Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
BROWNSBURG, Ind (Sept. 24, 2025) – The juggernaut that is Austin Prock and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team roll into the Sept. 26-28 NHRA Mission Foods Midwest Nationals with a To Do list of simply continuing to do what they’ve been doing all season.
The win column at World Wide Technology Raceway shows a goose egg for Prock but the John Force Racing driver enters this week’s race, the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship, coming off victory last weekend at zMax Dragway near Charlotte. On three previous occasions this season, the Prock Rocket has earned back-to-back wins: first, at Las Vegas and Charlotte\; then at Virginia and Ohio; and most recently at Sonoma and Brainerd, which ended up being three-in-a-row with the team’s win at the U.S. Nationals.
The reigning NHRA Funny Car Champion leads the 2025 standings with 2,298 points. Chasing him are Matt Hagan (2,219), Ron Capps (2,204), Jack Beckman (2,200), Paul Lee (2,171), Cruz Pedregon (2,146), Daniel Wilkerson (2,142), Spencer Hyde (2,132), JR Todd (2,116), and Alexis Dejoria (2,107).
Notes
Quotes
What are your thoughts on the fact that you’ve already won eight races, a feat you also accomplished last year, and John Force did six times (never consecutively) but Robert Hight and Tony Pedregon only did once with JFR?
“It’s cool. I think it just says a lot about this Cornwell Tools race team. They give me a consistently good car each weekend we go out. Our total package has been good enough to earn 16 wins in the last two years so, if we want to go for our second championship in a row, we’re going to have to probably win two or three more, at least. That that would put us in a whole other league of success so it’s exciting. It’s not just one of us. It’s all of us working together and just clicking when it needs to and it’s bred a lot of success.”
What do you attribute your Countdown success to … 3 for 6 last year and 1 for 2 so far this year?
“Yeah, it is impressive, but we don’t really approach it any different. We approach each race weekend the same and, obviously, we want to go out there and have the most competitive car and allow me to do my job. It just happens to work out. When the countdown comes on, it is crunch time. If you want to win a world championship, you have to be dominant in the playoffs and it’s just all working right now.”
What is it with you winning seven races from the No. 2 qualifying spot this year and six times from the No. 1 spot last year?
“Yeah, it’s kind of been our honey hole, this season especially. It seems like when we don’t get the No. 1 Qualifier, we’re bummed out that we missed out on those valuable eight points that you earn from being the No. 1 Qualifier. But, in our crew it’s kind of in the running joke this year that when we roll into Sunday from the No. 2 position, we’re kind of excited because the correlation that it’s had to winning so I don’t think (the No. 1 Qualifier spot) really matters. If you are qualified in the top three, you more than likely have a pretty good race car going into Sunday. But this team is capable of winning from any position. I’ve seen it my dad’s whole career. He’ll qualify No. 1 and win and qualify number 16 and win. So, I think it’s just keeping your nose to the grindstone. And when it when it comes around to Sunday, everybody has to execute and do their jobs properly. When we do that, we seem to turn on four win lights a day.”
With World Wide Technology Raceway one of the few tracks where you haven’t won, how do you assess your chances this weekend?
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to getting back to two-wide racing. I haven’t won there yet but my dad had a lot of success there. That place has got a special place in my heart. In 2018, I got to go there and make some licensing passes in John Force’s PEAK Camaro. That was definitely exciting for me. We had the car to beat last year. We were lights out there. The Cornwell Tools Chevy was a few hundredths (of a second) quicker than everybody in the field throughout qualifying and then rolling into Sunday. We exited in the semifinals, so we’d like to go a few more rounds this year and, hopefully, try to extend our point lead.”
World Wide Technology Raceway Race Statistics
Quickest time: 3.836 seconds, Sept. 28, 2024
Fastest speed: 330.72 mph, Sept. 28, 2024
Number starts: 4
Times No. 1 qualifier: 1
Final rounds: 0
Victories: 0
Won-Lost Record: 3-4
Track records – 3.830 seconds by Robert Hight, Sept. 30, 2017; 338.60 mph by Robert Hight, Sept. 30, 2017.
Track & TV Schedules
NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals qualifying will feature two rounds at 5 and 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 26, and the final two rounds on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 12:15 and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday and then eliminations coverage starting at 3 p.m. ET.
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BROWNSBURG, Ind (Sept. 24, 2025) – The juggernaut that is Austin Prock and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team roll into the Sept. 26-28 NHRA Mission Foods Midwest Nationals with a To Do list of simply continuing to do what they’ve been doing all season.
The win column at World Wide Technology Raceway shows a goose egg for Prock but the John Force Racing driver enters this week’s race, the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship, coming off victory last weekend at zMax Dragway near Charlotte. On three previous occasions this season, the Prock Rocket has earned back-to-back wins: first, at Las Vegas and Charlotte\; then at Virginia and Ohio; and most recently at Sonoma and Brainerd, which ended up being three-in-a-row with the team’s win at the U.S. Nationals.
