His adventure began during the second Funny Car qualifying session on Saturday, when ‘Stanley’, riding along with the driver of the Don Schumacher racing Valvoline/MTS sponsored Dodge Charger Funny Car, “Fast” Jack Beckman, rocketed through the 1000 foot ‘Strip’ at LVMS in 4.20 seconds at a speed of 302 mph.

 

Katie Rogers, the owner of Flat Stanley was pleased. “I wanted him to become ‘Fast Stanley’, and Fast Jack made that happen- I am very happy,” said the second grade student at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

 

His adventure began during the second Funny Car qualifying session on Saturday, when ‘Stanley’, riding along with the driver of the Don Schumacher racing Valvoline/MTS sponsored Dodge Charger Funny Car, “Fast” Jack Beckman, rocketed through the 1000 foot ‘Strip’ at LVMS in 4.20 seconds at a speed of 302 mph.

 

Katie Rogers, the owner of Flat Stanley was pleased. “I wanted him to become ‘Fast Stanley’, and Fast Jack made that happen- I am very happy,” said the second grade student at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

Beckman, was happy to accommodate Ms. Rogers request. “I can’t believe that a 43-year old got so excited about taking ‘Stanley’ for a ride,” said Beckman. “The 4.20 was a solid pass, (crew chief) Johnny West tuned it up, and ‘Stanley’ helped me drive the Valvoline/MTS Dodge right down the middle of ‘The Strip’.”

 

‘Stanley’ did not end his adventures on that run. During first round eliminations, he rode on the driver side window of the DHL Kalitta Motorsports Fuel Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend. He then switched classes and was on board with Pro Stock number one qualifier Mike Edwards during his round one victory against Steve Speiss.

 

Stanley then visited the winner’s circle, carried by race fans Chris Cook, Paul Flores and Joe Sherwood.

 

Stanley’s adventures in NHRA drag racing will continue during the remainder of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season.

 

Bob Wilber, team manager of Tim Wilkerson’s Fuel Funny Car team will be taking Ms. Rogers' Flat Stanley to the next level. “I'll be taking Stanley with me to Atlanta, and he'll be a part of our Team Wilkerson blog at NHRA.com for a solid week,” said a very excited Wilber. “Hopefully we can have some fun while a few young students get some geography, science, or creative writing lessons.”

 

For more information on the Flat Stanley Project, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley