Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
NORWALK, Ohio (June 25, 2025) – In an event he has won more often than any other Funny Car driver, Jack Beckman will have his eye on another piece of drag racing history this week when he drives the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet in the NHRA Norwalk Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.
His driving career apparently at an end three years ago when circumstances sent him back to his “day job” as an elevator repair technician, the 2012 Funny Car World Champion now is on the verge of joining a handful of racers who have won as many as 500 competitive rounds in the NHRA Mission Foods Series.
In reaching the final round last week at Richmond, Va., where he narrowly lost to John Force Racing teammate Austin Prock, “Fast Jack” won the 495th, 496th and 497th rounds of his pro career.
If he can wrestle his hot rod Chevy to the final round again this weekend, he would join his boss and 24 others in the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes who have won as many as 500 rounds in the sport’s premier series.
Nevertheless, with history as a backdrop and his Saturday birthday as a distraction, the 58-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran is focused on the business at hand.
“So, the great thing about back-to-back races is when you start getting into a rhythm, you don’t want to take a week off,” he said, “and with what our PEAK team was able to do in Richmond, we just want to keep it going because that was outstanding.
“We just barely lost the final round to our teammate,” he said, “so that gives you a little bit of extra incentive. We’ve proved again in hot conditions we’re about as tough as a car can get out there so I can’t wait to see if we can get this PEAK Chevy in the winners’ circle again.”
A two-time winner this year and four-time champ in the 17 races in which he has been at JFR, Beckman won the Norwalk Nationals in 2009, 2015 and 2017 while competing for Don Schumacher Racing. In his most recent appearance in 2019, he lost to Bob Tasca III in the final.
Winner of JFR’s 300th Funny Car race (the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., last March), the 2003 Super Comp World Champ made his first runs in a Funny Car in three-and-a-half years when he drove the PEAK Chevy last August in Norwalk’s iconic “Night of Fire” match race as Force’s substitute. He then made eight starts on Force’s behalf in the Mission Foods Series, finishing the 2024 season in second place behind Prock, securing JFR’s first 1-2 finish since Robert Hight and Ashley Force Hood were 1-2 in 2009.
