SEATTLE, WA – Poised to become just the 26th professional to win as many as 500 competitive rounds in drag racing’s premier series, “Fast Jack” Beckman hopes to celebrate that milestone this weekend with the crew of his PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS and fans attending the 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals.

“The entire PEAK Squad took the two-week break to overprepare (for this week’s race) and we’re looking forward to putting our Chevrolet SS back in the winners’ circle,” said the 59-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, who is back in competition at Pacific Raceways for the first time in six years.

“I’m not sure what I’m most looking forward to,” said the cancer survivor and 2012 Funny Car World Champion, “making our first qualifying run Friday at close to 10 p.m. when the conditions are going to be spectacular, getting to make THREE more qualifying hits on Saturday, or seeing all the great Northwest fans for the first time since 2019.”

Regardless, the 37-time pro tour winner whose lone Seattle win came in his first appearance in 2007 obviously is excited about his chances of again winning an event in which John Force, from whom he took the reins of the PEAK Chevy after last year’s crash at Richmond, Va., won a record nine times. Continue reading →

SEATTLE, WA – On a track on which her dad won nine times in his spectacular Funny Car career, two-time World Champion Brittany Force tries to start a streak of her own this week when she sends her HendrickCars.com Chevrolet after the Top Fuel championship in the 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.

“(I’m) excited to be back in the HendrickCars.com colors this weekend,” said the 18-time tour winner and only woman to have won as many as 300 racing rounds in drag racing’s signature category. “I’ve been coming to this track since I was a kid and have so many great memories.

“I stood in my sister Courtney’s first winner’s circle back in 2012,” she said, recalling her younger sibling’s final round Funny Car win over Matt Hagan, “and I watched my dad make his way through the stands with the fans to celebrate his 150th win (in 2019) alongside Austin Prock,” who won the same race in a JFR Top Fuel dragster.

“The goal this week is to stand in that same winners’ circle with my nine talented HendrickCars.com crewmates,” she said, “and the key to doing that is consistent runs in qualifying and on race day.” Continue reading →

SEATTLE, WA – Reigning World Champion Austin Prock doesn’t have to look very far for reasons to celebrate this week’s return to Pacific Raceways, the track on which he and his national record-holding Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS are favored to repeat as Funny Car champions in the 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals.

“Excited to be in Seattle this weekend,” said the 29-year-old who is seeking his third straight victory on the Mission Foods tour. “This is a track that has a special place in my heart. Winning my first event here in Top Fuel back in 2019 while the boss (John Force) captured his 150th was a memory for the books.”

That breakthrough Top Fuel win, which came at the expense of then World Champ Steve Torrence, was the catalyst in securing NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year recognition for the fourth-generation racer.

“I’m ready to get back in the office and I’m itching for that first session on Friday night,” Prock said of his return to the Northwest. “The fans are in for a treat. The conditions should be good. The trees (that surround the track) will be letting off some fresh O2, the Gs’ will be high, and the front end will be light on the ‘Prock Rocket.’” Continue reading →

JFR Funny Car Drivers Remain 1-2 in Points; Brittany Out in Quarterfinals

NORWALK, OH – A gritty Austin Prock used his starting line skills to narrowly defeat three-time World Champion Ron Capps in the semifinals, then relied on his dad’s tuning expertise to secure a final round victory over four-time World Champ Matt Hagan that sent the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS back to the winners’ circle Sunday following the 18th NHRA Norwalk Nationals at Summit Motorsport Park.

It was the second win in as many weeks for the 29-year-old point leader and a crew led by his dad Jimmy, his brother Thomas and Nate Hildahl, and it was an especially rewarding one since it came on the track Cornwell Tools calls home.

“It feels amazing,” Prock said. “To win back-to-back in this category is so tough. I’m just so proud of my family and this whole Cornwell Tools team. All the dealers out there busting their tails to let us come out here and play. I mean this is amazing.

“The ole ‘Prock Rocket,’ it got me out of a hole again,” said the man who developed his car controls skills driving quarter midgets and sprint cars. “It left and it went sideways like a sprint car, and I just had to wrangle her in there and glad to see that win light down there. Another amazing run by this team.” Continue reading →

Brittany Makes Quickest Run of the Day in Chevrolet Accessories Dragster

NORWALK, OH – On a hot, challenging racing surface at Summit Motorsports Park, two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force made the quickest run of the day Saturday and locked herself into the No. 4 qualifying position from which she will start her Chevrolet Accessories dragster in Sunday’s 18th NHRA Norwalk Nationals.

On a day when only a handful of drivers in the fuel categories reached the 1,000-foot finish line under power, the second youngest of John Force’s drag racing daughters stopped the timers in 3.788 seconds while posting the event’s fastest speed at 334.65 miles per hour.

Her Saturday time was just a click off the 3.784 she posted on Friday and was the only sub-3.80 performance on the final day of qualifying.

