By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio
ENNIS, Texas – Can any of the NHRA Funny Car drivers stop Austin Prock and the “Prock Rocket” on the dragstrip?
That is the question everyone is asking heading into this weekend’s Stampede of Speed and 39th annual NHRA Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
Prock, who took over for John Force Racing’s Nitro Funny Car driver Robert Hight at the start of the season while Hight dealt with a medical issue, has been dominant in the Cornwell Tools/AAA Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS this season while driving for his dad (crew chief Jimmy Prock).
In a car that has been nicknamed the “Prock Rocket,” the 29-year old driver opened the Countdown with back-to-back wins at Maple Grove in Reading, Pa. and at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. He has been hard to beat in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car class this season.
Prock has been the No. 1 qualifier 12 times in 17 races, winning seven events and advancing to 10 finals. He also has posted 11 low elapsed times at Gainesville, Phoenix, Chicago, Epping, Bristol, Richmond, Norwalk, Seattle, Brainerd, Reading and St. Louis.
“A big weekend ahead with the Stampede of Speed,” Prock said. “Always love heading to Dallas with the Meyer family. They have a great facility for us racers and for the fans and we’re looking for a strong start to this last three-race dash to the end of the Countdown.”
At the halfway point of the Countdown to the Championship, Prock holds a 105-point lead over John Force in the standings. Force’s fill-in and replacement driver Jack Beckman has been driving the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro for John Force Racing after Force was injured in a crash in late June at Virginia Motorsports Park. NHRA rules allow a driver to fill in and still earn points toward a championship for an injured driver.
Beckman won the last NHRA Funny Car race two weeks ago at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis by defeating Ron Capps in the final round. It was Beckman’s 34th career win and first since 2020.
To reach the final round, Beckman had to defeat Prock in the semifinals. That round win snapped Prock’s streak of 14 straight round wins.
“The guys just kept making the right call,” Beckman said. “You have all the confidence in your crew that whatever they have to do, we can go drag that thing back up there and it’s going to go down the racetrack. We made a monster lap in the final round. That was fantastic to see our guys turn the screws up and get more aggressive with it because that comes from confidence.”
Beckman is trying to win a 17th title for Force and a win for Beckman in Dallas could put his teammate’s (Prock) hopes for a championship in jeopardy. Beckman won the NHRA Funny Car championship in 2012.
“There is potential pressure but it’s a complete honor to drive this car,” Beckman said. “John Force has done everything and we may not have seen the last of him yet. He is by all metrics the greatest of all time and he’s also a friend of mine. He’s also John Force. He’s his own personality. I am absolutely fine with having an asterisk next to John Force’s 17th title out there, but we have Mount Austin and Jimmy (Prock) to continue to try to close that gap on.”
Bob Tasca III, who has won three races this season, sits in third and is 159 points back followed by Capps (-194) and last year’s NHRA Texas FallNationals winner Matt Hagan (-205). J.R. Todd, Blake Alexander, Daniel Wilkerson, Chad Green and Alexis DeJoria complete the top 10 in the standings.
“The old cliché of ‘everything’s bigger in Texas’ definitely holds true for us in the NHRA,” Capps said. “The FallNationals is what I call a momentum weekend and it always has been. It’s either going to put you in the place you want to be with two races left to go in the Countdown to the Championship, or it can be the place that takes you completely out of the hunt.”
Capps always has big moments at the Texas Motorplex. He recorded back-to-back wins in Dallas in 2021 and 2022 which paved the way for back-to-back world titles. A victory this weekend is necessary to keep his title hopes alive.
“In the years we won the championship and had good seasons where we battled for the title, the Dallas race at Texas Motorplex was always one that was sort of a make it or break it for us, and a lot of other teams as well,” said Capps, who has 76 career victories. “So for us, we’re looking to this race to build on the momentum our NAPA Auto Care team has after coming off another final round in St. Louis.”
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car qualifying will feature two rounds at 4:15 and 7:00 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 11, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 12:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, Oct. 13. Television coverage includes qualifying action on FS1 at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday and as well as action from eliminations at 4 p.m. For ticket information, call 800-668-6775 or visit tickets.texasmotorplex.com.
