Competition Plus: BECKMAN EXCITED ABOUT HIS CREW CHIEF TRIO

When Don Schumacher Racing announced its crew chief trio that will serve as the tuners for Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger nitro Funny Car in 2017 it turned some heads.

Jack Beckman

Jack Beckman, the driver of the Funny Car, for one is thrilled to have the threesome – John Medlen, Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh – calling the shots for him.

“I think Medlen is absolutely the cornerstone of the team, and I think that guy is the cornerstone of any team because of his character, and his demeanor, he’s the guy you look to when you are having a bad day,” said Beckman, who won the 2012 nitro Funny Car world championship driving for DSR. “He brings such high class and rock solid morals and character that I think he’s a perfect nucleus to build the team around. I have not ever worked with Dean Antonelli and there’s a guy who spent 22 years at John Force Racing and that in of itself tells you a lot about him. Clearly, he’s dedicated, motivated and loyal. The only constant in life is things change and I’m so pleased he’s decided to make this change. He was very successful the last time he was a Funny Car crew chief on Ashley (Force’s) car. He and (Medlen) have worked together before and I think they have some similar personality traits, they both are very low profile, always deep in thought and I can’t wait to see what Dean’s going to bring to our team.”

Beckman acknowledged Strausbaugh coming onboard was a surprise to him.

“I didn’t see that one coming, and I like Neal,” he said. “We have been teammates under the DSR umbrella, but we’ve never been teammates wearing the same shirt at the races, but I think there is the guy who is going to add an interesting dynamic to our team. Here’s a Top Fuel guy who has been in the crew chief lounge for years, helping make calls on the Army car. The Funny Car isn’t a Top Fuel car, but I firmly believe that having a slightly different perspective on this coming from Neal is going to make us a better car.”

John Medlen

Medlen will begin his third season in 2017 working on Beckman’s Funny Car. This will be the 10th season for Strausbaugh at DSR and Antonelli’s first.

Antonelli was the general manager at John Force Racing the past two seasons after being a crew chief and assistant crew chief at that company where he spent 12 years working under Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. Antonelli was an assistant crew chief on four world championship Funny Car teams.

Beckman’s first opportunity to work in action with his co-crew chiefs will be at the test session at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Ariz., the week before NHRA’s season-opening Winternationals Feb. 9-12 in Pomona, Calif.

“Our plan will be to do the three-day test (in Phoenix) and I think will probably drag our (NHRA) Finals combo there, which includes the 6-disc clutch, which we put in for Vegas and Pomona,” Beckman said. “Now, we are also going to do some things that we think are going to make it more predictable. At Pomona (the 2016 season-ending race in November), we made seven runs and on four of them our car hauled, and on three of them, it didn’t make it 10 feet. You can’t race like that. We’re going to have to find something that makes this car much more stable the first 50 feet of the run. I think that’s going to be our biggest target for the first four or five races, to get this thing to launch consistently well because I think once it gets to 50 feet, it’s just going to fly. I will sacrifice some ultimate performance to have more predictability out of the car. We ought to be able to make 12 runs at Phoenix and get a good beat on the car and you throw in another four qualifying runs at Pomona, assuming the weather cooperates, and we ought be able to have 16 runs under our belt.”

Those runs will be critical since Beckman pointed out only he, Medlen and Matthew Archer, who was a mechanic on the car last season, are the only three people returning to the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge from 2016.

“There will be seven people who didn’t work on the Infinite Hero car last year,” Beckman said. “I think that those three test days in Phoenix are going to be really important for getting this new team working in a coordinated effort, and also be really essential for us getting some sort of baseline to drag to Pomona.”

Despite the wholesale changes to his team Beckman is brimming with optimism about the upcoming season.

“I can’t wait to start this year,” he said. “You have no idea how thrilled I am that Medlen is back because Infinite Hero is doing some pretty special stuff. As a drag racer, you want to go out and win races and you just want to destroy everybody on the race track, but with Infinite Hero we get to do a lot of things for some people who are beyond deserving when the car is not running. To have John back as a crew chief is awesome, but to have John back as a representative of the Infinte Hero race team is going to be amazing and I think (Dean) and Neal will fit into that role fantastically as well.”

 Written by Tracy Renck    Wed, 2016-12-28 18:00

Antonelli, Medlen, Strausbaugh to lead Infinite Hero Funny Car

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Dec. 22, 2016) – A triumvirate of nitro tuning talent will serve as co-crew chiefs in 2017 for Terry Chandler’s Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car with driver Jack Beckman at Don Schumacher Racing.

Dean Antonelli joins John Medlen and veteran U.S. Army Top Fuel assistant Neal Strausbaugh at DSR. It will be the 10th season for Strausbaugh, third for Medlen and first for Antonelli at DSR.

Antonelli, 52, served as general manager at John Force Racing the past two seasons after being a crew chief and assistant crew chief at that company where he spent 12 years working under Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. Antonelli was an assistant crew chief on four world championship Funny Car teams.

“We’re very excited to have Dean join DSR,” said Don Schumacher, whose DSR organization owns 293 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event titles and 16 series championships.

“John Medlen is one of the smartest guys in drag racing and he’s worked with Dean for many years. Terry and I expect very big things from our Infinite Hero team.”

