex in 2015, Beckman qualified No. 2 for the team funded by Terry Chandler and advanced to the final round where he lost to eventual season champion Del Worsham.
This year, the Infinite Hero Foundation team, led by crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, is currently No. 3 in the NHRA points standings and 93 points behind the points leader and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.
A win at the 31st annual AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals will help the team close the gap in points and increase their shot at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series Championship title.
“Points-wise, it’s a must win for us. Not only is it a must win for the Infinite Hero team but we have hope that NAPA (Capps) and Make-A-Wish (Tommy Johnson Jr., currently No. 2) go out early and the way those teams have been running, that’s probably not likely.
“I know a lot of people will say, ‘Well how can you wish that on your teammates?’ Well, if the tables were turned, like they were last year, they were all wishing it on us. We’re teammates in certain areas.
“When it comes down to the points chase, when it comes down to the Countdown, when it comes down to the last three races, I think everybody would tell you from burnout to turn out, you don’t have any teammates out there.”
Beckman’s weekend starts Friday afternoon when he joins with Chandler with presenting two $100,000 Infinite Hero Foundation grants in the track’s Champion’s Club.
Accepting the grants will be Houston native and retired Navy Lt. Morgan Luttrell, who sustained a major brain injury on a training mission in 2009 as a member of the Navy SEALS.
He was deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan during a 14-year military career, and since being granted a medical discharge in 2014, the brawny 6-foot-5, 230-pound Luttrell returned to Texas and discovered the Center for Brain Health, part of the University of Texas at Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences where he was treated for his traumatic brain injury.
What he observed while there set him on another course that led him to earn his Master’s degree, and he is currently working on his doctorate to become a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas at Dallas.
The grants will go to the ReBOOT program (BootCampaign.org) where Luttrell is director of development and working to develop a comprehensive, individualized, multi-disciplined approach to increasing mental and physical well-being for our nation’s veterans.
Infinite Hero will also present a grant to the Airpower Foundation (AirPowerFoundation.com) that works in conjunction with Infinite Hero and ReBOOT to provide continued treatment for veterans at no charge at Brain Treatment Centers in Orange County, Calif., and Seattle, Wash., with plans to expand to the East Coast next year.
Making the presentations will be Infinite Hero Foundation executive director Laurie Baker and Chandler, who has funded the Infinite Hero Funny Car racing program at Don Schumacher Racing for the past three years.
Chandler, a native of New Mexico, funds the Infinite Hero team along with DSR’s Make-A-Wish Funny Car. Neither organization contributes any funding to the teams. Chandler’s program has raised nearly $500,000 for Infinite Hero and has brought tremendous awareness to some of the most difficult issues facing our returning military heroes and families.
This season, Beckman has raised more than $120,000 through the sale of special military “challenge coins.” He carries at least 10 on each run down the track and then personalizes each for fans making a $100 donation to Infinite Hero.
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