Top Fuel driver Brittany Force catches a ride back to the pits with her husband Bobby Lyons after capturing the top qualifying postion for Sunday’s eliminations following the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon heads down track during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver Ron Capps does his burnout during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver Austin Prock drives through the shutdown area after capturing the top qualifying position for Sunday’s eliminations during the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta heads down track during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Steve Torrence heads down track during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver Jack Beckman drives through the shutdown area after winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver J.R. Todd does his burnout during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver Ron Capps heads down track during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Sportsman driver, and owner of In-N-Out Burger, Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson heads down track in her ’69 Chevelle during the final round of Top Sportsman qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Josh Hart drives through the shutdown area during the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Shawn Landgon rides back to the pits with the winners trophy after winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Funny Car driver Bob Tasca III rides his scooter back to the pits following the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. It was the first time in nearly 10 years since Tasca has failied to qualify for a national event. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Ida Zetterstrom sits in her dragster in the pits prior to the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Zetterstrom is the 2023 European Top Fuel Champion. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Top Fuel driver Antron Brown heads down track during the third round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 15Top Fuel driver Brittany Force catches a ride back to the pits with her husband Bobby Lyons after capturing the top qualifying postion for Sunday’s eliminations following the final round of qualifying at the 65th NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) Expand POMONA — The next time a John Force Racing driver wins an NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car race, it will be the 300th for the team. John Force has 157 career Funny Car wins. Two of his drivers, Jack Beckman and Austin Prock, are looking to win No. 300 for John Force Racing at today’s 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip in Pomona. Beckman, who’s from Corona, has won two Funny Car races for John Force Racing. He took over Force’s car midway through the 2024 season after Force crashed and was injured at an NHRA event in Richmond, Virginia, in June. Force missed the rest of the season recovering from severe brain injuries. Beckman drove for John Force Racing in the last eight events of 2024. Beckman won Funny Car race No. 299 for John Force Racing at Pomona in the NHRA Auto Club Finals in November. He beat teammate Austin Prock in the final round. Either way, John Force Racing was guaranteed win No. 299 to end the 2024 NHRA drag racing season. Beckman remembers a few things about that weekend. First, he remembers it rained in qualifying on Friday and washed out the second session. He posted the fastest time in the first session and was looking forward to another run later in the day. “It was a little bit frustrating knowing we had that momentum going,” Beckman said. In addition to rain, a plane crash near the track delayed racing on Sunday for about an hour. The final rounds were run after sunset, and the track cooled down significantly. It created favorable racing conditions for all the drivers and teams. Before the elimination rounds, Beckman had two more qualifying runs on Saturday. In both runs, he spun the tires on his car, and his team was baffled about what had changed from Friday. “I thought it was odd. The interesting thing was that pointed us in the right direction,” Beckman said. “We realized the Friday run was the anomaly. We had to tune off of Saturday. That put us in a good frame for Sunday.” Beckman worked his way through the field while Prock, who wrapped up the Funny Car championship the day before, was setting records and posting speeds no one in drag racing had ever seen, breaking the 340 mph barrier for the first time in NHRA history. With the sun setting and the track cooling, it presented a challenge for Beckman’s team. “Now you’re throwing a dart with one eye closed. And our guys hit it right on the bull’s eye,” Beckman said. Beckman won the race and added to John Force Racing’s strong end to the season. “John gave me a little pep talk before the final round. I love that. His other car had already won the championship. They’d done everything they set out to do,” Beckman said. “I hope John was as happy as me, but I find that hard to imagine.” Beckman was fourth fastest in qualifying Saturday at 3.830 seconds and 330.72 mph. He will face Jeff Diehl in the first round of eliminations. Prock is the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car for the Winternationals. Funny Car and Top Fuel elimination rounds for the NHRA Winternationals begin at 11 a.m. TV coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. today on FS1. Brittany Force qualifies first in Top Fuel Brittany Force is the top qualifier at 3.641 seconds and 337.16 mph in Top Fuel for the NHRA Winternationals. She will face Steve Chrisman in the first round of eliminations. Doug Kalitta was second fastest at 3.657 seconds and 335.15 mph. He will face Scott Palmer in the first round. Shawn Langdon was third fastest in qualifying at 3.662 seconds and 338.68 mph and will face Ida Zetterstrom in the first round of eliminations. Prock is the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car at 3.816 seconds and 338.26 mph. Paul Lee is second fastest at 3.829 seconds and 331.45 mph. Ron Capps is third at 3.830 seconds and 328.94 mph. Prock will face Blake Alexander in the first round of eliminations. Lee will face Bobby Bode and Capps will face Spencer Hyde in the first round. Bob Tasca III, who was third in the Funny Car standings, did not qualify for the elimination rounds at the Winternationals. In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson is the No. 1 qualifier at 6.490 seconds and 210.77 mph. Matt Hartford is second at 6.490 seconds and 210.67mph. Deric Kramer is third at 6.511 seconds and 210.80 mph. Langdon wins 2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge Langdon won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge, defeating his Kalitta Motorsports teammate in the final round Saturday. It was the second time in a row that Langdon won the 2Fast2Tasty Challenge. He also won the Top Fuel race at the Arizona Nationals. “Any time you feel you can get on any type of roll or any type of streak with any type of number, it’s always a good feeling because it’s such a hard sport to be successful at,” Langdon said. “It’s just a lot of talent out there.” Kalitta won the Right Trailers All-Star Callout Challenge on Friday. Beckman won the 2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge, defeating Paul Lee in the final. “This is Disneyland for conditions,” Beckman said. In the 2Fast2Tasty Pro Stock Challenge, Matt Hartford defeated Greg Anderson in the final The Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge pits the NHRA Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock semifinalists from the previous event against each. In Saturday’s Challenge in Top Fuel, Kalitta faced Jasmine Salinas, and Langdon faced Force. Kalitta defeated Salinas and Langdon knocked out Force, setting up a Kalitta Motorsports final. In Funny Car, Lee, the winner at the Arizona Nationals, faced Tasca and John Force Racing teammates Prock and Beckman faced off. Beckman defeated Prock. Lee defeated Tasca. It set up a final between Beckman and Lee. In Pro Stock, Anderson faced Aaron Stanfield and Dallas Glenn faced Hartford. Hartford defeated Glenn. Stanfield beat Anderson but was disqualified for not passing inspection after the first round of the 2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Related Articles John Force Racing drivers determined to succeed in Pomona NHRA’s Ron Capps wants to be part of Winternationals history Alex Palou patiently works his way to win Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix Arrow McLaren drivers sweep front row for Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix gives drivers chance to capitalize on strong starts ...read more read less