Two-time Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force and 2012 Funny Car world champion Jack Beckman will try to add to the John Force Racing legacy Saturday when they compete in the 47th annual Cornwell Tools \u201cNight Under Fire\u201d drag racing and fireworks extravaganza at the Bader family\u2019s Summit Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n
A 33-time NHRA tour winner, Beckman was a three-time champion in the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals here (2009, 2015, 2017), posted a 23-10 record in 13 starts and was runner-up to Bob Tasca III in his last appearance in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been nearly four years since I stood on the throttle,\u201d said the man who for the remainder of the season will drive the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS on behalf of Force, the drag racing Hall of Famer and Norwalk legend who continues to receive treatment for the TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) he suffered in a June 23 crash in Richmond, Va.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough the circumstances that brought me back are regrettable, the opportunity presented to me is beyond my ability to find words,\u201d the cancer survivor said of his unexpected new job.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not replacing John.\u00a0Nobody could ever do that.\u00a0John is one of a kind, and his impact on this sport, and my life, cannot be overemphasized.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how fortunate I am to have been picked to fill in,\u201d said the former instructor at Frank Hawley\u2019s Drag Racing School, whose students included Force\u2019s daughters and his wife, Laurie.\u00a0\u201cI should be easy to spot in the pits.\u00a0I\u2019ll be the guy who can\u2019t stop smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Significantly, Beckman joins a long list of JFR drivers who have raced in what has become the biggest independent event in the sport.\u00a0That roster includes Tony Pedregon, Eric Medlen, Robert Hight, Mike Neff, Ashley Force Hood, Courtney Force and, of course, Brittany, who returns this year in Cornwell blue-and-black.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an honor to be teamed up with Cornwell Tools and to feature them on our car,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cOhio is their home, so running their colors at Norwalk just feels right.\u00a0It\u2019s been a few years since I have competed (in the \u201cNight Under Fire\u201d), but I\u2019m so happy to return.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old NHRA national record holder for both time and speed is coming off a trip to the semifinals at last week\u2019s NHRA tour event in Sonoma, Calif., where she lost to Antron Brown, one of the three drivers she will oppose in her bid for the \u201cNight Under Fire\u201d Top Fuel championship.<\/p>\n
In addition to Brittany and Brown, the Top Fuel lineup also includes T.J. Zizzo, No. 1 qualifier earlier this year in the NHRA event at Chicago, and Clay Millican, who last week set a Sonoma Raceway track speed record of 338.26 mph.\u00a0\u201cNight Under Fire\u201d also features jet dragsters, jet Funny Cars and a jet-powered truck and ends with the Baders\u2019 signature fireworks show.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on August 1, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post John Force Racing Eyes Two Titles at \u2018Night Under Fire\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two-time Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force and 2012 Funny Car world champion Jack Beckman will try to add to the John Force Racing legacy Saturday when they compete in the 47th annual Cornwell Tools \u201cNight Under Fire\u201d drag racing and fireworks extravaganza at the Bader family\u2019s Summit Motorsports Park. A 33-time NHRA tour winner, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95197","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}