Charles Chuck Tyson Beal

Chuck is survived by his wife of 54 years, Karen Marie (Rushing) Beal of San Diego, CA; his daughters Kymi M. Green (Jon) of Albany, OR and Teri L. Porlas (Xavier) of San Diego, CA; his three grandsons Tyson X. Porlas (Leah) of San Diego, CA, Lt. Dylon D. Porlas of Anacortes, WA, and Brandon M. Welch (Kathryn) of San Diego, CA; and his three great-granddaughters Celine Terilynn Porlas, and Kate & Claire Welch.

Chuck is also survived by his five sisters and their families: Norma Wharf (Bruce) of Phoenix, AZ, Ann Oxley (Bob) of Hemet, CA, Sandy Christophiades (Art) of San Diego, CA, Lana Thurman (Tim) of San Diego, CA, and Debbie McClanahan (Gary) of San Diego, CA; and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents C.W. Beal and Elsie A. Beal of San Diego, CA, and his brother Daniel “Pete” Beal, of San Diego, CA.

Chuck was born on February 6th, 1943 in San Diego, CA to C.W. and Elsie Beal. He was the third child of seven children. His family moved around a lot when he was a child, living in New Mexico for most of his childhood. They moved back to San Diego when Chuck was a teen, settling in Linda Vista where he went to Kearny High School and met the love of his life, Karen Rushing, when he was a senior. He graduated from Kearny High School in 1960 and married Karen two years later in October of 1962. They had their first daughter, Kymi, in 1963 and their second daughter, Teri, in 1964.

Chuck worked at Solar Turbines for three years in the mid 1960’s. In 1966, at age 23, he received The Thinker Award for his ideas that helped Solar Turbines save hundreds of thousands of dollars. He left Solar Turbines to work at Gulf General Atomics (GA Technologies) where he spent the next 46 years as their Fusion Quality Assurance Manager and Non-Destructive Testing Specialist on the nuclear Research and Development side. He worked most recently on the electromagnetic aircraft launch system before he retired in August 2014.

Besides his family, Chuck’s passion was racing. During his 54 year racing career the former West Coast match-race ace and two-time Winternationals winner drove both front- and rear-engine dragsters until the late 1970s, switched to the Alcohol Funny Car class and competed there until the early 1990s, then stepped up to the nitro Funny Car ranks in 1994. His cars were famous for their bright orange/gold/blue colors and the nicknames “Bealmobile” and “Goldie”. Chuck most recently competed as car owner and crew chief during the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Pop is racing with the angels now!

The Memorial Service is scheduled for Saturday, August 12th, 2017 at 11:00 am, at El Camino Memorial Park located at 5600 Carroll Canyon Rd, San Diego, CA 92121. Immediately following will be a Celebration of Life reception at: Loading Dock, 2400 Kettner Blvd, San Diego CA from 2pm -6pm.

In lieu of Flowers, please consider donating to Chuck’s favorite non-profit charity:

San Diego Nice Guys

P.O. Box 881456

San Diego, CA 92168

Attn: Todd Carlson

P: 760-470-1225

www.sdniceguys.com

Non-Profit #: (5013C) Fed ID 95-3405753.