BECKMAN VISITS CENTENNIAL MIDDLE SCHOOL IN PHOENIX
PHOENIX, Ariz. (Feb. 22, 2008) – "Fast" Jack Beckman is always willing to squeeze a little time away from his job as the driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series to share his life and on-track experiences with young children wherever he goes.
On Thursday, after he arrived into town to prepare for the NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway this weekend, Beckman was joined by son Jason Russell, who will celebrate his one-year birthday March 8, and his wife Jenna when he spoke to over 100 sixth-grade students in the library at the Centennial Middle School in Phoenix.
The 41-year-old California native answered numerous questions from attentive students about his profession, as he spoke to them about the importance of school, staying away from drugs and the benefits of a good education.
"The students' science teacher, Mr. Giannopoulos (known as Mr. G), is a motorsports enthusiast," said Beckman. "He's actually a go-kart racer and he's really into it. He even had a drag-racing slick in the class and books on drag racing on display. I spoke for about 40 minutes to the kids and I took another half hour to answer their questions. Then I signed their backpacks, their notebooks and all kinds of stuff, so it was really fun. They were a very well-behaved group. They were old enough to get it so they had some great questions, but still young enough to stay interested. We showed an NHRA DVD at the beginning to kind of give them a little bit of an idea of what we do. It was a great experience.
"This visit was kind of a last-minute deal," added Beckman, "but I always try to make time for the children if it's possible. I really enjoy going out to the schools and I love getting the feedback from the kids. A lot of times you never know if what you've presented is effective, but if you reach even one kid then it's worth it and that keeps me motivated to continue to reach out to the youth when I can."
The visit was organized by Wally Cahill, the father of a student at the school and a local radio host.
