Forgotten, like everyone, when Gary Stinnett cracked the 600-point mark this summer, Jack Beckman won 13 consecutive rounds over the last two events of the year to score an unlikely, come-from-behind first national championship.
Beckman, a driving instructor at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School and lifelong fan who still runs to the stands when the fuel cars race, outdrove a field of nearly 200 at the last and annually the biggest divisional event of the season, the Division 7 closer in Las Vegas. He was barely in the top 10 when he let go of the button in the first round, but eight rounds later, he was headed to NHRA's season closer, the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, ranked second in points.
