Todd Okuhara has been with Don Schumacher Racing long enough to have carefully observed every Funny Car driver the Chicago-based team owner has utilized, from Whit Bazemore to Gary Scelzi, Ron Caps and now, Jack Beckman, the decisive winner of the Skoal Showdown in Indianapolis.  We’d all like to think we can watch a car go down the track and know whether or not its driver is good, bad or indifferent, but the reality is that what we’re seeing is a land-locked missile blasting from one end of the track to the other.  As log as the driver doesn’t run into anything, as far as were concerned, he got the job done.  Tuners like Okuhara see things quite differently.
 
As he quickly said when asked if he was happy with the current arrangement at DSR, Okuhara said, “It’s been really cool working with Gary.  I’ve been lucky because I got to work with (Ron) Capps, Gary and Jack Beckman.  Not too many guys can say they’ve been able to work with guys of that caliber.” Todd Okuhara has been with Don Schumacher Racing long enough to have carefully observed every Funny Car driver the Chicago-based team owner has utilized, from Whit Bazemore to Gary Scelzi, Ron Caps and now, Jack Beckman, the decisive winner of the Skoal Showdown in Indianapolis.  We’d all like to think we can watch a car go down the track and know whether or not its driver is good, bad or indifferent, but the reality is that what we’re seeing is a land-locked missile blasting from one end of the track to the other.  As log as the driver doesn’t run into anything, as far as were concerned, he got the job done.  Tuners like Okuhara see things quite differently.
 
As he quickly said when asked if he was happy with the current arrangement at DSR, Okuhara said, “It’s been really cool working with Gary.  I’ve been lucky because I got to work with (Ron) Capps, Gary and Jack Beckman.  Not too many guys can say they’ve been able to work with guys of that caliber.”
 
We asked him to compare the four drivers he’s worked with – their styles, their driving and what it was like to work with them.
 
“Capps, Gary and Bazemore have great ‘feel’ for the cars.  They’ll come back and tell you things that happened in the car before you can even look at the computer and you fid out, Wow, they’re right.
 
“Obviously Jack, with this being his first full season in a Funny Car, went through some learning curves, but he’s come along great, and he’s obviously doing great right now.  He might not have the same kind of feel that Ron or Gary has because he hasn’t had as many runs as they’ve had, but he’s come a long way in a short time.”
 
Admit it.  You just saw Jack Beckman win the Showdown, and you thought he was on the same skill level as Capps, Scelzi and Bazemore, but we’re wrong, and Okuhara is right.  Beckman has an extremely bright future, and with more runs under his belt will undoubtedly develop the same ‘feel’ for the cars that the others have achieved.