Beard Continues Strong Super Stock Rookie Run
April 5, 2008

San Antonio, TX - The 1300-mile drive yielded positive results for Team Duck Tape's Michael Beard.  Driving Johnny Fisher's '80 Dodge Mirada, Beard earned GT/KA honors in Class Eliminations to kick off the long weekend of racing on Thursday.  Despite qualifying last, Beard fought his way through the ladder of some of the nation's finest drivers in the Sportsman National portion of the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals at San Antonio Raceway in Marion, TX.  Beard reeled off consecutive reaction times of .000, .007, .011, .018, and .005 throughout eliminations, only to drop the final round to Scotty Richardson by a less-than-narrow .0003 seconds.

Beard red-lighted in the first round of the second National event of the weekend, but the overall rewarding weekend vaults Beard into 5th in the World Championship points standings in his first full season of chasing Super Stock points.

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Beard Sets 1/8th mile I/CM World Record
March 29, 2008

Mooresville, NC - Duck Tape Racing's Michael Beard made it back on track with help from Sloan Racing Engines.  Proving that the recently rebuilt 360 Magnum 360 crate motor was back in fine form, Beard reset the 1/8th mile I/CM class World Record at Mooresville Dragway's IHRA Div. 9 Summit Pro-Am Tour event, eclipsing the previous mark of a 6.99 with a 6.946.  Beard qualified 13th out of 56 cars, but Mother Nature's blast of cold temperatures and rain forced the postponement of the event to May 30 - June 1, 2008.
 

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Beard Wins First Super Stock Title
March 2, 2008

Rockingham, NC - The 2008 season-opening Stock win at Immokalee, FL was tempered by hurting the engine in the Volare during the second IHRA Div. 2 Summit Pro-Am event. While the Stocker is down for repairs, team driver Michael Beard brought out the '74 Duster for competition at Rockingham Dragway's Spring Blast event in Rockingham, NC on February 23rd, and made it to the fourth round of competition in a field of 118 Foootbrake cars.

This past weekend was the first of the IHRA Div. 9 Summit Pro-Am events, also at Rockingham Dragway, and long-time Mopar driver Johnny Fisher stepped up to offer Beard the wheel of his 1980 Dodge Mirada -- a car steeped in history, and well-known as one of the fastest in its class, as noted by multiple Class wins at Indy's famed US Nationals. The Mirada is such a fast Stock eliminator car that Beard was able to enter the car in Super Stock's SS/LA class. The Stocker managed to out-qualify several real Super Stock cars, landing 28th out of 32 cars. Luck played heavy favorites on Beard's side, as he cruised through five rounds of eliminations to earn his first career Super Stock Ironman trophy.

Beard Wins IHRA Season Opener at Immokalee
February 12, 2008

Immokalee, FL - For the second straight year, Duck Tape Racing has kicked off the IHRA Summit Pro-Am Tour with a Stock Eliminator victory in its very first outing.  Michael Beard hauled the Duck Tape brand duct tape Volare 740 miles to Immokalee Regional Raceway, in Immokalee, Fla., for a huge three-race event.  On the first day, Beard qualified #2 in Stock with his Sloan Racing Engines-prepped Mopar 360 Magnum crate motor, and slipped by four past champions, including Forrest Lipke, Jime Harrington, Mike Mayhew, and Peter Biondo, en route to capturing the first of the newly restyled IHRA Iron Man trophies.

The celebrating was cut short on day two, when a damaged oil pan led to loss of oil pressure in round two.  Beard missed the Sportsman National on Sunday to travel home, and pulled the engine on Monday to begin affecting repairs.  It is still early in the season, so time is not crunched, the first day win handles the weekend's damage, and Team Duck Tape still comes away with the points lead in IHRA Division 1 Stock.

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