The Amazing 'Fast Jack' Beckman
3/10/2008There are many amazing people in motorsports.
Put Jack Beckman high on that list.
If you don't know about "Fast Jack," well, you should.
He's a cancer survivor-turned-winning NHRA POWERade Series Funny Car driver. Beckman got his fourth career victory in this season's second event, steering the Valvoline Dodge Charger fielded by Don Schumacher Racing to the winner's circle in the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals, near Phoenix.
His story shows the kind of determination, persistence, skill, guts, passion, and commitment that makes racers everywhere proud.
"My uncle, John, used to take my brother and I (to tracks)," Beckman remembered, starting at the beginning. "The first race I went to was '73 in Orange County (California). I was hooked immediately.
"I could tell you what the nachos tasted like that day. I remember the goose bumps on my arms when the nitro cars ran. I remember the wild paint jobs. I can't remember who I ran last race but I remember that day."
His first run down the quarter-mile came in 1986, while in the Air Force. "It was at Lubbock Raceway in Texas. I went 15.06 (seconds). I've still got the time slip, in a '68 (Chevrolet) El Camino. When I got out (of the military) in '88, I bracket-raced regularly. In '91, I bought an old Super Comp car."
Beckman got on the drag racing fast track in 1997. He enrolled in Frank Hawley's school to upgrade to Top Alcohol dragster. "Frank got food poisoning, so I had to come back. It rained; I had to come back. It rained again; I had to come back. It was too cold; I had to come back.
"So I got to spend a lot of time with different classmates. I found I could communicate pretty well with the other students. Frank took me off to the side and said, 'I'm looking for somebody.' I quit a great career as an elevator repairman. I had done that for almost 11 years - security, time off, pension, vacation - gave it all up because I had always been a drag racing nut. It was one of the best decisions I ever made."
He counts more than 6,500 students at Pomona. The list includes Robert Hight and Ashley, Brittany and Courtney Force. "There isn't a race I go to that students don't come up to see me."
What makes a good teacher?
"Controlling the race car is a function of controlling yourself. If you can manage from the neck up, usually you can do everything you need in a race car. Even in a nitro Funny Car, where there's all kinds of unpredictable stuff, just taking a calm approach. I'm huge in visualization, seeing what you want to have happen.
"I honestly believe that when the students look back on their experience, driving an eight-second car is awesome. For some people, it's the neatest experience in life. The ones who look a little bit deeper find that they left with knowledge about themselves that far outweighs the experience in the race car.
"It's all about controlling your emotions. Accentuating the positives. It helped me live through cancer."
There, Beckman said the word that lingers out there in any getting-to-know-you talk. He's comfortable with the conversation.
"I won the Super Comp world championship in 2003. September that year, I had to fly back to Indy to do some things, and I remember feeling like I got the flu. From September through about May '04 I'd feel good-bad, good-bad. I thought maybe it was the stress of running for the championship.
"I started going to the doctor in February '04. I was out (in Phoenix) for the national event and doubled over in pain, like kidney pains. They (doctors) couldn't find anything. Finally, I went for a CAT scan."
It was Stage 3B non-Hodgkins's lymphoma.
"It had spread pretty far. I was 37. What they told me was, 'It's too late for us to give you moderate treatment. We're going to hammer you like a horse with chemo. It's either going to kill you or cure you.'"
It worked. His last treatment was in October 2004.
"It's incredibly important to have a positive outlook. It's so easy to stress-out. There were nights I went to bed I was pretty sure I wasn't going to wake up."
When doctors gave him the green light, friends Rodger and Karen Comstock of Mail Terminal Services helped Beckman connect with Dexter Tuttle's Top Fuel team for 12 2005 races. "That was awesome. If I had been hit by a bus at the end of that year, I could say, 'Boy, I got to drive a Top Fuel car!'"
Talks with Schumacher didn't lead to a hoped-for TF ride in '06, but Don assisted with the Funny Car licensing process. "My fiancé and I were in our motorhome heading up to a divisional race in Nevada and the phone rang. It was Don. This was the week after the U.S. Nationals. He said, 'Why don't you come out this weekend and we'll finish getting you your license. There might be something for the rest of the year.' I got off I-15, did a U-turn, parked all my stuff, got an airline ticket and flew out. That, to me, was the most exciting part. I think I left skid marks on the freeway."
He replaced Whit Bazemore. Four races later, he won in Las Vegas, then went to Pomona and set both ends of the class national record.
"Whenever I go to a race I always envision standing in the winner's circle. The reality is, probably 20-22 times a year, that's not going to happen. I knew the team was capable, but to do it four races into my career, it was unbelievable. I don't know that there will ever be a more special weekend at a racetrack for me. And then, two weeks later, we're sitting at Pomona as the world's quickest and faster driver in nitro Funny Car."
He won twice more last season, plus the Skoal Showdown at Indy, and made the Countdown to Four.
Beckman describes his life as "living the dream."
"It's unbelievable what's happened. I'm a 41-year-old that feels like he's 22, doing something I love. At some tracks, when I feel my heart starting to beat faster, I have to remind myself, 'This is what you wanted to do since you were 7.'
"When the win light doesn't come on, I think sometimes the crew doesn't understand why I don't look more devastated. I try to be reflective and figure out if there's something I can do better rather than throwing my helmet or kicking the car. If I kicked the car, I think Don Schumacher would kick me!
"I try to remind myself the only reason it's devastating is because I'm still alive. It does help put things in perspective."
[ Next column: March 24 ]
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(I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.)
BackAbout I.N. Sider
I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.