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IHRA World
Finals Clinches Points Chase Runner-Up
October 26, 2007
Qualifying became a game in itself, as Bertozzi attempted to position himself on the ladder where he could face Beard himself in the opening round. He missed that goal by just a hundredth of a second. The ladder didn't fall easily for Beard, however. In the first round, Beard used an .011 light to deny NHRA Jeg's Allstar Clint Blezien the win light by just .001 seconds. Dave Ribeiro challenged Beard in round two with an .022 light, but Beard' .015 and .01-over pushed Ribeiro into a breakout. A substantial holeshot allowed Beard to get passed Travis Womble in round three. One of Bertozzi's hired guns, Division 1 Champion Jim Harrington, was the next to try to stop Beard's roll. Harrington put up a game .024 light, but broke out by .004 against Beard's tough .012-initiated 11.401 on an 11.39 dial. With only six cars remaining in eliminations, Mike Mayhew stopped Beard with a perfect 12.000 on a 12.00 dial, while Beard broke out by .001. Although the championship remained two rounds out of his grasp, Beard could breathe a sigh of relief as those chasing him, Shaw, Piatek, Macy, and Folk, fell in successive rounds. "This has got to be the toughest group of rounds I have ever run in my life," said Beard. "Every win light was like winning a national event. It would've been great to win the World Championship, but I feel really good about how I drove this weekend, and how the whole season has gone. I won two championships, and runnered-up in two more, so I can't feel bad!"
Duck Tape
Wins Again In South Carolina
Beard knocked off Super Stock racer
Bob Earnhardt in the semifinals of the S/SS Combo, and went on
to win the title over Jamie Southards I/CM '74 Duster.
Southards ran perfectly dead-on with a 6.970, but Beard took the
win on a holeshot with an .014 reaction time and a 7.203 on a
7.19 dial-in.
In the Mickey Thompson Ironman Club
Shootout, Beard advanced to another final round, but this time
his opponent, Chad Williams prevailed. Williams got the
holeshot in his Vega, and won the double breakout, 6.224 on a
6.23, to Beard's 7.181 on a 7.20. Williams won the Footbrake
Ironman, while Brian Hicks captured the Top ET Ironman.
"I wish I could've won that one, but
the important thing is that we've got two guys that were running
a different tire that will now be on Mickey Thompsons next
year," said Beard.
"This string has been absolutely
unbelievable," exclaimed Beard. "I won the last two points races
at Pageland, doubled up at Jackson, was still in the gambler's
race at the Bracket Finals when they called it off, runnered-up
in Class Eliminations at Maryland, and now two finals in one
night at Pageland! Hopefully I have enough left over in the
luck bank to get the final round we need at Rockingham next
weekend to win the World Championship.
"I had a little excitement early on
in the night at Pageland," reported Beard. "They told me that my
fuel pump was leaking. With the help from some other Stock
racers, I took the pump apart, but couldn't find anything
wrong. We put it back together, and tested it. It seemed okay,
but just as a precaution, I Duck Taped a rag around it for the
night. You never know when you're going to need a roll!"
This weekend, Beard will compete in
two more Stock/Super Stock Combos, including Roxboro Motorsports
Dragway, in Roxboro, NC Saturday night, and Piedmont Dragway in
Greensboro, NC on Sunday. Beard is the defending champion at
Roxboro's S/SS Ironman Classic, and is undefeated at that track.
Duck Tape
Race Report from Maryland Int'l Raceway
September 29, 2007 Budds Creek, MD - Both Terry Knott and Michael Beard were in competition Duck Tape Racing this past weekend at the IHRA Torco Race Fuels President's Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway, in Budds Creek, Md. The event featured heads-up Class Eliminations for Stock Eliminator, in addition to the regular national event qualifying and eliminations.  Terry
Knott (right) outran Mike Bolton in the first round of
heads-up F/CM competition, 10.94 to an 11.03. Knott then
captured the F/CM honors over Chip Johnson, posting a stout
10.896 at 120.49 mph to Johnson's 11.089 at 118.66 mph. In
J/CM, Beard narrowly outran Tony Ward in the first round, 11.441
to 11.442, thanks to a .008 reaction time. In the J/CM class
finals, recently crowned IHRA Div. 2 Champion Michael Beard
squared off with IHRA Div. 9 Champion Scott Macy, each driving a
Sloan Racing Engines 360 Magnum Mopar crate motor powered
Plymouth Volares. Beard's .004 light couldn't outshine Macy's
.008 light, and Macy held on for the win, 11.380 at 114.16 mph
to Beard's 11.400 at 115.54 mph. DragRaceCentral.com reported,
"What
an amazing, amazing, race. Think both of these guys were
serious? Talk about Biondo, Fletcher, and the
others all you want. I say these guys need to be in the
conversation, too. Beard gets bragging rights on the tree but I
guess a fly landed on his hood at 1300 feet as he loses by .0162
of a second." (ref.
http://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=147150&Filter=Year2007#indextop )
In the main event, Beard fell in
round two, while Knott exited in the third frame. With one
national event remaining, Beard is the only driver left with a
chance to knock off points leader Anthony Bertozzi for the IHRA
Stock World Championship. Just like his chase for the Div. 2
title, Beard needs to make it to the finals to score his second
World Championship.