The reigning NHRA Funny Car Champion leads the 2025 standings with 2,298 points. Chasing him are Matt Hagan (2,219), Ron Capps (2,204), Jack Beckman (2,200), Paul Lee (2,171), Cruz Pedregon (2,146), Daniel Wilkerson (2,142), Spencer Hyde (2,132), JR Todd (2,116), and Alexis Dejoria (2,107).
Notes
- Prock is the fourth different JFR driver to win eight times in a season. His predecessor in the Cornwell Tools Chevy, Robert Hight, was the last Funny Car driver to win eight times (2022). Tony Pedregon won eight races in 2003, and John Force won eight or more races six times and set the Funny Car record with 13 wins in 1996. He won 10 times in 1994, 11 times in 1993, 1999 and 2000 and eight times in 2002.
- Prock has won half of the Countdown races he’s run as a Funny Car driver – three of six last year, one of two so far this year.
- Prock earned six of his eight wins from the No. 1 starting position in 2024. This year, he has seven wins as the No. 2 starter and one as No. 3.
Quotes
What are your thoughts on the fact that you’ve already won eight races, a feat you also accomplished last year, and John Force did six times (never consecutively) but Robert Hight and Tony Pedregon only did once with JFR?
“It’s cool. I think it just says a lot about this Cornwell Tools race team. They give me a consistently good car each weekend we go out. Our total package has been good enough to earn 16 wins in the last two years so, if we want to go for our second championship in a row, we’re going to have to probably win two or three more, at least. That that would put us in a whole other league of success so it’s exciting. It’s not just one of us. It’s all of us working together and just clicking when it needs to and it’s bred a lot of success.”
What do you attribute your Countdown success to … 3 for 6 last year and 1 for 2 so far this year?
“Yeah, it is impressive, but we don’t really approach it any different. We approach each race weekend the same and, obviously, we want to go out there and have the most competitive car and allow me to do my job. It just happens to work out. When the countdown comes on, it is crunch time. If you want to win a world championship, you have to be dominant in the playoffs and it’s just all working right now.”
What is it with you winning seven races from the No. 2 qualifying spot this year and six times from the No. 1 spot last year?
“Yeah, it’s kind of been our honey hole, this season especially. It seems like when we don’t get the No. 1 Qualifier, we’re bummed out that we missed out on those valuable eight points that you earn from being the No. 1 Qualifier. But, in our crew it’s kind of in the running joke this year that when we roll into Sunday from the No. 2 position, we’re kind of excited because the correlation that it’s had to winning so I don’t think (the No. 1 Qualifier spot) really matters. If you are qualified in the top three, you more than likely have a pretty good race car going into Sunday. But this team is capable of winning from any position. I’ve seen it my dad’s whole career. He’ll qualify No. 1 and win and qualify number 16 and win. So, I think it’s just keeping your nose to the grindstone. And when it when it comes around to Sunday, everybody has to execute and do their jobs properly. When we do that, we seem to turn on four win lights a day.”
With World Wide Technology Raceway one of the few tracks where you haven’t won, how do you assess your chances this weekend?
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to getting back to two-wide racing. I haven’t won there yet but my dad had a lot of success there. That place has got a special place in my heart. In 2018, I got to go there and make some licensing passes in John Force’s PEAK Camaro. That was definitely exciting for me. We had the car to beat last year. We were lights out there. The Cornwell Tools Chevy was a few hundredths (of a second) quicker than everybody in the field throughout qualifying and then rolling into Sunday. We exited in the semifinals, so we’d like to go a few more rounds this year and, hopefully, try to extend our point lead.”
World Wide Technology Raceway Race Statistics
| Year | Race Result | Qualified | Round Record |
| 2019 | Semi-finals | 3rd | 2-1 |
| 2020 | DNC | DNC | DNC |
| 2021 | DNC | DNC | DNC |
| 2022 | 1st Round | 12th | 2-2 |
| 2023 | 1st Round | 10th | 2-3 |
| 2024 | Semi-finals | 1st | 3-4 |
Quickest time: 3.836 seconds, Sept. 28, 2024
Fastest speed: 330.72 mph, Sept. 28, 2024
Number starts: 4
Times No. 1 qualifier: 1
Final rounds: 0
Victories: 0
Won-Lost Record: 3-4
Track records – 3.830 seconds by Robert Hight, Sept. 30, 2017; 338.60 mph by Robert Hight, Sept. 30, 2017.
Track & TV Schedules
NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals qualifying will feature two rounds at 5 and 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 26, and the final two rounds on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 12:15 and 3 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday and then eliminations coverage starting at 3 p.m. ET.
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