Michael Beard battles back from near to defeat
to collect first career IHRA Super Stock title
Car trouble nearly derails Beard's title hopes
NORWALK, Ohio (November 2, 2012) – Winning a championship is one thing.
Winning a championship while overcoming some great adversity, now that is how you make a lasting impression on the sport.
Such
was the case at the recently completed IHRA Summit Racing Equipment
World Finals at Memphis International Raceway as longtime IHRA
competitor and former world champion Michael Beard overcame two days of
car trouble and a near throw-in-the-towel situation to win his very
first Super Stock World Championship after another incredible season
behind the wheel.
Beard overcame major car issues at World Finals to collect first IHRA Super Stock championship
"I
absolutely didn't think I had a chance to win this thing. I was so out
of it," Beard said. "And then we had an unbelievable turn of events.
Ironically your Stock champ Brent Darroch found the problem on the car
and suddenly I was back in the game. I literally didn't have a chance at
this thing until about two or three rounds to go."
From
the very start of the World Finals weekend something was amiss on the
Duck Tape-sponsored 1980 Volare of Beard. Problems with the IAC on the
throttle body left the Ohio native unable to attack the tree and without
the ability to own the start the veteran racer was just about ready to
throw in the towel.
"I
will tell you how out of it I was. I didn't turn the weather station on
all day, all of my time slips were still in my pocket and I didn't
enter a single run in the log book," Beard said. "I kept thinking
'whatever, we are probably going to be on the trailer anyway.' I mean, I
was having problems staging and every time I tried to come up on the
converter the thing was just trying to die on me. And if I sat back and
came up on it way hard it got too deep or I red lighted. I knew I didn't
have a chance unless I got the car fixed.
"To go from being out of the thing to holding this trophy, that is absolutely incredible."
After
two days of thrashing and multiple drivers getting involved, including
friends and fellow competitor Mark Nowicki, engine builder Tim Sloan,
Michael Volkman and others, it was finally the magic touch of the man
that would go on to win the Stock championship later that same day that
saved the day.
"I
very literally could not have done this without a number of people
working on the car," Beard said. "Mark (Nowicki) worked on the car, I
got advice from Tim Sloan my engine builder and believe it or not it was
Brent (Darroch) that actually fixed the problem. Once we isolated the
issue we cleaned it up and boom the car was fixed and I could go after
the tree again."
In 2012 Beard visited six final rounds at five different tracks to win the Division 2 Pro-Am title
And that he did.
From
unable to compete to the finals of Super Stock, Beard had a day he
won't soon forget. And by Saturday night it all came down to Beard and
Moon, Pennsylvania's Emily Volkman for the Super Stock World
Championship.
With
the very first title in the class on the line for both drivers, Beard
proved just how important owning the tree is with a .034 reaction time
to Volkman's .057, a number that ultimately proved the difference in the
race. A little over 10 seconds later Beard crossed the line with a
10.781/122.39 on a 10.73 dial to barely edge Volkman and her
10.234/125.33 on a 10.19 to collect yet another big race win.
"I
have had a lot of really good races. I have won championships, won
bracket finals, but just the adversity of this weekend made it that much
sweeter," Beard said. "I don't think I have ever screamed that loud."
Beard's
victory at the Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions
presented by AMSOIL actually capped a tremendous year for the now
three-time IHRA champion.
Beard
visited six final rounds and won twice – once in Super Stock and once
in Stock – on his way to winning the Division 2 Super Stock title on the
Summit Pro-Am Tour. To add to his accomplishments five of Beard's six
finals took place at different racetracks, adding a sixth different
track when you throw in Memphis.
"It
has actually been a phenomenal year. We started out with some problems
at the beginning of the season with the car being a small tire car and
the fuel injection being so responsive that the car hit really hard and
it was either feast or famine during the first half of the year," Beard
said. "The car would either fly or blow the tires off. When I finally
found out that the rear end housing was actually starting to twist I
thought at that point, if I have to buy a rear end, it might as well be a
big narrow one.
"I
took the car to Donny Gibbs Jr. at Gibbs Race Cars in Mooresville and I
back-halved the car. It is a real Super Stock back half now. And ever
since then this thing has been phenomenal. After that we really got on a
roll."
Beard battled Emily Volkman in the Super Stock final at Memphis
Ironically,
Beard's weekend in Memphis actually began with a loss to the same
person he beat in the TOC final. During the Summit Sportsman Spectacular
earlier in the day Beard lost to Emily Volkman in the third round of
the big money shootout with a -.007 light doing him in as his car
troubles began to rear its ugly head.
Once
out of the all-star race, Beard turned his focus to the championship
tournament where he produced five big round wins over a who's who list
of Super Stock superstars. Defending Super Stock champion Gianni
Cantusci in round two, the man who finished second to Beard in the
Division 2 standings Michael Crumpler in round three and finally Beard's
arch nemesis Brandon Peterson in the semis.
In
some of those wins Beard got some help as Cantusci went .002 under his
dial, Crumpler ran .016 under his dial in a double breakout and finally a
big -.394 red light by Peterson in the semifinals, a race that could
have been epic with Beard hitting a .001 on the tree, carried Beard
throughout the day. But it was the win over Peterson that meant the most
to eventual champ as he finally got a season-long monkey off his back.
"One
of the biggest runs for me was the semi against Brandon (Peterson)
because he has beat me up and down this year," Beard said. "Mentally I
was really focused on going after him and that was evident by my light.
He went way red because he said he was pushing on the button so hard
that his thumb actually slipped off the button. Honestly after working
on the car all day that was my first comfortable hit all day."
On
the other side of the ladder Volkman, who worked her way into the
tournament via a third place finish in the Division 3 standings,
defeated Marvin Dunahoo, Jeffrey Miller and Mark Nowicki to reach the
final.
With
the win Beard adds to the legacy of one of the most accomplished racers
in the sport today and if one thing is certain, the man isn't quite
done winning just yet.
"It
was a great year and it was amazing to win another championship, but we
still have a lot of racing left in us," Beard said. "I want to thank
Duck Tape brand duct tape, Mickey Thompson, Moser Engineering, K&N
Filters, CAM2 Blue Blood Racing Oil, Abruzzi Racing Transmissions &
Converters, Gibbs Race Cars, Southland Speed, Sloan Racing Engines, Ross
Pistons, ThisIsBracketRacing.com, ClassRacer.com, Macy Motorsports,
Money Maker Racing, Billy Nees Race Cars, my parents Stephen and Ellen
Beard my wife Jill and of course IHRA, Summit and all the contingency
sponsors."
