Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (April 13, 2025) – Austin Prock put early season struggles behind him Sunday, re-establishing his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS as a dominant Funny Car and becoming the first driver in history to win four-wide events in the NHRA’s two signature categories.
The No. 2 qualifier in the west coast version of an event that originated at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., 15 years ago, Prock posted the quickest time during eliminations at 3.964 seconds but slowed to 4.009 seconds in the final quad, reaching the stripe just ahead of No. 1 qualifier Paul Lee.
Although the reigning series champ characterized the win as “ugly,” he wasn’t about to give it back.
“This ‘Prock Rocket’ ain’t perfect yet,” he acknowledged. “But it’s heading in the right direction and that’s what we need to be proud about right now. That was an ugly win but, like I said earlier this morning, if the win light keeps coming on, I don’t give a crap.”
In outracing Lee, Dave Richards and Matt Hagan to the finish in the final quad, he earned a bookend for the four-wide win he secured at Charlotte in 2023 while driving a John Force Racing Top Fuel dragster.
“I’m so proud of this JFR team,” said the man who last year broke the boss’s single season qualifying record when he started from the front 15 times in 20 events. “I just love having John Force out at the racetrack. It just gasses you up every time. He told me he was proud of me this week and that means a lot.
“I’m really proud to drive this Cornwell Tools Chevy SS with Hendrickcars.com, PEAK, Powers Affordable Housing and Graham Rahal Performance,” said the 2019 NHRA Rookie of the Year. “Having them all on board is just so cool.”
It was the 29-year-old Funny Car phenom’s first winners’ celebration of the new season and it propelled him into the No. 3 position in Mission Foods’ points behind Lee and JFR teammate Jack Beckman, who suffered his first opening round loss since taking the reins of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy, which this week was flying the colors of Graham Rahal Performance, from an injured Force.
Two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force also failed to advance after qualifying her GRP dragster second in the field and posting top speed of the event at 333.16 miles per hour, well off her track record speed of 338.17 mph.
“Rough weekend for both Graham Rahal Performance cars,” Beckman said. “The silver lining is we got to go up and cheer our teammate Austin Prock on in the final round and we found our problem. We’re on it and it’ll be fixed by the time we roll into Charlotte. I expect us to be right back into championship form then.”
Brittany, too, remained upbeat despite the disappointing result on a track on which she had won five times previously, more than on any other in the series.
“We had two great sessions during Saturday qualifying, jumping us up to No. 2 (in the starting order) and we won a round in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge,” she said. “However, our car smoked the tires in the first round. I pedaled it and it hooked back up and it went down there but, unfortunately, we didn’t get a win light.
“We’ll pack up and head to the next four-wide race in Charlotte and see if we can win there,” said the 17-time tour winner. “I’m excited to get to zMAX. We’ll be running our HendrickCars.com colors all weekend long, and even though we had an early exit in Las Vegas, I feel this team and this car are in a really good position and a win is right around the corner.”
The victory was Prock’s ninth in 24 starts since sliding into the cockpit of the car previously driven by three-time JFR World Champion Robert Hight. It was his second straight celebration at LVMS where he beat Lee in the final round of last October’s NHRA Nevada Nationals.
Continue reading...
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (April 13, 2025) – Austin Prock put early season struggles behind him Sunday, re-establishing his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS as a dominant Funny Car and becoming the first driver in history to win four-wide events in the NHRA’s two signature categories.
The No. 2 qualifier in the west coast version of an event that originated at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., 15 years ago, Prock posted the quickest time during eliminations at 3.964 seconds but slowed to 4.009 seconds in the final quad, reaching the stripe just ahead of No. 1 qualifier Paul Lee.
Although the reigning series champ characterized the win as “ugly,” he wasn’t about to give it back.
“This ‘Prock Rocket’ ain’t perfect yet,” he acknowledged. “But it’s heading in the right direction and that’s what we need to be proud about right now. That was an ugly win but, like I said earlier this morning, if the win light keeps coming on, I don’t give a crap.”
In outracing Lee, Dave Richards and Matt Hagan to the finish in the final quad, he earned a bookend for the four-wide win he secured at Charlotte in 2023 while driving a John Force Racing Top Fuel dragster.
“I’m so proud of this JFR team,” said the man who last year broke the boss’s single season qualifying record when he started from the front 15 times in 20 events. “I just love having John Force out at the racetrack. It just gasses you up every time. He told me he was proud of me this week and that means a lot.
“I’m really proud to drive this Cornwell Tools Chevy SS with Hendrickcars.com, PEAK, Powers Affordable Housing and Graham Rahal Performance,” said the 2019 NHRA Rookie of the Year. “Having them all on board is just so cool.”
It was the 29-year-old Funny Car phenom’s first winners’ celebration of the new season and it propelled him into the No. 3 position in Mission Foods’ points behind Lee and JFR teammate Jack Beckman, who suffered his first opening round loss since taking the reins of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy, which this week was flying the colors of Graham Rahal Performance, from an injured Force.
Two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force also failed to advance after qualifying her GRP dragster second in the field and posting top speed of the event at 333.16 miles per hour, well off her track record speed of 338.17 mph.
“Rough weekend for both Graham Rahal Performance cars,” Beckman said. “The silver lining is we got to go up and cheer our teammate Austin Prock on in the final round and we found our problem. We’re on it and it’ll be fixed by the time we roll into Charlotte. I expect us to be right back into championship form then.”
Brittany, too, remained upbeat despite the disappointing result on a track on which she had won five times previously, more than on any other in the series.
“We had two great sessions during Saturday qualifying, jumping us up to No. 2 (in the starting order) and we won a round in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge,” she said. “However, our car smoked the tires in the first round. I pedaled it and it hooked back up and it went down there but, unfortunately, we didn’t get a win light.
“We’ll pack up and head to the next four-wide race in Charlotte and see if we can win there,” said the 17-time tour winner. “I’m excited to get to zMAX. We’ll be running our HendrickCars.com colors all weekend long, and even though we had an early exit in Las Vegas, I feel this team and this car are in a really good position and a win is right around the corner.”
The victory was Prock’s ninth in 24 starts since sliding into the cockpit of the car previously driven by three-time JFR World Champion Robert Hight. It was his second straight celebration at LVMS where he beat Lee in the final round of last October’s NHRA Nevada Nationals.
Continue reading...
