John Force Racing picks Beckman to sub for injured Force as team chases Funny Car title
John Force Racing president Robert Hight
announced this week past Funny Car
champion Jack Beckman will drive for
Force, the 16-time Funny Car champion,
the rest of the season. NHRA rules allow
teams a substitute driver who can gain
points for the original driver for a
maximum of eight events. Force was
second in points behind teammate
Austin Prock when he was injured in
Virginia on June 23 after his engine
exploded and he crashed into the walls.
Force has not raced since then and sits
sixth in the standings with Prock on top.
Force spent about two weeks in a
Virginia hospital before being moved to a
facility in Arizona. Force’s family has
said he’s receiving outpatient care at his
home in California. Beckman’s
Funny Car driver John Force prepares to
run in the finals at the NHRA Thunder
Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in
Bristol, Tenn., on June 16, 2019. Force has
been discharged from the hospital where
he was undergoing rehabilitation for a
traumatic brain injury sustained in a
fiery, 300-mph crash at the Virginia
Nationals last month, according to a
statement released on Tuesday, July 23,
2024.. (David Crigger/Bristol Herald
Courier via AP, File)
