BEARD INVOLVED IN NEW IN-HOUSE DSR DRAGSTER DEVELOPMENT
Mon, 2009-07-13 15:30
This season is Lee Beard's 33rd in the NHRA, 32 of which he served as a crew chief for a variety of
teams.
Presently, he is taking on a new role as a team manager in his second stint with Don Schumacher Racing. He's responsible for all five Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car teams under the DSR umbrella.
His main project right now for DSR is happening during the week.
teams.
Presently, he is taking on a new role as a team manager in his second stint with Don Schumacher Racing. He's responsible for all five Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car teams under the DSR umbrella.
His main project right now for DSR is happening during the week.
“I tinker with stuff in the shop,” said Beard, who added that DSR is building their cars in-house. “I work real close with our fabricators on the design of the new dragster we are building in-house.”
Building the dragster of the future came about through talks with Brad Hadman.
"Basically, what we did was make an agreement with Brad (Hadman), from whom we have been buying our race cars, to duplicate his race car," Beard said. "And, what we're building is all of the tubing in-house. So, we built jigs and fixtures to basically copy Brad Hadman's tubing and then we're buying all the basic components from him, all the pedals, levers, nose, wings."
The deal has benefits for Hadman as well.
"In return to him, that gives him the ability to come to Indianapolis and use our DSR facility to put front halfs and back halfs on the rest of his customers who are in the Indianapolis area: the Al-Anabi team, Bernstein's team, Morgan Lucas' team, Antron Brown's team - they all have Hadman cars. They currently have to ship those cars to Seattle to get a front half or a back half on them. Since we now have a jig that duplicates Brad's car he can come to our facility, use the facility, and put a front half and a back half on those cars and save those teams a lot of money."
DSR has built their Funny Cars in-house for at least two seasons and this marks the first for the dragsters; the first one is slated to debut this season. "The first dragster is having the body mounted now," Beard said. "We hope to bring the car out after the western swing."
According to DSR officials, the driver of DSR's new dragster has yet-to-be determined.
Last year the DSR 1 chassis Funny Car debuted at Bandimere with Jack Beckman. Beckman registed a runner-up performance.
Beard has established himself as one of the top crew chiefs in the Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car ranks.
In 1989, he led the late Gary Ormsby to the Top Fuel Dragster crown. He also was the team manager/crew chief for Larry Minor Motorsports when Cruz Pedregon snared the Top Fuel Funny Car crown in 1992.
"I’m certainly able to use my tuning experience to share with our five crew chiefs (at DSR),” Beard said. “It is a different role because I am not the guy who is making that last minute decision. In a way it is the same because I am the cement between all five teams. I’m the guy if a car is not running good and that crew chief wants me to come in and help him analyze his data and look at things a little differently, get his thought process working in a different way, get the car back on track and make it successful … it’s certainly a challenge because when you are a crew chief you know a car like the back of your hand. When you’re an advisor or counselor on five cars you really don’t know that car. You have to use your skills of analyzing data, looking at their records, and trying to steer them in the right direction to make the car successful.”
Prior to today's eliminations at the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, the DSR entries are having solid seasons. Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan are third and fifth in the Top Fuel Dragster standings. Funny Car drivers Ron Capps (third) and Jack Beckham (fourth) are squarely in competition to make the Chase.
Beard said the reason Schumacher hired him was to serve as a guy who could go from team to team, if one was in a struggle, and assist the ailing team without having to pull resources from another. In the past, DSR will pull tuners from their teams to help others.
“I think the concept was a home run,” Beard said. "I kind of look at things in reverse. When I was a crew chief, if I would have had a guy in my pits who had won 55 national events and had over 61 No. 1 qualifiers and a couple of world championships to be my sounding board … my counsel … I would have been head over heels.”
Actually, Bandimere is Beard's home track. He grew up Pueblo, which is two hours south of Morrison.
“I have a lot of experience racing up here,” said Beard, a 1971 graduate of Pueblo Central High School. “The reality of it is that all of the crew chiefs race here one time a year. Even though I had experience in growing up and racing here, that technology doesn’t apply anymore. The philosophy in how to run in high altitudes still applies.”
The last two seasons he was with David Powers Motorsports, he tuned Whit Bazemore and then Antron Brown to the final round. In 2007, both David Powers cars were in the final round. David Powers disbanded his team in the offseason.
