Story By: JERRY BONKOWSKI / JOHN FORCE RACING – CHARLOTTE, NC – Driving the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS on behalf of sidelined icon John Force is a job for which Jack Beckman never applied, but one for which he was made. After three events in the seat, he earned his best on-track result of the year, a runner-up to teammate Austin Prock last week.
Out of the sport for the last three-and-a-half years, the 58-year-old Californian never expected to be back in the seat of a nitro Funny Car, especially not one with the pedigree of the Chevy in which he will resume his pursuit of a championship as Force’s proxy in this week’s 16th NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway.
“In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think I’d ever get to drive for John Force Racing,” Beckman said. “I still look at the PEAK Chevrolet and it takes a second to set in that I’m driving John Force’s race car. I don’t know how you put that into words.”
The 2012 series champion, Beckman won 35 national events before sponsorship difficulties at the beginning of the global pandemic in 2020 left him without a ride. This compelled him to return to his former job as an elevator repairman.
Despite the layoff, it hasn’t taken him long to get back up to speed. Although he will be making only his fourth start this weekend, he already has moved Force from sixth to third in the driver championship standings, 99 points behind pacesetting JFR teammate Austin Prock.
Beckman has managed to pick up right where Force left off before the June crash at Richmond, Va., left him with a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) for which he is still recovering. After being ousted in the second round in his debut at Brainerd, Minn., the driving instructor and drag racing historian reached the semifinals of the Labor Day U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and the finals of last week’s playoff opener in Reading, Pa.
“I’m not John Force,” said the man who first distinguished himself by winning an NHRA World Championship in the Super Comp class in 2003. “Every driver’s style is different; every car’s footprint is different. The more runs we can make with me driving, the better, but it’s such a wonderful feeling to have so much confidence in a car every time we tow to the starting line.”
That confidence level should remain high this week on a track where the PEAK Chevrolet was No. 1 qualifier at five of the last seven races and on which he won four times. It also is a track on which Beckman excelled during his time at Don Schumacher Racing, winning twice in the spring and once in the fall, and earning runner-up honors from a No. 1 start in his last Carolina Nationals appearance in 2019.