Things were looking good until he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2004. Jack had his dream job and a competitive Super Comp rail that won him the SC championship in 2003. It was the official end of the elevator-repair job and a new life for Jack. One year later, Hawley hired Jack to help run the Pomona-based drag racing school. Hawley immediately saw Jack for what he was: a fast-talking, not trash-talking driver in a bee-yellow El Camino. The ElCo was parked for a big-block Super Comp dragster called the “Black Bird.” To tune up his skillsets, he enrolled in the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School, where he met its legendary namesake. The flexible hours and copious overtime pay allowed him fund some nitrous-sniffing 10-teen runs using a roller big-block in the ElCo, but Jack knew if he was to be a hero, he needed something serious. To fund the effort, Jack worked as a Westinghouse Elevator repair man. The closest track was in Colorado, so Jack would drive 500 miles each way to see the Mile High Nationals and sneak the El Camino out to Lubbock, Texas, for some 15-second runs.Īfter four years, he left the Air Force and returned to California to work on his drag-racing dream. After high school, Jack joined the Air Force to serve as an avionics technician, dragging the car to his station at Cannon AFB in Clovis, New Mexico. The 1968 El Camino came from Jack’s dad as a second-owner SS396 originally purchased at Rancho Chevrolet in Reseda, California. Hooked on drag racing at age 7 while hanging on the fence at historic digs like Orange County International Raceway and later the high-desert LACR, Jack saw a fuzzy vision of what he could become if it was in the cards. The story of “Fast Jack” and his El Camino goes all the way back to a baseball-playing, skateboarding, skinny kid from California’s San Fernando Valley in the early 1980’s. Or are they? Despite hundreds of hours on national television driving like a hero, catching fire, blowing up, then jumping out of a roof hatch for the interview, Jack Beckman is a regular guy with an amazing life story, and he’s just plain likable. The rich and famous aren’t like the rest of us. Jorge Nunez – Photographer 1968 El Camino SS: Behind the Wheel With NHRA Funny Car Champion “Fast Jack” Beckman When you look at a classic car and realize that its strongest attribute is the fact that it has a clean title and all of its tags, you know that what you are dealing with something that is well past its best.Written by Douglas Glad on November 12, 2019 I look at this ’68 El Camino and all I can think is what a crying shame it is to see what was once a very potent car reduced to little more than a husk. About the only thing that we know for certain is the fact that the El Camino does have a rear end in it still. Of course, with an asking price of $600, I wouldn’t be expecting too much on that front anyway. In a similar vein, there is no information on the presence, or otherwise, of an engine and transmission. If someone chooses to take this on as a project, they will essentially be starting from scratch. There really is no interior to speak of, and anything inside the car is probably beyond help due to exposure to the elements. The fact that there is plenty of rust visible in the lower body panels doesn’t auger well for the state of the floors, or for the structural integrity of the Chevy. The owner’s description of the vehicle runs out to a mere five words, but he says that he hopes that the pictures tell it all. The fact that it is sitting on bare ground will not have helped its cause one bit. With minimal glass and no doors, it will have been exposed to plenty of moisture. It’s hard to know where to start with the El Camino because it looks like it has been sitting exposed to the elements for a very long time. You will find it listed for sale here on Craigslist, where the owner has set the asking price at $600. Located on Lopez Island, Washington, the El Camino is being offered for sale with a clean title. Barn Finder Sol spotted the Chevy classic for us, so thank you so much for that Sol. Seeing a classic vehicle left to deteriorate in the elements is a bitter pill to swallow, especially when it is something as special as this El Camino SS 396.
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