Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
RICHMOND, Va. (June 18, 2025) – If Hollywood was writing the script for this week’s Mission Foods Series drag race at Virginia Motorsports Park, “Fast Jack” Beckman would qualify the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS No. 1 on Saturday and set a track record before powering his way to victory in Sunday’s 15th NHRA Virginia Nationals.
It’s a scenario that likely would be very popular at a venue at which Hall of Famer John Force won four times (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000) before he was seriously injured in the 300 mile per hour crash of the 2024 version of the PEAK Chevy during last year’s opening round.
Unfortunately for Force fans, though, Hollywood isn’t involved in the process, which means that such a storybook ending falls solely on the shoulders of Beckman, the 2012 World Champion, and a PEAK Squad led by crew chiefs Daniel Hood, Chris Cunningham and Tim Fabrisi.
“Since this was the site of John’s big accident last year, (we) would like nothing more than to stand with him in the winners’ circle on Sunday,” Beckman said of Force, who has battled back from a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) to manage the team he founded more than 50 years ago.
Although he never has won at Richmond himself (losing to Cruz Pedregon in his only final round appearance in 2008), Beckman benefits from John Force Racing’s team success on a track on which it has won eight of the previous 14 races in the Funny Car division with five different drivers. Beckman would love to become the sixth and believes he has a car capable of making that happen.
“As quick as our PEAK Chevy has been on great, cool racetracks,” he said of a car in which he has won twice this year, most recently at Chicago, “it has shown that it can be just as good, relative to the field, when things get hot and nasty. After an early round exit last race at Bristol (Tenn.), for us Richmond represents a shot at redemption.”
The 2003 Super Comp World Champ also is looking forward to Richmond’s unique Saturday-only qualifying format.
“Being out of the seat for nearly four years (before being summoned out of retirement last August to fill in for Force), this will be the first time for me doing three qualifying runs in one day, which I look forward to,” he said.
In pursuit of his 38th Funny Car tour victory, the cancer survivor and U.S. Air Force veteran will join his JFR teammates this weekend in support of a new philanthropic initiative undertaken by the Graham and Courtney Rahal Foundation (GCRF) and Graham Rahal Performance (GRP).
The season-long initiative is designed to raise funds for the Optimal BrainHealth for Warfighters program at the University of Texas-Dallas which addresses specific and unique brain health issues of members of the military.
