The slow start to the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season for Jack Beckman took a sharp turn in the right direction last Sunday with his runner-up finish in the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals and it’s the spark from that strong showing that the PEAK SQUAD will carry to South Georgia Motorsports Park on May 1-3 for the renewal of the NHRA Southern Nationals.
“There’s only one first but, in many cases, we’ve had a whole bunch of ‘last’ races,” said Beckman. “But you know for a fact if you win the inaugural, that never changes. I won the inaugural race at zMAX Raceway in 2008. It’s an awesome trophy that can never be taken away. There’s only one first.”
The 37-time NHRA Funny Car winner finished third in his second-round quad at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C. Dave Richards crossed the finish line second but was disqualified for his car making contact with the retaining wall before the finish line. That moved Beckman into the final round, where he had a 0.058 reaction time and ran 3.917 seconds at 329.50 mph to Ron Capps’ winning run of 3.905 seconds at 334.90 mph (0.054 reaction time).
The final-round appearance extended to 19 the number of consecutive seasons Beckman has raced in at least one final round in every season he has competed in the Funny Car class beginning in 2006.
Despite not taking the victory, the performance moved Beckman from 10th to eighth in the Funny Car point standings; 10 points behind Spencer Hyde in seventh place, 22 behind John Force Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria in sixth and 52 behind JFR teammate Jordan Vandergriff in fifth.
The 2012 NHRA Funny Car World Champion’s runner-up finish last Sunday qualified the PEAK SQUAD to participate in this week’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. The race-within-qualifying event will take place Saturday, May 2, at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. ET during the third and fourth rounds of Funny Car qualifying.
In 13 previous NHRA Southern Nationals starts (2007-2019 at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.), Beckman earned two wins (2009, 2011) a runner-up finish and No. 1 Qualifier in 2016, and an 18-11 overall round record.
“We have our tracks specialist, Lanny Miglizzy. When he gets to a track, he’s probably been there 20 times or more so he usually starts off with the notes he had last year,” Beckman said. “But we don’t have notes on Valdosta so the great thing about that is it’s equal for everybody. We’re going to roll in to South Georgia and it’s gonna be new to all of us. For the first time in NHRA’s 75-year history, we have four national events on tracks that we have not raced NHRA national events on before so it’s going to be really interesting.”
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 3 and 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday, May 1, with the final two rounds Saturday, May 2, at 12:30 and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 3.
Television coverage includes qualifying on FS1 from 9:30-11 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 2, a second qualifying show Sunday, May 3, from 1-2 p.m. ET and eliminations from 7-10 p.m. ET.
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