It’s safe to say there’s no one in drag racing hotter right now than Funny Car ace Jack Beckman and his crew chief, Jimmy Prock. A week ago in Sonoma, the duo shocked the straightline world with a moonshot of a run in qualifying—the quickest 1,000-foot pass in the history of the category by several markers— at 3.921-seconds. He later backed that run up within the required one percent for a new national record with a stunning-in-itself 3.95.
Oh, and he won the race, too, but that was of little significance when compared to the unreal numbers put down by the Prock Rocket.
httpv://youtu.be/NrzvMa5wHFs
However, Beckman and Prock, who have won four times this season and the first two races of the NHRA’s Western Swing, weren’t done just yet. On Saturday’s fourth and final session of qualifying at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Beckman dropped an absolute bomb—arguably one of the most shocking passes the sport has seen in quite some time—with a pass of 3.912-seconds at 322.88 mph to pace the ultra-quick field by a country mile. John Force, who was in the opposing lane to Beckman on the monster run and posted a usually-impressive 3.99 to qualify third, looked like he was dragging the parachutes in relation to the Infinite Hero Dodge.
“We’re talking about numbers that up to a week ago weren’t even thought possible,” Jack said.
The numbers for Beckman were truly mind-numbing from the flash of the green: 0.861 to 60-feet, 2.227 to 330-feet, and 3.159-seconds at a booming 277.20 mph to the 660-foot clocks. To provide some context, Robert Hight was 0.878, 2.243, 3.175 at 273.16, and 3.955 on the quickest 1/4-mile pass in history of 4.636-seconds back in 2007. That, in a car also tuned by….Jimmy Prock. How it would all equate today is a matter of discussion, but there’s little doubting today’s Funny Cars could be knocking on the door of the 4.50s if they still ran out the back door.
“It’s just absolutely mind numbing how consistently quick our race car is,” he said. “It started sprinkling a couple of times. Del Worsham knocks us off the pole with a 3.98. You don’t know if (the rain) will get worse and if it will end it for the evening.
“I got out of the car and someone asked what does this do to you. I’ve been a bracket racer for 20 years. This is what bracket racers do. It doesn’t make any difference. It didn’t make any difference to our crew. When you change your routine, you have to make sure you do everything right when you go back into battle. Clearly they did everything right.”
Beckman was unable to back up the 3.912 for an official national elapsed time record—a feat that would’ve taken a 3.951 or better and given him another 20-point bonus—during the remainder of the weekend. A loss to teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. in the semifinals also dashed his hopes of sweeping the Western Swing. That said, Beckman and Prock put together one the most impressive three-race stretches in the history of Funny Car racing, and either of his performances—the 3.92 or the 3.91—will be hard to top in the “run of the year” category. Which should make crowning a winner in our annual performance ranking an easy chore.
Lead photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster
You might also like
ARP 2026 Catalog Expands to 6,000+ Parts
The ARP 2026 Catalog is now available online and in print. This edition features nearly 6,000 part numbers, including expanded SBC kits.
