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PRESS MOVES FROM TOYOTA TO CHRYSLER
Chrysler appointed James E. Press as Vice Chairman and President, joining Tom LaSorda as Vice Chairman and President. Press, who was President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota Motors in North America Inc. and a Director of the parent company, will now be responsible for North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service and Parts for Chrysler LLC.[09/06/07]
FIRST INDY WIN FOR ASHLEY
Mike Ashley scored the tenth win of the season for a Mopar-powered NHRA Funny Car at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
The win at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind., was an emotional one for Ashley, who campaigned a special-edition Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation Tribute Car, featuring a Dodge Charger R/T body donated by Mopar. The car will be sent to Scottsdale, Ariz., where it will be auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction January 12-20, 2008, with funds going directly to the Foundation to support the Perinatal Loss Program at the St. Vincent Health System Hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
"This means so much, not only for the team and for Evan Knoll, Torco, and all our sponsors, but because of the Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation and how important this win is to them," said Ashley, who defeated Gary Densham, Don Schumacher Racing and Mopar driver Jack Beckman, Del Worsham and Robert Hight on the way to his third win of the year.
Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T, qualified No. 3, earned for his crew another Full Throttle Pit Challenge Award for consistency in qualifying, and defeated Scott Kalitta before bowing in the quarterfinals to Ashley.
Beckman's DSR teammates, Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps, weren't so lucky, as both bowed out in the first round. Scelzi, driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T, lost to Del Worsham. Capps, who led the NHRA Funny Car category by as much as 154 points this season, fell victim to the Monster Energy Dodge Charger R/T of Kenny Bernstein, and now finds himself fourth in the Countdown to Four playoffs standings following his first-round loss at the U.S. Nationals.
Ashley's win moves him to second place in the new Countdown to Four points, with the next three events to determine the top four, who will then vie for the championship in the final two events of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Beckman is fifth, one spot behind Capps, with Scelzi seventh in the points. [09/06/07]
BECKMAN PICKS UP $100K FOR SKOAL SHOWDOWN WIN
“Fast” Jack Beckman drove the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car straight into the Skoal Showdown winner's circle, claiming his first victory in this $100,000 bonus event during the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Beckman defeated Robert Hight in the opening stanza.
Beckman's Showdown win marked the first triumph in this event for a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car since team owner Schumacher added the first Funny Car team to his stable in 2001. It was also the first all-Don Schumacher Racing Mopar final round, as Beckman faced off against his teammate and NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series points leader Ron Capps.
With lane choice for the final round, Capps selected what had been considered the less-desirable right lane, the lane in which he had just defeated Mike Ashley in the semi-finals. Capps launched first, with a .093 reaction time (.000 is perfect), to Beckman's .104. It was close, but it was Beckman by a nose - seven feet actually - at the finish line, claiming the win with a 4.950-second pass at 313.80 mph to Capps's losing 4.967/315.64.
"It was close, especially from 800 feet on,” Beckman said. “I could hear him out there and I was just staring at that win light going, 'Come on, come on, come on.' Even at 325 mph it takes a long time to get there.” [09/06/07]
