Duck Tape Racing's Michael Beard covers a lot of ground, having competed in events from Florida to Texas, and Pennsylvania to Michigan.  The opening weekend of October found him closer to home, but still logging the miles.  On Saturday, Beard raced his way down to the final eight cars in an IHRA Summit Super Series bracket race at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C.

Duck Tape Racing's Michael Beard covers a lot of ground, having competed in events from Florida to Texas, and Pennsylvania to Michigan.  The opening weekend of October found him closer to home, but still logging the miles.  On Saturday, Beard raced his way down to the final eight cars in an IHRA Summit Super Series bracket race at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C.  On Sunday, Beard relocated his efforts to the IHRA Div. 9 Summit Pro-Am event at Kinston Dragstrip, in Kinston, N.C.  Pro-Am events hold qualifying runs on Saturday, and go straight into eliminations on Sunday.  Beard was placed on the bottom of the qualifying sheet, and entered eliminations without a single run on the track since his runner-up at this event last year, where he pulled the same "late arrival" stunt.  Good fortune aided Beard in getting past the first round, giving him the data he needed to be on an even keel with the rest of the field.  Beard waded through six rounds of eliminations to earn his fifth Ironman of the season, topping former champion Terry Taylor in the finals by just .001 seconds.