Another Undefeated Day for Duck Tape September 21, 2007
"Right after I got back to the pits, they called all the drivers to the base of the tower," reported Beard. "A dragster had broken an axle, and spewed gear oil all the way down the track. It was already 2:30 in the morning, so they decided to call the race, and split the purse among the remaining winners. We were down to five cars, so it was a nice payday. "Do we count that one as a win?" joked Beard. Duck Tape
Dominates Carolina For IHRA Div. 2 Stock Championship
Beard qualified in the top half of the field on Saturday, where a semifinal bye run was available. He survived the first four rounds of competition, including races decided by .007 and .001 seconds, to earn that semifinal bye, and thus clinch the IHRA Division 2 Stock Championship. In the finals, Beard used an .018 reaction time to get the nod in a double-breakout against Rusty Hall's C/SA Mustang. On Sunday, Beard qualified in a similar position on the ladder. Four more tight races decided by .005, .013, .010, and .008 led to another semifinal bye run, where he carded a .006 light and ran a close 7.237 on a 7.24. Ironically, Beard's final round opponent was Piatek, who he had just relegated to second in the Division. Piatek got the holeshot, .012 to .032, but he spun the tires, leaving Beard to cruise to his second victory in as many days. "It's unbelievable!" exclaimed Beard. "Carolina Dragway has been very good to me. I hoped that I could pull it off, but anything can happen in any given round. We didn't finish Saturday's race until almost 3 a.m., so I was working on a little more than 24 hours at the time. We got five hours sleep, then got up and did it again. I was tickled to death to clinch the Division Championship, so anything on Sunday was gravy. I wasn't even thinking about national points coming into this weekend. Now I'm less than two rounds out of the lead! I have some work to do, no doubt, but I'm sitting in a better position to win the World than I was the Division a week ago! "As much as drag racing is an individual sport when you're on the track itself, it definitely takes a team's support off the track to help get it done," noted Beard. "I'm so happy to be able to win a Division Championship for Duck Tape, Loctite, Mickey Thompson Tires, and K&N Filters. I hope we can win another World Championship for them, too." Duck Tape's
Northern Swing, and a World Record
Beard was a qualifier in the prestigious
Moser Axle Mania Sportsman Showdown, which pitted a total of 32
All-Stars from among seven different sportsman categories, racing
for an astounding $51,000 purse. Eliminations were conducted during
the Pro show, in front of a capacity crowd. Beard knocked off Top
Sportsman driver Jeff Solyan in the opening round, then fell to
another former World Champion, Troy Williams, Jr. in his Top
Dragster.
The
event also included Class Eliminations for Stock Eliminator, where
Beard picked up the J/CM class title. Terry Knott fell in the
finals of the H/CM class. In regular eliminations, Knott broke out
in the first round, Baehr advanced to the second round of Super
Stock, and Beard made it to the 4th round of Stock.
From Michigan, Beard continued on to the
Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England Dragway in
Epping, N.H., although the trip only resulted in a first round
loss. During the same weekend, however, Terry Knott carried the
Duck Tape torch to a semifinal finish at the NSCA National Event at
Thompson Raceway Park, in Thompson, Ohio.
Back in the Carolinas, Beard celebrated
Labor Day weekend with a double header between the IHRA Summit
Pro-Am Tour event at Darlington, S.C., and a Summit Super Series
points race at Pageland Dragway. The long weekend began early with
a "teardown party" on Friday at Darlington. Engine builder Tim
Sloan, and several fellow Stock racers pitched in to help as we
pulled a cylinder head to allow IHRA officials to inspect and
validate the legality of the 360 Magnum crate motor. Officials
check the size of the combustion chambers, the valves, the bore and
stroke, camshaft, and many other components to make sure they
conform to the stringent rules of the class. With the thumbs up on
everything, the engine was put back together and sealed, in
preparation for
 Record
Runs on Saturday. The existing 1/4-mile J/CM class record was an
11.778, which Beard successfully reset to an 11.731, gaining both
the National Record and the important 5 bonus points that went with
it. After setting the record, the Volare was loaded up, and Beard
headed for Pageland Dragway. There, Beard won the event to pull
within one round of the Summit Super Series points leader for the
track. If Beard wins just one round this coming Saturday, he will
take the lead on a tie-breaker, and qualify for the World
Championship Qualifying Shootout held at the IHRA Div. 2 Summit Team
Finals later this month in Alabama. Beard returned to Darlington on
Sunday, and made it to the 3rd round. With two Pro-Am points claims
left, Beard can still capture the IHRA Div. 2 Stock Championship
with a final round appearance at one of those two races, coming up
in Jackson, S.C.
