John Force Racing Loads Up For A Huge NHRA U.S. Nationals Weekend

A year can change just about everything in drag racing.

Jordan Vandergriff left the 2025 U.S. Nationals wondering if he’d ever get another opportunity to race. Twelve months later, he’s returning to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park with a John Force Racing Funny Car capable of winning the NHRA regular-season championship.

And Vandergriff isn’t the only JFR driver with plenty on the line at the 72nd Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Jack Beckman will try to win Indy for the third time while driving a throwback honoring one of John Force’s greatest seasons. Josh Hart is chasing his first Top Fuel U.S. Nationals victory after winning the event twice in Top Alcohol Dragster. Alexis DeJoria, meanwhile, will bring another piece of Force history to the track with the Night Stalker tribute scheme on her Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car.

For John Force Racing, Indy offers championship implications, history, and a chance to make a serious statement before the Countdown to the Championship begins.

Vandergriff Returns To Indy With A Championship On The Line

Vandergriff’s situation couldn’t be more different than it was one year ago.

The 2025 U.S. Nationals was just his second and final race filling in for injured Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed. Vandergriff qualified second, but a first-round loss to Kyle Wurtzel left him climbing from the car at the top end without knowing whether he’d ever get another chance behind the wheel.

Now he’s one of the central players in the tightest regular-season championship battle in the NHRA.

Vandergriff enters the 2026 U.S. Nationals just seven points out of first place. His Cornwell Tools Chevrolet team has earned two victories at Valdosta and Sonoma, runner-up finishes at Epping and Brainerd, and three No. 1 qualifying positions at Epping, Sonoma, and Brainerd.

That’s put Vandergriff in a simple position heading into Indy: win rounds and don’t worry about what anybody else is doing.

“I think the mindset is that we control our own destiny. One of the Cornwell Tools crew guys, Tristan Norton, said, ‘Listen, if we win, we win.’ The points show that whoever’s going to go the farthest is going to win this regular season championship, so that’s where we want to be. We want to control our own destiny. If we can just focus on us and win the race, then all those other problems go away, and we come away as a regular season champion.”

Brainerd Put Vandergriff Right Where He Wanted To Be

Vandergriff’s performance at Brainerd was huge for his championship hopes. He qualified No. 1 and advanced all the way to the final round. He didn’t leave with the Wally, but the result moved him within seven points of the lead.

Considering Indy awards points-and-a-half, that’s essentially nothing.

“I think we’re right where we want to be. We were the No. 1 qualifier, and we made the final. I’d say those are pretty good stats. It was unfortunate that we didn’t come away with the win, but it put us just seven points out of first, which is basically a dead heat. If we had won, we would have been 13 points up or something like that. It’s basically a dead heat between the top four cars. We’ve put ourselves in the conversation and showed we have a strong Cornwell Quality Tools Chevy race car that can compete for the championship. We’re right where we want to be, and we’re in control of our own destiny.”

Beckman Brings John Force’s 1996 Championship Car Back To Life

While Vandergriff is focused on writing his own history, Beckman will be racing with a very visible reminder of John Force’s.

Beckman’s PEAK Chevrolet SS Funny Car will wear a black-and-white flame scheme honoring Force’s remarkable 1996 championship season. Force debuted the original version at the 1996 NHRA Finals and won with it, capping a season that produced 13 victories, 16 final-round appearances, 13 No. 1 qualifying positions, and 65 elimination-round wins.

Beckman now wants to make the tribute scheme 2-0.

“When I was out from the end of 2020 through more than half of the 2024 season, it wasn’t lost on me that the NHRA 75th anniversary was coming up and I wasn’t going to be a part of it as a competitor. So, just to be a part of it is a huge deal for me. I still, even as an adult, have a lot of ‘pinch me’ moments. Standing in Monument Circle in Indy last week, rolling back the car cover with Brian Bohlander of PEAK to unveil the car that represents the most dominant season in modern Funny Car racing was one of them. We turned the time machine back 30 years to a car that was specifically painted to run one race to celebrate John Force’s sixth championship. Fast forward 30 years and PEAK has chosen this race to celebrate John’s history. The throwback scheme looks virtually identical to the 1996 car but this one says ‘John Force 16-time Champion’ down the side. To be standing next to John while the media is capturing this unveiling, that was a ‘pinch me’ moment. I’m going to roll out for Q1 while John’s standing behind the car watching me. I don’t think the term ‘pinch me’ even comes close to describing what that means to me.”

Beckman Knows How To Win Indy

Beckman is already a two-time U.S. Nationals Funny Car champion, winning in 2015 and 2020. He has also won four editions of the Funny Car specialty race now known as the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Call Out.

His 2015 weekend was particularly impressive because Beckman won both the specialty race and the U.S. Nationals.

