Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will be honored for the second straight year by the city of Cumberland, Md., this Saturday, Oct. 4, in advance of the upcoming NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond, Va., Oct. 10-12.

Beckman, No. 2 in the Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings with three races remaining in the season, will be in the city's Town Centre from 4 to 8 p.m. Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler is expected to proclaim Saturday as "Fast Jack" Beckman Recognition Day and appoint Beckman an honorary citizen of the Queen City.

Local car enthusiasts who have competition or specialty vehicles have been invited to bring their cars and assemble downtown on Saturday. Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will be honored for the second straight year by the city of Cumberland, Md., this Saturday, Oct. 4, in advance of the upcoming NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond, Va., Oct. 10-12.

Beckman, No. 2 in the Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings with three races remaining in the season, will be in the city's Town Centre from 4 to 8 p.m. Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler is expected to proclaim Saturday as "Fast Jack" Beckman Recognition Day and appoint Beckman an honorary citizen of the Queen City.

Local car enthusiasts who have competition or specialty vehicles have been invited to bring their cars and assemble downtown on Saturday.

"I'm kind of humbled," Beckman told the Cumberland Times-News last week. "I'm just a really lucky person who gets paid to do something they would do for free. I'm blessed to do this and contending for the championship.

"I'm not saving little kids or doing open heart surgery, but I'm doing what I like to do," he told the newspaper reporter.

Beckman's uncle, Albert "Ted" Beckman of Cresaptown, told the Times-News that there's no question that his brother Bob's love of racing has been passed to his son Jack.

"He got into it before he had a driver's license," he said of his nephew. "He inherited it from his dad."

Beckman told the Times-News that his father, a Cumberland native and 1955 graduate of Fort Hill High School, "had hot rod fever" and moved to Southern California, the capital of hot rodding, in the early 1960s.

It was an uncle on his mother's side, however, who took him and his brother, Ted, to their first drag race.

"I just remember at 7 years old it was probably the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life," said Beckman. "I'm still a big fan of the sport. I'm still like a little kid."