After a three-race absence, the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS returns to the NHRA Mission Foods tour this week with someone other than 16-time Funny Car World Champion John Force behind the wheel at the 42nd Lucas Oil Nationals.<\/p>\n
While Force continues to deal with the effects of a TBI suffered in a June 23 crash in Richmond, Va., veteran Jack Beckman will be in the harnesses of the aqua blue John Force Racing Chevy when qualifying begins Friday at Brainerd International Raceway.<\/p>\n
The 2012 NHRA Funny Car Champion and one of a handful of drivers with a winning record against Force in the national series, Beckman inherits a race car that won twice in the season\u2019s first eight races and equaled the second quickest elapsed time over the last seven seasons at 3.820 seconds, a time matched by teammate Austin Prock\u2019s Cornwell Tools Camaro in Gainesville.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thrilled to be a part of the return of the PEAK Camaro SS,\u201d said the 58-year-old Beckman.\u00a0\u201cIt has been nearly four years since I made a run that earned championship points and more than sixteen years since I was last driving a Funny Car while also working a full-time job (as an elevator repair technician).<\/p>\n
\u201cAlong with thousands of fans in Minnesota, I will have John in my heart this weekend,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cHis team and I will do everything we can to make PEAK, our other corporate partners, the fans and John proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of a small number of racers to have won NHRA series championships in both the pro and sportsman divisions (he was the 2003 NHRA Champion in Super Comp), Beckman last raced competitively at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in November, 2020.<\/p>\n
He prepared for his return to the pro tour by driving the PEAK Camaro to a runner-up finish two weeks ago in the Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire at Norwalk, Ohio, an event not part of the NHRA series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to step on the throttle a bunch of times,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI got the runs I needed to get my license (renewed) and we probably learned a couple things about the car.\u00a0John and I don\u2019t weigh the same (and) our driving styles are a little bit different.\u00a0It\u2019s important to get everything to where it is predictable again for the crew like it was when John was driving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although his Brainerd resume doesn\u2019t boast 15 final round appearances, 11 wins and eight No. 1 starts like Force\u2019s, Beckman has had his moments in the Lucas Oil Nationals including a win from the No. 14 starting position in 2018, a pair of earlier runner-up finishes (2008 and 2010) and No. 1 starts in 2012, 2013 and 2015.<\/p>\n
A U.S. Air Force veteran and cancer survivor, Beckman distinguished himself as an instructor at Frank Hawley\u2019s Drag Racing School long before he first sat in a 11,000 horsepower Funny Car.\u00a0In fact, he taught drag racing basics to Force\u2019s daughters Brittany and Courtney as well as to his wife, Laurie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not replacing John,\u201d Beckman emphasized.\u00a0\u201cNobody could ever do that.\u00a0John is one of a kind and his impact on this sport and my life cannot be overemphasized.\u00a0I know how fortunate I am to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on August 16, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post PEAK Camaro Returns with Jack Beckman at the Wheel<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a three-race absence, the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS returns to the NHRA Mission Foods tour this week with someone other than 16-time Funny Car World Champion John Force behind the wheel at the 42nd Lucas Oil Nationals. While Force continues to deal with the effects of a TBI suffered in a […]<\/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-95446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95446","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=95446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}