What a difference a year makes.

 

This time last year, past NHRA Funny Car champion Jack Beckman was preparing for an assignment he was all too happy to accept. It wasn’t the optimal assignment for the extremely analytical Beckman, but it got him as close as he could to his dream gig.

 

Instead of wheeling a 330-mph, 11,000-horsepower Funny Car, Beckman served as a color analyst for the Flo-Racing broadcast of the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park outside of Tampa, Fla. He was back in the thick of the sport he cherished.

 

“Whenever there’s a specialty race, you don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Beckman said. “It was really cool to be at the first one, and, remember, I had no foot in the door for any rides whatsoever; there was nothing on the horizon for me.”

 

Beckman admits until a phone call from motorsports icon Tony Stewart, he had become disconnected from drag racing. Little did he know, the assignment would speed up his relevancy in drag racing again.

 

“I had no concept that, five months later, I’d be getting fitted for John Force’s car, no idea that was going to happen,” Beckman explained. “Last year, in my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined I’d be drag racing again, much less the PEAK Camaro, driven by John Force.”

 

Stewart’s call didn’t put Beckman back in a Funny Car, but it didn’t hurt his chances either.

 

Beckman hadn’t been in a Funny Car for what seemed like four-score-and-seven years ago, but the success of the event and his penchant for being what some would say an incredible analyzer made him the logical choice to step into the empire Force had built.

 

“Like I tell people, during my 14-year career, I never went more than a few days without thinking about driving a Funny Car,” Beckman admitted. “I had not thought about driving a Funny Car in over three and a half years because I just didn’t have any opportunities and, frankly, it would have been depressing to think about what I couldn’t do. Now, here I am Monday morning at 6 AM… going to hop on a plane, head back to Florida for the first of what will amount to 21 events throughout the year, and get a chance to chase a championship again, with an incredibly realistic shot, by the way.”

 

Consider this: when Beckman got the call to return as Force’s substitute driver, the only hesitation in responding, “yes,” was clearing it with his then-current employer at an elevator repair firm. There was no hesitation in trusting his skillset.

 

Beckman’s assignment was crystal clear. He was not only to fill the monstrous void left by John Force’s June accident but expected to contend for a world championship in the name of the 17-time Funny Car world champion.

 

Beckman knew the car could win; he had to make sure he wasn’t the weak link, which he wasn’t by any means.

 

“I think when everything’s going right with the car, a good car can make the driver look better, and I think that was the case in 2024,” Beckman said. “That car was just phenomenal. Our completion percentage was off the chart. I can’t think of a car in my career that went down the track quickly as often as that car did, and I think it made me look better. I think I drove well, and I know there’s room for improvement. That’s something that happens at every event.

 

“The toughest thing in driving a nitro car is the ability to pedal. It depends on whether the run you’re on is a qualifying run with a chance of still getting in the show if you pedal it. If it’s an elimination run where you’re absolutely going to pedal it, does it smoke right at the step? Because that’s a completely different response than if you go out 150 feet and it starts to quiver a little bit.

 

“There’s an almost unlimited range of variables when a Funny Car shakes and spins the tires, and the only way you’re going to get that is through experience. The ironic thing is I’m driving a car that’s so good. I don’t get many opportunities to do that, so I am going to take whatever they give to me, but I will always be thinking about getting better.”

 

RELATED STORY – A TALE OF TWO 341 MPH RUNS

 

It was a tale of two scenarios that had swapped by the end of the season.

 

Bob Tasca III, the primary Ford Racing-sponsored driver, headed into the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout with his sights on making a significant statement via his speedy race car, as well as joining his peers at the Professional Racing Owners [PRO] to prove racers could stage a successful major event.

 

Meanwhile, a few spots down in the pits, a “rookie” driver was doing his best not to buckle under the pressure of an unbelievable standard to maintain with a crew chief known to have little to no patience for subpar performance.

 

READ THE FULL STORY

Beckman will have a much better chance to hit the season running if he hopes to slow the roll of his teammate Austin Prock, who delivered a smackdown the likes of Prudhomme in the 1970s, Bernstein in the 1980s, and Force in the 1990s.

 

“You don’t have to be mad at the person in the other lane to have love for Austin, and that entire Cornwell Tools team because they’re extended family at John Force Racing,” Beckman said. “But you still want to go up there and kick their butts every single time, so we don’t need any extra motivation. What happens is when you’ve got cars that ran as well as the two JFR cars in 2024, I think that takes the crew chief and the driver in the other lane out of their comfort zone, and sometimes that’ll work in our favor, and sometimes it’ll work in the other team’s favor.

 

“A lot of guys rolled in deep at the starting line against Austin. Austin was shallow every time he took the car to the starting line, and he still had lights that were as good as most drivers’ when they rolled in four inches. It’s not lost on anybody else out there that that young man has a talent out there and he set the bar last year, so it gives every other driver, including me, a target to look at. I will keep working on getting better, and that means quicker reacting, driving the car smoother, reacting to the car when it does something that it shouldn’t do, and the rest of it’s going to be racing luck, frankly.”

 

And for Beckman, that’s something a racer cannot prepare for no matter how many laps they make in preseason testing.

