Jack Beckman knows what it takes to win an NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship. He did exactly that in 2012.

After failing to qualify for the season-opening Winternationals, Beckman and his Don Schumacher Racing team have definitely found their groove.

They proved that again Sunday at the Mile-High Nationals in Morrison, Colo.

Beckman clocked a 4.190-second time at 293.92 mph in the finals to edge legendary racer John Force, who crossed the line at 4.291 seconds at 258.96 at Bandimere Speedway.

“We go to Pomona and DNQ and I was fine with that because I knew we were going to be OK this year,” said Beckman, who now has Mile-High Nationals titles in 2007, 2012 and 2015. “This is just the fruits.”

This was Beckman’s career-best fourth win of the season. He also won the title at the Four-Wide Nationals March 29 at zMax Dragway, breaking a 54-race winless drought. He also has titles this season at Topeka, Kan., and Norwalk, Ohio.

This was Beckman’s 19th career victory and he leaves Denver in his Don Schumacher Racing Infinite Hero Dodge Charger second in the points, behind teammate Matt Hagan.

Beckman defeated Todd Simpson, Hagan, Alexis DeJoria and Force in his march to the winner’s circle.

This season, championship tuner Jimmy Prock became Beckman’s crew chief and he was joined by stalwart assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, and the team’s hard work finally paid dividends in Charlotte.

Prock, a longtime tuner for John Force Racing and Force himself, is now 2-0 aganst Force in 2015 final rounds as Beckman also beat him in Topeka. What’s more, Prock has an 11-0 record against all JFR Funny Cars this season.

“To do it in the final round, and to do it when they really have the better car (means a lot),” Beckman said. “Throughout the weekend, they were just a little bit better than everybody else, so to go out there and beat the No. 1 qualifier, winningest guy of all time and do it at the Mopar race, this was a perfect weekend. You know what Jimmy is capable of and you know John Medlen’s reputation, and I hope this starts to put Chris Cunningham on the map. I wish you could see the way they interact up there. Chris is so much more than an assistant up there.”

Beckman acknowledged beating Force has extra meaning for him.

“I have all the respect in the world for John Force,” Beckman said. “I signed Robert Hight’s license and I signed Courtney Force’s license, and there were a lot of times I wish I had not, they beat me a lot. From my seat, there’s an immense amount of respect there, but maybe because of that you want to beat him even more than an average Funny Car driver out there. When Force is in the other lane, it’s just a little bit more special.”

Schumacher also took a moment to address his rivalry with Force.

“The battle between DSR and John Force Racing is real,” Schumacher said. “The emotional part of it between John and I, there are days that it is real real. There’s other days that we just have to work together to continue going on forward in this sport. John and I have a special relationship and at times it’s wonderful and at times it’s tough. Bringing Jimmy Prock onboard, bringing John Medlen onboard it got John’s dander up. Him bringing Mike Neff onboard, Todd Smith onboard got my dander up. Those things happen. This is a very emotional business out here. I have the utmost respect for John Force. He’s the winningest Funny Car driver of all time and always will be, and he’s the guy who has carried this sport for many, many years, and I love being able to beat him out there. That’s the bottom line.”

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