Photo Credit: Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
DALLAS, Texas (Oct. 8, 2024) – “Fast Jack” Beckman’s bid for a Mission Foods championship as John Force’s proxy continues this week on the all-concrete track at the Texas Motorplex where he’ll drive the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS in pursuit of the Funny Car title at the 39th annual NHRA Texas Fall Nationals.
Coming off a crucial win two weeks ago in the NHRA Midwest Nationals at St. Louis, his first since sliding into the seat Force occupied before he suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in a June 23 crash in Richmond, Va., Beckman trails talented teammate Austin Prock by 105 points with three races remaining in the Countdown to the Championship.
Despite the deficit, the 36-time national event winner was brimming with confidence as he prepared to roll the Dan Hood and Chris Cunningham-prepared Chevy onto the all-concrete surface for the start of qualifying in a race he won the last time he ran it in 2020. In fact, it was his final race win before he left the sport at the end of that season due to a loss of sponsorship.
“There is no greater motivation for the next race than winning the previous one,” said the 58-year-old driving instructor and racing historian. “After what our PEAK Chevy team was able to do in St. Louis, every man on that team is ready and prepared for a repeat performance (this week).
“As if I needed any extra incentive, Dallas holds special meaning for me,” he said. “I attended the very first national event held there in 1986. My United States Air Force buddy and I drove 500 miles, one way, in his Chevy Chevette.
“Now, with a renewed passion for driving, a team fresh off of winning and my 87-year-old father (“Slow Bob” Beckman) less than an hour’s drive (away), I can’t wait to get back in the seat,” he said.
Beckman’s performance in Force’s stead has been nothing short of remarkable. In just five tour starts in the PEAK Camaro, the former Super Comp World Champion (2003) has won once, settled for runner-up honors in an all-JFR final at Reading, Pa., and compiled a 12-4 elimination record. Most important, he has moved Force from sixth in points to No. 2.
Although he has grown more and more comfortable with each lap, the world’s fastest elevator repairman is quick to credit Hood, Cunningham, Tim Fabrisi and the PEAK crew for putting a car beneath him in which he is confident every time he rolls it to the starting line.
“When you have confidence in your crew that whatever they have to do, whatever spare parts have to go on that car, we can drag that thing right back up there and it’s going to go right down the racetrack, that’s huge,” he said.
“At St. Louis, in the final round, it was fantastic to see our guys turn the screws up and get more aggressive,” he said. “You know, when you’re racing from a point of defensiveness, you back the car off. When you have a lot of confidence in the parts and equipment and tune-up, you just lean on it. We leaned on it.”