Beard said the loss of CAT sponsorship from David Powers Motorsports — CAT was sponsoring Fuller's car — came as no surprise with the downturn in the economy. However, the acquisition of the Matco Tool team by a new team owner [Mike Ashley] came as a surprise to him.
That led to Beard landing his new job with DSR. Schumacher had approached Beard several times before he joined the team letting him know he was welcome back anytime. Beard was at DSR from 2001 through most of 2005, serving as the crew chief for Whit Bazemore, who was piloting a Top Fuel Funny Car.
Beard guided Bazemore to 12 national events with DSR.
“My relationship with Don has always been good and even when we parted ways in 2005, there was no animosity,” Beard said. “There were no hard feelings; it was strictly a business decision. During the time I was away he always made it clear to me that if I ever wanted to come back that all I had to do was pick up the phone and call. We are such a small industry so you never really want to burn a bridge. You never know what you will need to do to stay employed and active.”
Although Beard's career has spanned over three decades, he was able to pick out a couple of his most memorable moments.
Winning the championship with Ormsby as a virtual unknown and then capturing the Indy title in 2001 with Bazemore.
Beard had a big project with Reynard going on the weekend that Bazemore won. Bazemore had an unpainted carbon fiber body, with state of the art aero, and he ran the quickest and fastest run of Funny Car at the time.
“That was a very satisfying win because it was something we had planned, three or four months in advance of the race and I was working on it in another building,” Beard explained. “Our crew guys didn’t know, our p.r. people didn’t know … it was a high priority, top secret thing. To do that, have it come together and be successful, that really stands out.”
Beard, who turns 56 this coming Saturday, has no plans of leaving the sport.
“I love doing this and I still get excited driving to work,” Beard admits. “I get excited every race I go to. I can’t see myself doing anything else except a little fly fishing on the side.”
One aspect that Beard hasn't explore in the NHRA is being a team owner, and he's not ruling that out.
“If the opportunity presented itself with the proper financial package, I would like to be an owner,” Beard admits. “In today’s economy, that’s a pretty big dream.”
Lee Beard's new role at DSR has him involved in the building of the team's first in-house dragster.
Presently, he is taking on a new role as a team manager in his second stint with Don Schumacher Racing. He's responsible for all five Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car teams under the DSR umbrella.
His main project right now for DSR is happening during the week.
This season is Lee Beard's 33rd in the NHRA, 32 of which he served as a crew chief for a variety of
Lee Beard's new role at DSR has him involved in the building of the team's first in-house dragster.
Presently, he is taking on a new role as a team manager in his second stint with Don Schumacher Racing. He's responsible for all five Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car teams under the DSR umbrella.
His main project right now for DSR is happening during the week.
“I tinker with stuff in the shop,” said Beard, who added that DSR is building their cars in-house. “I work real close with our fabricators on the design of the new dragster we are building in-house.”
Building the dragster of the future came about through talks with Brad Hadman.
"Basically, what we did was make an agreement with Brad (Hadman), from whom we have been buying our race cars, to duplicate his race car," Beard said. "And, what we're building is all of the tubing in-house. So, we built jigs and fixtures to basically copy Brad Hadman's tubing and then we're buying all the basic components from him, all the pedals, levers, nose, wings."
The deal has benefits for Hadman as well.
"In return to him, that gives him the ability to come to Indianapolis and use our DSR facility to put front halfs and back halfs on the rest of his customers who are in the Indianapolis area: the Al-Anabi team, Bernstein's team, Morgan Lucas' team, Antron Brown's team - they all have Hadman cars. They currently have to ship those cars to Seattle to get a front half or a back half on them. Since we now have a jig that duplicates Brad's car he can come to our facility, use the facility, and put a front half and a back half on those cars and save those teams a lot of money."
DSR has built their Funny Cars in-house for at least two seasons and this marks the first for the dragsters; the first one is slated to debut this season. "The first dragster is having the body mounted now," Beard said. "We hope to bring the car out after the western swing."
According to DSR officials, the driver of DSR's new dragster has yet-to-be determined.
Last year the DSR 1 chassis Funny Car debuted at Bandimere with Jack Beckman. Beckman registed a runner-up performance.
