Breaking news
NHRA
Prock, Medlen to tune for Beckman
It's an early Christmas for Don Schumacher Racing and driver Jack Beckman.
Anne Proffit
Edited: Dec 5, 2014, 8:42 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Veteran Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Funny Car driver Jack Beckman just went through his most challenging season in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. He didn’t win a single race, didn’t make the Countdown to the Championship and his Dodge Charger R/T was usually the first of the four DSR flopper entries back on the truck.
That began to change very late in the season when Jimmy Prock joined DSR and was put to work trying to find the magic charm to unlock Beckman’s season. Beckman, a cancer survivor and military veteran whose car carries backing from Oakley-backed Infinite Heroes Foundation and who won the 2012 Funny Car championship kept his chin up and kept persevering through his season-long slump. In fact, Beckman’s problems might be traced to the 2013 U.S. Nationals when he lost the body of his car en route to victory in the Traxxas Shootout (the body left his chassis well after the finish line). After that point, he just seemed to be lost.
Two veterans join the squad
Now Jack Beckman feels that Christmas came early for him as his team confirmed former John Force Racing (JFR) two-time champion tuner Prock (2009 with Robert Hight; 2013 with John Force) will be his lead tuner for the 2015 season, assisted by 2003 champion tuner (for Tony Pedregon at JFR) John Medlen. The trio will have ample time to get to know one another’s at-track ideologies with testing not starting until January 12-16 at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, FL.
Medlen had an initial stay with DSR a couple of years ago before returning to Force’s team down the street and leading the research and development group for that four-car squad. He was known to be working on a new cylinder head for JFR. When Prock was released before the penultimate race at Las Vegas, Medlen assumed tuner duties for his team owner and nearly took NHRA’s most successful Funny Car driver to his 17th title.
Early Christmas
“I feel like Santa made an early stop and left three wonderful gifts under the tree,” Beckman said. “It’s been a while since we started the season knowing we had funds for the entire season. And to find out Jimmy Prock was coming on-board, I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be driving for him one day. Then the third gift was when Santa dropped John Medlen off!”
Beckman and Medlen have a special history. “I’ve emceed the Eric Medlen Nitro Night Charity dinner [event] for Sonoma Raceway the last two years and have become very close to John and his family. Having those two guys up in our crew chief’s lounge is just unbelievable. I feel when I go in there I’m going to want to ask for their autographs.”
These two defections from one powerhouse (John Force Racing) to another (Don Schumacher Racing) aren’t the first; tuner Eric Lane joined DSR last year as co-crew chief with Rahn Tobler on Ron Capps’ NAPA Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car. Capps is a four-time runner-up in the class and finished eighth in the championship this season as teammate Matt Hagan secured his second title over John Force in the season-closing Pomona race last month.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mercedes comes out on top in F1 social media survey of 2014 - value is clear
Next article For Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2015 will be a rebuilding year
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Anne Proffit
NHRA update: Virginia joins schedule, top teams make lineup changes
NHRA
NHRA Jan 30, 2018
NHRA update: Virginia joins schedule, top teams make lineup changes
Englishtown shuts down drag racing operations with immediate effect
NHRA
NHRA Jan 17, 2018
Englishtown shuts down drag racing operations with immediate effect
John Force gains honorary doctorate from UNOH
NHRA
NHRA Jan 10, 2018
John Force gains honorary doctorate from UNOH
More from
Tony Pedregon
Tony Pedregon predicts record-breaking NHRA season
NHRA
NHRA Feb 8, 2016
Tony Pedregon predicts record-breaking NHRA season
Krawiec earns Pro Bike battle victory and top qualifying position in Pro Stock Motorcycle
NHRA
NHRA
Sonoma
Aug 2, 2015
Krawiec earns Pro Bike battle victory and top qualifying position in Pro Stock Motorcycle
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Steve Johnson aims to solve Atlanta Dragway struggles
NHRA
NHRA
Atlanta
May 14, 2015
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Steve Johnson aims to solve Atlanta Dragway struggles
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 16 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 16 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
18 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
20 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe