Jack Beckman has accomplished many feats in his lifetime through combining his love for life and compassion for performing. He has spent most of his life aspiring to be a nitro Funny Car driver, never losing focus even during his four years as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force.
Beckman returns to the Don Schumacher Racing team for his fifth full season in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, driving the Dodge Funny Car sponsored by Valvoline.
Growing up in Southern California, Beckman witnessed the thunder of nitro race cars as he watched his uncle competing at Orange County International Raceway. This experience planted the seed for a dream to compete in the NHRA’s ultimate fuel categories, one which has now come to fruition.
Beckman began his drag-racing career at the Sportsman level, winning four championships and accumulating more than 50 wins, including the 2003 NHRA Super Comp championship. In addition to his competitive drag racing career, Beckman has instructed some 6,000 students at Frank Hawley’s NHRA Drag Racing School.
Despite his on-track successes, Beckman’s biggest challenge came in 2004, just after claiming the Super Comp crown, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer. Like everything else in his life, he tackled the disease head-on, enduring six months of chemotherapy treatments. And like the champion he is, Beckman never lost his passion for life, and for drag racing. With his positive outlook and unrelenting strength, he was recognized as the NHRA Pacific Division Person of the Year in 2004.
In 2005, Beckman completed his recovery, and transitioned to the professional ranks, driving a limited schedule in the Top Fuel class, competing in 12 of 23 events. He advanced to the quarterfinals twice (Las Vegas and Columbus, Ohio) and reached the semifinals in Englishtown, N.J.
While continuing as an instructor at Hawley’s school in 2006, he set his sights on the Funny car class – the same one he dreamed of competing in as a 7-year-old fan. Amazingly, he got his break at the end of the season when he was hired to drive for Don Schumacher Racing.
Beckman took the Funny Class by storm during the last five races of the season after taking over for Whit Bazemore in the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Funny Car. He won in Las Vegas, his fourth Funny Car race and then reached his second consecutive final round at the season-closing event in Pomona. He took runner-up against 14-time champion John Force in Pomona, but not before he qualified first for the event, setting and set two national records: a 4.662-second elapsed time and a 333.66-mph top speed.
In 2007, Beckman returned to DSR and another successful season as he won back-to-back races in Seattle and Denver during the grueling NHRA Western Swing, reached a third final round and finished the season fifth in the point standings.
His 2008 season, driving again for DSR, Valvoline and Mail Terminal Services, produced a third-place points finish after scoring three wins in seven final rounds, two semifinal and five quarterfinal finishes and a season round-win loss record of 33-18.
Beckman ended 2009 in fifth place in the standings, with two event wins in five final rounds and one No. 1 qualifier.
Last season Beckman finished fourth in the Funny Car Championship points race. His year included a win at Phoenix, four additional final rounds, six semi-final round appearances and a number-one qualifier at Sonoma. His round won-loss record in 2010 was 36-22.
Highlights of Jack Beckman’s Funny Car Career:
2010: Won one national event (Phoenix) in five final rounds; qualified in the pole position once and ended the season in fourth place, with a season record of 36-22 and 134-97 in his career.
2009: Won two national events (Atlanta and Norwalk, Ohio) in five final rounds, qualified No. 1 once, ending the season in fifth place, with a season round-win record of 29-22.
2008: Won three national events (Phoenix, Reading, Charlotte) in seven final rounds, scored two semifinal and five quarterfinal finishes, to end the season No. 3 in championship points.
2007: Competed in five races and won back-to-back events (Denver and Seattle); Runner-up in Memphis; finished season fifth in point standings
2006: Took over for Whit Bazemore in the Don Schumacher Racing Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Funny Car; competed in five races; won in his fourth Funny Car start (Las Vegas 2); qualified No. 1 and was runner-up to John Force at season finale (Pomona 2); set new national records for elapsed time (4.662-seconds) and speed (333.66-mph) at season finale (Pomona 2). The top speed record still stands going into 2009.
2005: Competed in Top Fuel and raced to semifinal finish in Englishtown; qualified at all 12 races entered with a season-high eighth at two events; nominated for Auto Club Road to the Future Award for Top recognizing NHRA’s top rookie
NOTABLE: Licensed in nine different NHRA categories. 2003 NHRA Super Comp champion.
