Courtesy of the NHRA
POMONA, Calif. – Funny Car’s Austin Prock clinched his first career world championship on Saturday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, securing the world title for John Force Racing during qualifying at the 59th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.
Prock finished as the No. 1 qualifier with a track-record run of 3.804-seconds at 334.57 mph to close out the day in his 11,000-horsepower AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS, making the quickest run in Funny Car since 2017 and the fourth-quickest in class history. It’s another magical moment in what has been an incredible and dominant first year in Funny Car for the young standout.
He has put together one of the most impressive Funny Car seasons in history, winning eight races thus far and clinching his 15th No. 1 qualifier, the most in a single season in Funny Car history. Prock has been just as terrific in the Countdown to the Championship, culminating in his first world title and a magical moment in his young career.
“I’ve been working towards this for 19 years,” Prock said. “I started driving race cars when I was 10 years old and all I could think of was being a professional race car driver in any manner and winning the world championship, and we got it done this year. The main job is finished, finally, but we want nine wins before we end this 2024 season, and we definitely have the hot rod to do it right now.
“This thing’s been on kill this weekend, and in the last few years, this race car hasn’t performed all that well here in Pomona, but all the stars are aligning right now. We made three really, really quick runs and I’m doing a good job keeping it in the middle of the groove here.”
Prock, who had previously raced in Top Fuel, winning four times and being named Rookie of the Year in 2019, got the opportunity to join his father, multi-time championship crew chief Jimmy Prock, and his brother, Thomas, on the John Force Racing Cornwell Tools Funny Car team after its normal driver, thee-time world champ Robert Hight, was sidelined for medical reasons before the season started.
Prock made his presence known almost immediately, scoring a runner-up in Gainesville and collecting his first Funny Car victory in Phoenix.
He held the points lead for the bulk of the season, taking the lead for good after finishing as runner-up to Force in Epping. Prock was the near-perfect driver to match a fast hot rod, ranking second in class average for reaction times while completing nearly 80 percent of all runs under power.
Prock enjoyed success in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge and ran well in almost any weather conditions, picking up victories in Bristol, Richmond and Seattle in the regular season. He also won the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals for the first time in his career this year, rolling to playoff wins in Reading and Charlotte following that.
He enjoyed 14 straight round wins at that point in the season, taking a commanding lead down the stretch of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Prock followed with a victory in Las Vegas – part of a JFR double-up with Brittany Force – and finished the job in qualifying in Pomona.
Now, Prock has a chance to cement his year as arguably the best in recent history. Only five drivers in NHRA history have won eight or more events before this season and Prock still has the opportunity to win a ninth national event, a feat that hasn’t been done since Force did it in 2000 with 11.
“I was nervous coming into this weekend, but everything’s just working right, just like it has all year,” Prock said. “We’re looking forward to tomorrow. We’re going to do a little bit of celebrating tonight, but we’ll all be ready to go in the morning and try and go for that ninth Wally.”
Eliminations for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