Beard has established himself as one of the top crew chiefs in the Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car ranks.
In 1989, he led the late Gary Ormsby to the Top Fuel Dragster crown. He also was the team manager/crew chief for Larry Minor Motorsports when Cruz Pedregon snared the Top Fuel Funny Car crown in 1992.
"I’m certainly able to use my tuning experience to share with our five crew chiefs (at DSR),” Beard said. “It is a different role because I am not the guy who is making that last minute decision. In a way it is the same because I am the cement between all five teams. I’m the guy if a car is not running good and that crew chief wants me to come in and help him analyze his data and look at things a little differently, get his thought process working in a different way, get the car back on track and make it successful … it’s certainly a challenge because when you are a crew chief you know a car like the back of your hand. When you’re an advisor or counselor on five cars you really don’t know that car. You have to use your skills of analyzing data, looking at their records, and trying to steer them in the right direction to make the car successful.”
Prior to today's eliminations at the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, the DSR entries are having solid seasons. Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan are third and fifth in the Top Fuel Dragster standings. Funny Car drivers Ron Capps (third) and Jack Beckham (fourth) are squarely in competition to make the Chase.
Beard said the reason Schumacher hired him was to serve as a guy who could go from team to team, if one was in a struggle, and assist the ailing team without having to pull resources from another. In the past, DSR will pull tuners from their teams to help others.
“I think the concept was a home run,” Beard said. "I kind of look at things in reverse. When I was a crew chief, if I would have had a guy in my pits who had won 55 national events and had over 61 No. 1 qualifiers and a couple of world championships to be my sounding board … my counsel … I would have been head over heels.”
Actually, Bandimere is Beard's home track. He grew up Pueblo, which is two hours south of Morrison.
“I have a lot of experience racing up here,” said Beard, a 1971 graduate of Pueblo Central High School. “The reality of it is that all of the crew chiefs race here one time a year. Even though I had experience in growing up and racing here, that technology doesn’t apply anymore. The philosophy in how to run in high altitudes still applies.”
The last two seasons he was with David Powers Motorsports, he tuned Whit Bazemore and then Antron Brown to the final round. In 2007, both David Powers cars were in the final round. David Powers disbanded his team in the offseason.
Beard said the loss of CAT sponsorship from David Powers Motorsports — CAT was sponsoring Fuller's car — came as no surprise with the downturn in the economy. However, the acquisition of the Matco Tool team by a new team owner [Mike Ashley] came as a surprise to him.
That led to Beard landing his new job with DSR. Schumacher had approached Beard several times before he joined the team letting him know he was welcome back anytime. Beard was at DSR from 2001 through most of 2005, serving as the crew chief for Whit Bazemore, who was piloting a Top Fuel Funny Car.
Beard guided Bazemore to 12 national events with DSR.
“My relationship with Don has always been good and even when we parted ways in 2005, there was no animosity,” Beard said. “There were no hard feelings; it was strictly a business decision. During the time I was away he always made it clear to me that if I ever wanted to come back that all I had to do was pick up the phone and call. We are such a small industry so you never really want to burn a bridge. You never know what you will need to do to stay employed and active.”
Although Beard's career has spanned over three decades, he was able to pick out a couple of his most memorable moments.
Winning the championship with Ormsby as a virtual unknown and then capturing the Indy title in 2001 with Bazemore.
Beard had a big project with Reynard going on the weekend that Bazemore won. Bazemore had an unpainted carbon fiber body, with state of the art aero, and he ran the quickest and fastest run of Funny Car at the time.
“That was a very satisfying win because it was something we had planned, three or four months in advance of the race and I was working on it in another building,” Beard explained. “Our crew guys didn’t know, our p.r. people didn’t know … it was a high priority, top secret thing. To do that, have it come together and be successful, that really stands out.”
Beard, who turns 56 this coming Saturday, has no plans of leaving the sport.
“I love doing this and I still get excited driving to work,” Beard admits. “I get excited every race I go to. I can’t see myself doing anything else except a little fly fishing on the side.”
One aspect that Beard hasn't explore in the NHRA is being a team owner, and he's not ruling that out.
“If the opportunity presented itself with the proper financial package, I would like to be an owner,” Beard admits. “In today’s economy, that’s a pretty big dream.”
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