NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Forty years ago, Texas Motorplex hosted its first NHRA national event, the 1986 Chief Auto Parts Nationals, and Jack Beckman was there as a fan. Fast forward 40 years and “Fast Jack” is atop the Funny Car field, going from the grandstands to the top of the heap with a scintillating 3.852-second pass Friday night at the Texas NHRA Fallnationals.

The facility, with its all-concrete quarter-mile, lived up to its $6.5 million hype.

Darrell Gwynn became the first Top Fuel driver to run in the 5.20s, and the first over 275 mph with 5.280 at 278.29 mph, then bettered it with a 5.261 and wound up setting both ends of the national record at 5.261 and 278.55. The Top Fuel field sported a record bubble. Kenny Bernstein became the first Funny Car driver in the 5.40s with a mind-numbing 5.425 to lead a record field, and Bob Glidden became the first driver to record 50 NHRA national event wins. And Beckman was there to see it all.

“I've had a fascination with the sport since I was seven; I love everything about it. In 1986, I was 20 and in the Air Force, stationed 500 miles away in Clovis, N.M.,” Beckman reminisced. “I had a beat-up '62 Nova that I was fairly certain wasn't going to make 1,000-mile round trip. So a good friend of mine, Lee West, had a Chevette, and I say, ‘Hey, you've never been to a drag race? I've got an idea.’ So we drove his car 500 miles out here. It pitched the harmonic balancer three miles up the road.

“We made 1,000-mile round trip to come out and see this race. It was magical. I still remember, and if you looked at an aerial photo of this 40 years ago, you can take out 90% of what's around here. It was really out in the sticks, and we're heading south on 287, and off in the distance on the left side, you start to see this structure out there. And every racetrack I've been to didn't look like this. My first race was at Orange County [International Raceway in Southern California]. It was a beautiful racetrack, but it wasn't like this. And then I see this electronic scoreboard at the entrance, and it said, ‘Darrell Gwynn, new national record.’ I couldn't get out of the car and run and buy my ticket fast enough. There are those goosebump, pinch-me moments, and I still remember everything about that.

“So it's fair to say I have a fascination with the Motorplex, and I’ve got to tell you this. There's Pomona Winternationals. There's Pomona the Finals. There's Indy. And for me, the Motorplex had always been on that Mount Rushmore of races I wanted to win, and I didn't close the deal til 2020. And it was the coolest thing ever, and my 83-year-old dad got the cowboy hat in the winner's circle, and at 89 he'll be here [today], speeding around the pits on his electric scooter.”