NHRA Funny Car Drivers Okay If Sidelined John Force Wins Season Championship

• John Force suffered a traumatic brain injury in a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park in June and he won't race again this season.

• He can still win the NHRA Funny Car championship, since replacement driver Jack Beckman is earning points for Force.

• Rivals say they would have no problem if Force (through Beckman's performance) wins this year's championship, even as he misses more than half the season.

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series 16-time Funny Car champion John Force has raced in just nine events this season after suffering a serious brain injury in a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park on June 23.

Force, who is home recovering and missing his first U.S. Nationals in a non-Covid year since the late 1970s, is out for the season and won't be racing in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

He's is still eligible to win the season championship.

And his rivals in the ultra-competitive Funny Car class are perfectly fine with the fact that while the top drivers are going head to head on the track and busting it every race week, a racer at home on the mend could ultimately win the sport's biggest prize.

According to NHRA rules, when a driver is unable to compete, the race team may bring in a substitute who can earn points for the original driver in a maximum of eight tour events.

Jack Beckman, the class' 2012 champion, began his eight-event replacement run in the JFR PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car at the 42nd Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., on August 16. He earned points for Force there, and he’ll be earning points for Force the rest of the season in a quest for Force's 17th championship.

"Well, I think we're in a unique situation," three-time Funny Car champion Ron Capps said on Wednesday. "Over the years we have had instances where Matt (Hagan), he got Covid and TJ (Tommy Johnson) filled in and actually won a race in Pennsylvania. We all sort of wondered what would happen if one of us got sick and couldn't make it to a race.

"From my standpoint, I think we're in uncharted territory with John Force and what happened and what would happen if one of us got in the same situation.

"So, right now, I don't mind it. I like seeing his name out there. I can't wait to see him ride up on a scooter sometime here in the future and just be at the track. I'd be honored to just be fighting him in the points this season. Maybe next season, (NHRA) looks at something else."

NHRA spokesperson and announcer Jason Galvin said the replacement driver rule is nothing new.

"It's a long-standing rule, and it does apply on a case-by-case basis," Galvin said. "This is a rule that was announced before the season when thinking about things like some of our lady drivers who may who may want to start families and have to get out of the car midseason, or get back into the car in the middle of next season, also for different and various medical issues.

"This is a rule that was instituted and announced before Gainesville. There was conversation about whether or not Austin Prock would institute this rule for Robert Hight before we had any idea of when Robert would possibly come back."

Hight has missed the entire season with undisclosed health situation and Prock has become the points leader in the Funny Car class—and winning those points for himself.

"It's a long-standing rule, and it does apply on a case-by-case basis," Galvin said. "But generally speaking, the only time that a waiver wouldn't be granted is if a team was trying to take advantage of a situation."

Matt Hagan is a four-time Funny Car champion who is currently third in the points standings behind just Prock and Bob Tasca III. JR Todd is fourth and the Force/Beckman entry is fifth.

"You're swapping drivers, but the heart of that team is still there," Hagan said. "And those boys that are working on that car and have put the work in, they deserve a chance to do whatever they're going to do.

"I just feel that it's a rule that's been in place for a while. It's a fair rule. We all know what we're getting into with it."

Alexis DeJoria is another racer in the Funny Car class who would have no problem if John Force—thanks to someone representing him with a strong showing down the stretch—is the one taking home the 2024 Funny Car championship trophy.

"It is a team effort," DeJoria said. "At the end of the day, they give us these great cars to drive, and it's up to us to get it to the finish line the best way we can. But it's also a family deal. Every person on that team is so crucial to do their part every single time perfectly. So to take it away and just be like, 'it's a John Force championship'... it's a team championship.

"God bless them, if Jack Beckman can help that team get to where their driver started, then so be it. And I love John Force. I love that whole race team.

"And this may be the very last time that John Force ever gets a chance to win a championship."