Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 4, 2025) – The PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS in which Jack Beckman won twice this season, the car in which he had qualified No. 1 two times in seven races, the one that had propelled him to second place in the Mission Foods driver standings and proven itself to be the most consistent in the category won’t be available to him for this week’s 23rd NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
Badly damaged in an impact with the guard wall during the semifinal round of last week’s NHRA New England Nationals at Epping, N.H., that particular Chevy is in for repair but, according to the 2012 Funny Car World Champion, that’s not a cause for concern.
“The wrecked car has already been placed on the chassis jig (at the John Force Racing shop facility in Brownsburg, Ind.) for repairs,” Beckman said, “and the team loaded up another near-complete car to serve as a backup (this week). We will unload last year’s Finals-winning chassis for Bristol (and) I fully expect us to be quick right out of the trailer and one of the cars to beat on Sunday.”
The cancer survivor and U.S. Air Force veteran will get a welcomed opportunity to check out his new/old ride on Saturday when he competes in the Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge, seeking his second straight win and third of the season.
The “race-within-a-race,” contested in conjunction with Saturday’s qualifying sessions, reprises the semifinal rounds from the most recent event in the series and pays both cash and point bonuses to those who are most successful.
“Back-to-back races always provide added drama for the teams,” Beckman said. “In our case, that’s an understatement, but I’m confident that this PEAK Squad, led by Daniel Hood, Chris Cunningham and Tim Fabrisi, can handle it and I’m anxious to put last week’s events behind me.”
Although he’s won 37 Funny Car races since first sliding into the seat for Don Schumacher Racing in 2006, Beckman never has won at Bristol. It is, in fact, one of only two current venues at which he has yet to raise the trophy, not that he hasn’t been competitive.
In fact, he has a couple of runner-up finishes to his credit (2011 and 2017) and the last time he drove down “Thunder Valley” (2019), he reached the semifinals before losing to the man whose car he now drives, 16-time series champion John Force.
Out of racing for almost four years after lack of sponsorship compelled Schumacher to park the car he was driving at the end of the 2020 season, the accomplished driving instructor was summoned last August to fill in for Force after the Hall-of-Fame owner and driver was injured in a 300-mph crash at Richmond.
In 15 appearances in the PEAK Chevy, the former Super Comp World Champion has won four times, most recently at Chicago, where, on May 18th, he earned a wire-to-wire victory in the Route 66 Nationals that he said, “might’ve been the most satisfying of my entire career.”
