Beard Drives Mopar Power to Nitro Jam Victory, Second World Championship Tourney
Duck Tape Racing's Michael Beard has made the winner's circle a regular stop on the IHRA Drag Racing tour with his Mopar 360 Magnum crate motor-powered 1980 Plymouth Volare, prepped by Sloan Racing Engines. Beard, the 2003 IHRA Stock World Champion, is poised to regain his title twice over in 2010, after winning the season-opening IHRA Stock Eliminator title at the inaugural Palm Beach Nitro Jam, hosted by Palm Beach International Raceway in West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 29–30.
Each Nitro Jam event is a qualifying race for IHRA's Tournament of Champions. Beard became the first Stock driver to earn a berth in this year's $10,000-to-win World Championship tournament, which will take place at the IHRA World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park in October. Beard also qualified for the 2009 Tournament of Champions, but the weather-hampered original event was postponed until April 30 of this year, to be concluded at Rockingham Dragway. While the prospect of earning both the 2009 and 2010 World Championships in the same year awaits, Beard already carries a major title as the 2009 IHRA Division 2 East Super E.T. Champion, after a dominating 3-race sweep at Darlington Dragway this past October.
At the Palm Beach Nitro Jam, Beard strategically qualified 10th in the Stock Eliminator field with an 11.115 elapsed time, .835 under the H/CM class index. He set the tone for the day with a perfect .000 reaction time in the second round, and defeated rookie hotshoe J.J. Carnero in the final round with a .010 to .029 reaction time advantage. Beard took the finish line by just .004 seconds with an 11.205 (11.18 dial-in) to top Carnero's 11.970 (11.96).