“In 2015, I had one of the best weekends you can ever have in Funny Car. I won the Shootout and I won the U.S. Nationals. It just doesn’t get any better than that. In 2020, I got my second U.S. Nationals win driving the Infinite Hero car, like a was in 2015, a program that changed a lot of injured veterans’ lives. John Force Racing wasn’t there because they sat out the latter part of the truncated 2020 season due to COVID. It was still a damn tough field of Funny Cars. And then I didn’t have a ride in 2021 and thought that was it. So, if we can close the deal this year and put that car back in its second winner’s circle in just the second time that scheme’s ever been run would be a fairy tale weekend.”

There aren’t many better ways to celebrate NHRA’s 75th anniversary than winning its biggest race while carrying a paint scheme connected to one of Funny Car’s most dominant seasons.

Josh Hart Wants His First Top Fuel Indy Wally

Hart’s U.S. Nationals story is a little different. He’s already won Indy twice, just not in Top Fuel. Hart captured back-to-back Top Alcohol Dragster victories at the U.S. Nationals in 2017 and 2018. His best Top Fuel result at the event is a semifinal appearance during his 2021 rookie season.

Now the Speedmaster team wants to change that.

“I think it’s probably a new plateau for anybody who wins the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals. It’s like a whole new level for their career. The fact that you’re going to be forever in the history books to win at Indy is cool, but to win Top Fuel at the Big Go on the 75th anniversary is just something one person will ever be able to accomplish.”

Hart enters Indy seventh in Top Fuel points, but the points-and-a-half format creates an opportunity for him to make a move.

He’s 79 points out of fifth place. With each elimination round worth 30 points instead of 20, the gap is less than three rounds of racing.

Brainerd Testing Gives Hart More Confidence

Hart’s team didn’t leave Brainerd without doing some homework. Testing following the event gave the Speedmaster team an opportunity to improve its combination on a warmer racing surface, something Hart believes could pay off at Indy.

“We definitely need some things to fall in our favor. It’s been a tough season but I’m confident we’re going in the right direction. With the testing that we did in Brainerd, we’re more confident on a warmer track, which should be the case at Indy. We found some things that we needed to adjust and we made those adjustments so I think it will pay dividends going into this race. Being that close to fifth in the point standings and knowing that it’s one last push before it’s in our grasp, we’re definitely going to do everything we can to grab hold of it.”

Alexis DeJoria Brings John Force’s “Night Stalker” Back To Indy

Long before John Force became the winningest Funny Car driver in NHRA history, he was simply trying to get his career started.

In 1973, Force attempted to make his Funny Car debut in a rear-engine, chain-drive car built by Jack Chrisman. The machine was named Night Stalker, taking inspiration from the 1972 made-for-TV movie starring Darren McGavin. The original experiment didn’t exactly launch Force’s career on the right foot, but the car’s unique appearance became one of the more memorable early chapters in his racing history.

“We were at the shop one day, and Alexis said the car her dad always loved the most was the Night Stalker,” said Force. “That was the rear-engined, chain-drive car with the driver out front that Jack Chrisman built and that I drove briefly in the early 1970s. The Night Stalker TV movie was big at the time so we painted ‘Night Stalker’ with a caped goblin on the side of it. Alexis loved the idea, so that’s the paint scheme her Bandero Café Chevy will be running at the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals.”

DeJoria Wanted To Be Part Of The Throwback Theme

DeJoria didn’t need much convincing once she learned that the other John Force Racing Funny Cars would be wearing special liveries at Indy.

“I was really excited when I found out the other two John Force Racing Funny Cars were doing special liveries and wanted to be part of it. So, I asked if our team could do the Night Stalker paint scheme that was John Force’s very first nitro Funny Car back in the mid-1970s. The Bandero Café car is already black, but it’s just the fact that the Night Stalker is one of the coolest liveries I’ve seen from John Force’s camp. More than anything, I wanted to do it to show support for my new boss and my new team.”

DeJoria Already Knows What Winning Indy Feels Like

DeJoria doesn’t need anyone to explain how much a U.S. Nationals Wally means. She won the event in 2014 during what became a breakout season, and that victory carried extra significance because it came at the 60th anniversary edition of the race.

“If there’s one trophy above all that a team wants, it’s the one from the U.S. Nationals. My team and I won the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Nationals, and that was special due to the fact that there will never be another 60th. The same can be said of this year’s 75th.”

That gives DeJoria an opportunity to do something pretty special in 2026. She already owns the 60th anniversary U.S. Nationals trophy. Winning during NHRA’s 75th anniversary season would put another once-in-a-lifetime piece of hardware on the shelf.

DeJoria’s 2014 Indy victory is also connected directly to the man whose paint scheme she’ll be honoring this year. She defeated Courtney Force in the semifinals before lining up against John Force in the final round. Then she beat him.

John Force Racing has a lot of different storylines converging at one race.

Vandergriff has gone from wondering whether he would race again to having a legitimate opportunity to become the Funny Car regular-season champion. Beckman is trying to add a third U.S. Nationals victory while carrying a paint scheme celebrating Force’s incredible 1996 season. Hart wants to add a Top Fuel U.S. Nationals victory to his pair of Top Alcohol Dragster Indy trophies. And DeJoria will be chasing another U.S. Nationals Funny Car victory with the Night Stalker scheme honoring one of the earliest chapters of Force’s career.