Brittany Force and Dale Creasy score Night Under Fire wins while Jack Beckman makes an impressive debut in John Force’s PEAK Camaro Funny Car.
A capacity crowd packed Summit Motorsports Park for the 47th Annual Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire where Brittany Force and Dale Creasy were crowned champions in Top Fuel and Funny Car respectively. The event also highlighted the debut of 2012 NHRA Funny Car champion “Fast Jack” Beckman, who made his first runs in John Force’s PEAK Camaro Funny Car.
After an 11-year absence, two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force made the most of her return to the Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire, driving her blue-and-black Cornwell dragster to the quickest and fastest run of the event, 3.840, 320.20 on her way to victory.
“Bill Bader’s events are always a highlight of the season (and) competing in them is such a privilege,” Brittany said. “We ran the quickest ET in the first round but in the final, our car started to spin. Fortunately, it was good enough for the win which gives us momentum heading into Brainerd [Minn., site of the upcoming Lucas Oil Nationals, Aug. 16-18].
John Force Racing missed a double-up win in Funny Car when mechanical issues slowed Jack Beckman and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Camaro to 8.766 seconds at only 85.51 mph in a final round loss to Dale Creasy Jr. The Funny Car field featured NHRA world champs Ron Capps, Cruz Pedregon, and Beckman, but savvy veteran Creasy Jr., was able to guide his TekPak entry to the title.
Despite the final round disappointment, Beckman was pleased with the overall direction of his first week filling in for John Force, who continues to recover from a TBI suffered in a June 23 crash in Richmond, Va.
“I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that it’s actually me sitting in John Force’s car,” said the 33-time NHRA tour winner. “[JFR president] Robert Hight did a conference call on Friday and I got to speak to John for the first time since his accident. That was medicine for the soul.
“John called me [Saturday] before I got in the car. He said, ‘just go out there and do what you know how to do. There’s no pressure,’” said Beckman. “And he was right. I actually came out here to get licensed and wound up having a ton of fun in the process.”
After a set-up run of 4.007 seconds at 308.28 mph on Friday, Beckman was the No. 1 qualifier Saturday with a first round time of 4.047 at 309.34 mph.
“I got to step on the throttle a bunch of times,” Beckman said. “I got the runs I needed to get my license [renewed] and we probably learned a couple things about the car.”
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