Jack Beckman will have new pipe underneath his Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car shell this weekend at the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown. The Don Schumacher Racing driver will run the new DSR1 chassis prepared by the team’s shop in Brownsburg, Ind.

The new in-house chassis will come two races before the mandatory “safer” chassis rules go into effect at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co. Beckman had previously tested the chassis in Martin, Michigan.

"We made five runs in the new car," said Beckman, who is 12th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with one victory this season, the fourth of his career in six final rounds. "It went down the track. We never went past half -track because what we needed to know we would have known early.

Beckman will debut new DSR-1 Chassis in E-town …

Jack Beckman will have new pipe underneath his Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car shell this weekend at the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown. The Don Schumacher Racing driver will run the new DSR1 chassis prepared by the team’s shop in Brownsburg, Ind.

The new in-house chassis will come two races before the mandatory “safer” chassis rules go into effect at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co. Beckman had previously tested the chassis in Martin, Michigan.

"We made five runs in the new car," said Beckman, who is 12th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with one victory this season, the fourth of his career in six final rounds. "It went down the track. We never went past half -track because what we needed to know we would have known early.

"Our very first run in the new chassis was a planned 400-footer. It made it to 400 ft. and it was quick early, which has kind of been our 'Achille's Heel' lately. We needed to be quicker earlier in the run, and so this car showed us that it is definitely quicker earlier. That is exactly what we wanted.

"We're pretty excited. This is an in-house chassis, kind of a Murf McKinney clone. It was built in DSR's own chassis fabrication shop by chief fabricator and manager Norm Boutot and his staff members Keith Patterson and Joe Fitzpatrick.

"Any time that you can put a new car together and very first run out it does what it is supposed to, it brings a big sigh of relief to the crew," added Beckman, a cancer survivor, former Air Force sergeant and Frank Hawley Drag Racing School instructor. "I also think it's the shot in the arm that we need right now. If we can combine the consistency we've had lately with these potentially quicker elapsed times, I think we can get right back into this thing."

CompetitionPlus.com confirmed with DSR that a second chassis is close to coming off the jig and has yet to be assigned to a driver.

The first two frames are very close to the new two-rail Murf McKinney design so all DSR Charger bodies can be interchanged.  The design for future cars will be a collaborative effort between Boutot, Schumacher and the DSR crew chiefs.