Beard currently lies 4th in IHRA Div. 2
Stock, 6th in the World in Stock, 2nd in the Summit Super Series at
Pageland Dragway, and clinched the championship at Rockingham
Dragway earlier this season.
"It's been a phenomenal season," said
Beard. "Things slowed down in the middle of the summer, but we're
getting right back into the swing of things now as we turn the
corner, looking forward to our most important part of the season.
Just having a shot at two more championships is an honor! Setting
the J/CM National Record at Darlington was a very special
experience. That was the first time that I've been involved in the
teardown procedure. With as much racing as we do in the Carolinas,
every year is like two or three seasons up north. This engine must
have over 300 runs on it already, and when we had it apart,
everything looked great. That's a testimony not only to Sloan
Racing Engines, but also to the protective abilities of K&N air
filters, valve cover breathers, and oil filters. Loctite products
make sure that when everything is put back together, it stays
together, with no leaks. No Duck Tape went into the teardown
procedure, but it did repair a broken link of my EZ-Up tent this
weekend, and it helped another racer fix his EGR block-off plate.
And it goes without saying that the Mickey Thompson 9x29.5 radials
have been repeating 60' times, typically within about .004 seconds.
All of the sponsors that help make this possible are an integral
part of this team's success."
Kinston Runner-Up
Aids Duck Tape Team Points  Kinston,
NC - Duck Tape Racing competes in several racing series and
often faces scheduling conflicts. On Father’s Day weekend, Michael
Beard had two options. He could chase Summit Super Series points at
Pageland Dragway, in Pageland, South Carolina, or compete in a two
day IHRA Summit Pro-Am Tour Stock eliminator event in Kinston, North
Carolina.Beard decided to skip the qualifying day at Kinston and
race at Pageland on Saturday. “The results were disappointing,” he
said. “However, all but one of the competitors in the Top 5 fell in
the opening round. I only dropped to 2nd in the chase for points.” Beard Secures
Rockingham Dragway Footbrake Championship
“With three days of racing, the points standings shuffled and by
Monday’s final event it was difficult to figure out exactly where
everyone stood,” said Team Duck Tape driver Michael Beard. “We
figured I tied with points leader and former track champion Dell
Britt. We had a runoff and I got the win light.” Track championships
for the 2007 Rockingham Dragway Bracket Series were crowned with
the completion of the annual Memorial Weekend Iron Man Classic. Duck Tape Volare
Makes '07 Debut With Two Final Rounds
Despite Problems,
Beard Starts Strong in '07
UPDATE: Beard backed up win at Pageland by carding his second straight victory there, on April 14. 2006
Duck News Archive...
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Rockingham,
NC
- Team Duck Tape's Michael Beard was faced with not only the
daunting task of coming up with a final round appearance to steal
the IHRA Stock World Championship from Anthony Bertozzi, but he also
had to fend off four other tough challengers. Beard entered
the last race of the IHRA Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam series in second place
in Stock, as the lone driver who could topple Bertozzi's reign.
Nick Folk, Robbie Shaw, Division 9 Champ Scott Macy, and defending
World Champion Myron Piatek each had a chance to pass Beard for
second, however.
Steele, AL
- Alabama International Dragway, in Steele, Ala., hosted the
IHRA Div. 2 Summit Team Finals, a four day tournament featuring only
the top drivers from each of fifteen tracks in the southeast.
Two gamblers races were contested, in addition to the main event,
where drivers earned points for their track to determine a Team
Champion. In the second gamblers race, on Friday, the Duck
Tape Volare driven by Michael Beard rolled through round after round
as the night wore on. In the fifth round, Beard got the win
light with an .011 reaction time and a 7.27 on a 7.26 dial. He
earned the bye run going into the sixth round, where he improved to
a .005 light.
Jackson,
SC - The final stop on the IHRA Summit Pro-Am Tour for 2007,
at Jackson, S.C.'s Carolina Dragway, presented both a challenge and
an opportunity for Michael Beard, part of the Duck Tape brand duct
tape racing team. One year ago, Beard left Carolina with both
a runner-up and a win, helping to push him to a second place finish
in the 2006 IHRA Div. 9 Stock points. This year was another
do-or-die situation. Reigning World Champion Myron Piatek
deposed Anthony Bertozzi from the points lead with a clutch
"must-win" at Darlington, forcing Beard to come up with one final
round appearance between the two races of the double-header event in
order to pass either of the top contenders.
Seagrove,
NC - 
Pageland,
SC -