The ultimate definition of NHRA competitive dominance that was John Force\u2019s 1996 championship season was capped off with a special paint scheme at that year\u2019s season finale and it\u2019s that same iconic black-and-white flame job scheme that Jack Beckman\u2019s PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car will carry at the Sept. 2-7 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.<\/p>\n
Force, Beckman, and Jordan Vandergriff, driver of John Force Racing\u2019s Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car, were on hand as the PEAK SQUAD entry was unveiled today at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 30th-anniversary scheme consists of a two-toned body, with a black upper half and white lower half, angling up from front to back, with flames running up the hood toward the windshield. The white PEAK logo sits above the iconic John Force stylized autograph in red.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the entire idea of throwback paint schemes is awesome and I want to continue to be a part of what PEAK has done the past couple of years,\u201d said Beckman. \u201cI had forgotten that that paint scheme was only run for the Finals at Pomona\u00a0that year.\u00a0The 1996 season was really when Force and Coil (Austin Coil, crew chief) were just steamrolling. I remember as a fan that John was so dominant in that era because of the fear he put into the other drivers. People took shots and got out of their comfort zone lining up next to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car that had this particular paint scheme is 1-0. It has a perfect record and, ironically, John beat his JFR teammate, Tony Pedregon, in the final round. So, I\u2019d like to beat one of my JFR teammates in the final round at Indy and keep that streak alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beckman and the PEAK SQUAD are currently fifth in the 2026 NHRA Funny Car point standings after 13 races. The 2012 NHRA Funny Car World Champion and two-time Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals Funny Car champion (2015, 2020) has earned one victory (Epping) and three runner-up finishes this season (Charlotte, Maryland, Norwalk).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started to think about which car would be best for a 2026 throwback, we instantly gravitated toward this car since it\u2019s the 30th\u00a0anniversary,\u201d said\u00a0Brian Bohlander, Director of Marketing \u2013 Sports & Partnership at Old World Industries. \u201cIt was a fan favorite, and we\u2019ve talked about running a black PEAK car for years, so this was the right time and the right scheme. Besides, who doesn\u2019t love flames on a race car?\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 NHRA season is the 10th anniversary of PEAK\u2019s full season sponsorship with John Force Racing. The Northbrook, Ill., based company came on as a major associate in 2014 and stepped up to a partial primary position in 2015 before becoming the full season primary sponsor in 2016 that continues today.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrian Bohlander and all the folks at PEAK have done a great job in bringing back some of our iconic paint schemes for the U.S. Nationals, like last year\u2019s Brute Force car,\u201d said Force, a\u00a0five-time U.S. Nationals winner (1993, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2019). \u201cThis year\u2019s 1996 NHRA Finals tribute scheme is something I think the fans are really going to like. The 1996 season was an amazing year for John Force Racing and to win at Pomona at the end of the season with this paint scheme made it that much more special. I look forward to seeing it on the track with Jack behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the way to the sixth of his 16 NHRA Funny Car World Championships, Force achieved a list of statistics that is still hard to fathom 30 years after they were written into the record books:<\/p>\n
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature: one round on Friday, Sept. 4, at 6:15 p.m. ET; two rounds on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET; and the final two rounds of qualifying on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 12 and 2:45 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for Monday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 3 and 10:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, and eliminations at 12 p.m. on FS1 on Monday, shifting to FOX at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Beckman and John Force Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria are two of the eight drivers who will compete in the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout.\u00a0The first round of the Funny Car All-Star Callout takes place at 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, with the semifinals at 2:15 p.m. and the final round at 3:40 p.m. A special broadcast of the Callout will take place on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The post PEAK to Honor John Force\u2019s Incredible 1996 Season With Throwback Paint Scheme at NHRA U.S. Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ultimate definition of NHRA competitive dominance that was John Force\u2019s 1996 championship season was capped off with a special paint scheme at that year\u2019s season finale and it\u2019s that same iconic black-and-white flame job scheme that Jack Beckman\u2019s PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car will carry at the Sept. 2-7 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}