“We laid down two consistent runs in the heat,” the 18-time tour winner said of her qualifying effort, “so that gives us a lot of confidence going into race day.  We race Lex Joon first round. We’re going to go out there, race hard and hopefully turn on four-win lights and land in that winner’s circle.” Continue reading →

Beckman, Brittany Are No. 4 After First Day at 18th Norwalk Nationals

NORWALK, OH – Two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force showed off crew chief David Grubnic’s hot weather tune-up with a best-of-the-session 3.784 second, 331.77 mile per hour performance in the afternoon heat Friday at Summit Motorsports Park but couldn’t improve in cooler conditions Friday evening and will move to Day 2 of the 18th NHRA Norwalk Nationals in the provisional No. 4 position.

Her Funny Car teammates at John Force Racing, Austin Prock and Jack Beckman, were second and fourth in the provisional order, Prock at 3.900 seconds, 331.28 mph in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS and Beckman at 3.913 seconds, 321.35 mph in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy SS.

Qualifying continues Saturday with two final sessions in which Prock and Beckman also will be racing for points and bonus money in the Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge series in which both have won already this year.

“The second session, we just pushed a little too hard and unfortunately, we didn’t get down there,” Brittany said of a disappointing 6.346 second run in her Chevrolet Accessories dragster. “So, we’re looking forward to two more runs tomorrow, most likely in the heat, before we head into race day on Sunday.” Continue reading →

NORWALK, OH – Entering this week’s 18th NHRA Norwalk Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force finds herself in the cockpit of a Chevrolet Accessories dragster that suddenly is running hot-and-cold which, in her case, is a very good thing.

Always strong in cool conditions like those that existed when it set the current NHRA national records for time (3.623 seconds) and speed (341.59 miles per hour), Force’s Dave Grubnic-and-John Collins-tuned hybrid recently has shown itself to be increasingly adept on hot track surfaces that in the past would have been problematic.

Last week, for instance, in searing heat at Richmond, Va., the second youngest of John Force’s drag racing daughters made three strong runs including a best-of-the-race 3.839 that enabled her earn No. 1 qualifying honors for the 54th time in her pro career.

As a result, the 18-time tour winner is anticipating big things this week after missing last year’s event in the aftermath of her dad’s well-documented crash. Continue reading →

NORWALK, OH – In an event he has won more often than any other Funny Car driver, Jack Beckman will have his eye on another piece of drag racing history this week when he drives the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet in the NHRA Norwalk Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

His driving career apparently at an end three years ago when circumstances sent him back to his “day job” as an elevator repair technician, the 2012 Funny Car World Champion now is on the verge of joining a handful of racers who have won as many as 500 competitive rounds in the NHRA Mission Foods Series.

In reaching the final round last week at Richmond, Va., where he narrowly lost to John Force Racing teammate Austin Prock, “Fast Jack” won the 495th, 496th and 497th rounds of his pro career.

If he can wrestle his hot rod Chevy to the final round again this weekend, he would join his boss and 24 others in the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes who have won as many as 500 rounds in the sport’s premier series. Continue reading →

NORWALK, OH – Racing at one of his favorite venues, reigning World Champion Austin Prock aims to put more distance between himself and his closest pursuers this week when he sends the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS after the Funny Car title in the 18th NHRA Norwalk Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

Coming off a repeat victory last week in the Virginia Nationals at Richmond, the fourth-generation racer has opened up a three-round lead in his bid to become just the second Funny Car driver in the last 23 years to win back-to-back series championships.

“I’m looking forward to it,” the 29-year-old said of his return to the race in which he lowered the track record to 3.853 seconds last year before bowing out in the semifinals.

“The Bader family (which owns the racetrack that is home to the first grandstand ever named for Prock’s boss and mentor, John Force) runs such an excellent facility and there’s always a great crowd. Continue reading →

Brittany Outrun By Points Leader After Qualifying No.1

RICHMOND, VA – Austin Prock beat teammate Jack Beckman in an emotional all-Chevrolet Funny Car final Sunday to win the 15th NHRA Virginia Nationals amidst a summer heat wave at Virginia Motorsports Park, providing a measure of closure for John Force Racing’s namesake owner.

A four-time winner of the Virginia Nationals and a 16-time NHRA Funny Car Champion, Force was sent to the sidelines last year when a crash at VMP left him with a Traumatic Brain Injury for which he continues to receive treatment.

“A lot of emotion for sure,” Prock said of his second straight Richmond victory. “Getting to win last year, that was huge, and being able to take the Wally to John as a team, that’s what we wanted to do again today, and I’m happy that we could go back-to-back and get the job done for him.

“The trophy’s going home with him,” said the reigning series champion. “I might have to hide it in his suitcase or something, but it’s definitely going back with him.” Continue reading →