 

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BECKMAN COUNTING HIS BLESSINGS HEADED INTO BRADENTON

What a difference a year makes.

 

This time last year, past NHRA Funny Car champion Jack Beckman was preparing for an assignment he was all too happy to accept. It wasn’t the optimal assignment for the extremely analytical Beckman, but it got him as close as he could to his dream gig.

 

Instead of wheeling a 330-mph, 11,000-horsepower Funny Car, Beckman served as a color analyst for the Flo-Racing broadcast of the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park outside of Tampa, Fla. He was back in the thick of the sport he cherished.

 

“Whenever there’s a specialty race, you don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Beckman said. “It was really cool to be at the first one, and, remember, I had no foot in the door for any rides whatsoever; there was nothing on the horizon for me.”

 

Beckman admits until a phone call from motorsports icon Tony Stewart, he had become disconnected from drag racing. Little did he know, the assignment would speed up his relevancy in drag racing again.

 

“I had no concept that, five months later, I’d be getting fitted for John Force’s car, no idea that was going to happen,” Beckman explained. “Last year, in my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined I’d be drag racing again, much less the PEAK Camaro, driven by John Force.”

 

Stewart’s call didn’t put Beckman back in a Funny Car, but it didn’t hurt his chances either.

 

Beckman hadn’t been in a Funny Car for what seemed like four-score-and-seven years ago, but the success of the event and his penchant for being what some would say an incredible analyzer made him the logical choice to step into the empire Force had built.

 

“Like I tell people, during my 14-year career, I never went more than a few days without thinking about driving a Funny Car,” Beckman admitted. “I had not thought about driving a Funny Car in over three and a half years because I just didn’t have any opportunities and, frankly, it would have been depressing to think about what I couldn’t do. Now, here I am Monday morning at 6 AM… going to hop on a plane, head back to Florida for the first of what will amount to 21 events throughout the year, and get a chance to chase a championship again, with an incredibly realistic shot, by the way.”

 

Consider this: when Beckman got the call to return as Force’s substitute driver, the only hesitation in responding, “yes,” was clearing it with his then-current employer at an elevator repair firm. There was no hesitation in trusting his skillset.

 

Beckman’s assignment was crystal clear. He was not only to fill the monstrous void left by John Force’s June accident but expected to contend for a world championship in the name of the 17-time Funny Car world champion.

 

Beckman knew the car could win; he had to make sure he wasn’t the weak link, which he wasn’t by any means.

 

“I think when everything’s going right with the car, a good car can make the driver look better, and I think that was the case in 2024,” Beckman said. “That car was just phenomenal. Our completion percentage was off the chart. I can’t think of a car in my career that went down the track quickly as often as that car did, and I think it made me look better. I think I drove well, and I know there’s room for improvement. That’s something that happens at every event.

 

“The toughest thing in driving a nitro car is the ability to pedal. It depends on whether the run you’re on is a qualifying run with a chance of still getting in the show if you pedal it. If it’s an elimination run where you’re absolutely going to pedal it, does it smoke right at the step? Because that’s a completely different response than if you go out 150 feet and it starts to quiver a little bit.

 

“There’s an almost unlimited range of variables when a Funny Car shakes and spins the tires, and the only way you’re going to get that is through experience. The ironic thing is I’m driving a car that’s so good. I don’t get many opportunities to do that, so I am going to take whatever they give to me, but I will always be thinking about getting better.”

 

RELATED STORY – A TALE OF TWO 341 MPH RUNS

 

It was a tale of two scenarios that had swapped by the end of the season.

 

Bob Tasca III, the primary Ford Racing-sponsored driver, headed into the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout with his sights on making a significant statement via his speedy race car, as well as joining his peers at the Professional Racing Owners [PRO] to prove racers could stage a successful major event.

 

Meanwhile, a few spots down in the pits, a “rookie” driver was doing his best not to buckle under the pressure of an unbelievable standard to maintain with a crew chief known to have little to no patience for subpar performance.

 

READ THE FULL STORY

Beckman will have a much better chance to hit the season running if he hopes to slow the roll of his teammate Austin Prock, who delivered a smackdown the likes of Prudhomme in the 1970s, Bernstein in the 1980s, and Force in the 1990s.

 

“You don’t have to be mad at the person in the other lane to have love for Austin, and that entire Cornwell Tools team because they’re extended family at John Force Racing,” Beckman said. “But you still want to go up there and kick their butts every single time, so we don’t need any extra motivation. What happens is when you’ve got cars that ran as well as the two JFR cars in 2024, I think that takes the crew chief and the driver in the other lane out of their comfort zone, and sometimes that’ll work in our favor, and sometimes it’ll work in the other team’s favor.

 

“A lot of guys rolled in deep at the starting line against Austin. Austin was shallow every time he took the car to the starting line, and he still had lights that were as good as most drivers’ when they rolled in four inches. It’s not lost on anybody else out there that that young man has a talent out there and he set the bar last year, so it gives every other driver, including me, a target to look at. I will keep working on getting better, and that means quicker reacting, driving the car smoother, reacting to the car when it does something that it shouldn’t do, and the rest of it’s going to be racing luck, frankly.”

 

And for Beckman, that’s something a racer cannot prepare for no matter how many laps they make in preseason testing.

 

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