Strausbaugh, 34, will start his 17th season in professional drag racing and 10th at DSR. He has spent his tenure at DSR working as the assistant to DSR crew chief Mike Green with the U.S. Army team that won the 2009 and 2014 Top Fuel world championships.

Strausbaugh, a native of Hillsboro, Ill., lives in Danville, Ind., with his wife, Lacey, and their children, Camden, 6, and Kinlee Mae, 1. He worked with Green on the Funny Car driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. at Don Prudhomme Racing and Darrell Gwynn’s New York Yankee dragster. He also worked on crews for Chuck Etchells and Cory McClenathan.

“Neal has learned from the best and is one of the brightest there is in the pits,” Schumacher said. “He has earned the opportunity to be a crew chief and he will get even better working with Dean and John.

Don Schumacher Racing's Make-A-Wish, Infinite Hero Funny Cars will return in 2017 with continued support from Terry Chandler

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Dec. 12, 2016) - New Mexico philanthropist and drag racing enthusiast Terry Chandler has funded the Make-A-Wish and Infinite Hero Funny Cars at Don Schumacher Racing for the past three seasons. During that time, the teams have combined to win a remarkable 15 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events and 16 No. 1 qualifying spots.

Chandler and her teams have just barely missed the championship in each of the past two seasons; in 2015, Jack Beckman finished No. 2 in the nation in the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, and in 2016, it was Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-A-Wish Dodge team that finished the year in second place.

Those impressive statistics, however, pale to the impact Chandler's racing programs have made on countless lives through her support of Make-A-Wish and Infinite Hero.

Chandler, the 2015 recipient of the NHRA Blaine Johnson Award for her dedication to helping others, has announced with DSR owner Don Schumacher that the two race programs designed to raise awareness for foundations very dear to her heart will continue through 2017.

In 2013, Chandler and her brother, Johnny Gray, partnered to sponsor the DSR Funny Car he then drove for DSR. For his final full­ time season of driving, the pair funded the car in honor of their father, the late John R. Gray.

At the end of that season, Johnny retired from full-time driving, but he knew that his sister had found her home away from home. He encouraged her to continue as the sponsor of the team if it was in her heart, and it didn't take long for her to agree. In Gray's absence, Johnson was added to the roster as the new driver.

Chandler and her husband, Doug, own and operate Chandler Aviation at the Cavern City Air Terminal in Carlsbad, N.M. Instead of flying the colors of Chandler Aviation on Johnson's Dodge Charger, however, she chose to use the racecar as a platform to promote awareness for a great cause. The car was painted and the transporters were wrapped with a striking Make-A-Wish design.

Make-A-Wish provides memorable events for children with life-threatening medical conditions, and Chandler's vision was to expand on that to make a great impact. Chandler and DSR host "Wish Kids" and their families to the VIP hospitality pavilion next to the race team's pit area on Saturdays at each of the 24 Mello Yello events held in 21 markets across the country. The Make-A-Wish crew has the opportunity to engage with the children, giving them a tour of the pit area and racecar each weekend.

In 2014,Chandler's desire to give back grew even more, and she began funding a second team at DSR with 2012 Funny Car world championship driver Jack Beckman behind the wheel. The branding for the racecar was dedicated to another organization that touched Chandler's heart: the Infinite Hero Foundation, a non-profit organization that combats the most difficult front line issues - mental and physical - facing returning military heroes and their families.

In addition to exposing millions of television viewers and hundreds of thousands of Mello Yello series spectators to the worthy causes, there are other benefits.

Although she funds the operation, Chandler insists that the racecar truly belongs to each one of the Make-A-Wish children. Each weekend, she points to the Make-A-Wish Dodge and tells them, "This is YOUR racecar."

While she enjoys being part of the extraordinarily fast-paced world of drag racing,the true reward for Chandler is meeting the families and seeing the smiles of Wish Kids as they share an experience that won't soon be forgotten.

Chandler and her Infinite Hero team with Beckman, a former U.S. Air Force sergeant, have hosted scores of Americans who, through military service, gave more than anyone could have asked.

A generous amount of funds have been raised in two years through Chandler's various Infinite Hero events, including nearly $250,000 through the Infinite Hero challenge coin program. Beckman carries Infinite Hero-themed challenge coins on each of his Funny Car passes down the racetrack during a national event, and afterwards, he autographs them and exchanges them with fans for a $100 donation to Infinite Hero.

In all, 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.

In the season ahead, Chandler hopes to raise even more awareness for Make-A-Wish and the Infinite Hero foundations.

Look for both cars during the 2017 season of NHRA's Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, which is scheduled to begin with the Feb. 10-12 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered near Indianapolis in Brownsburg, Ind., fields eight professional NHRA teams in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by 8-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the reigning and 3-time world champion Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster driven by Antron Brown, the Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant dragster driven by 2013 world champion Shawn Langdon and the Papa John's Pizza/FireAde 2000/Pennzoil/Mopar dragster with driver Leah Pritchett.

In Funny Car,  two-time world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane 2016 Dodge Charger R/T, reigning world champion Ron Capps' NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge,  and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.
    
DSR has won 293 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
    
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.