Austin Prock clinches first Funny Car world championship in dominant fashion

Austin Prock completed one of the greatest first-year seasons in the history of NHRA Funny Car competition, winning the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series world championship in his debut in the class. Prock secured the championship at the end of qualifying at the season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Final in Pomona and did it as he did all season, qualifying No. 1 for the 15th time this season with the fourth quickest pass in class history and the quickest of the last seven years.

“We had it done last night,” said Prock of the virtual lock that became official Saturday. “We did a toast, and I said, ‘Thanks to the crew’; they didn’t have to be nice to me, and they didn’t have to believe in me, and they did all year long to go after something like this.

“This is 19 years in the making. I started racing when I was 10 years old. All I wanted to do was be a professional race car driver, I didn’t care what it was, and to win a world championship at it. We finally got it done. I’m so proud to drive this Chevrolet for Auto Club, Cornwell Tools, and everyone that’s a part of this. Thank you. Robert Hight; thank you, John Force, thank you fans, and everybody back at the shop for doing great work and giving us the opportunity to run low e.ts and turn on win lights.

“I’m kinda sad tomorrow is the last day of the season, but I hope we can go four more rounds and have something really big to celebrate at the end of the night.”

Prock, who had competed in 70 events over five seasons in Top Fuel, winning four times and being named Rookie of the Year in 2019, got the chance 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 even began.

The younger Prock had coincidentally lost funding for his Top Fuel ride and was facing a season of wrenching instead of driving on his dad’s Funny Car and entered the season with less than a dozen runs under his safety belts in a Funny Car.

It didn’t take him long to make his mark, scoring a runner-up in his season debut in the car at the NHRA Gatornationals and scoring his first win two events later in Phoenix. His runner-up at the Las Vegas four-wide event in April gave him his first points lead, which he relinquished just once before seizing command with a runner-up behind Force in Epping, N.H.

The Cornwell Tools Camaro was the class of the field, qualifying No. 1 a record-breaking 15 times during the season, breaking the record of 13 set by team leader John Force in 1996, when Prock was just one year old.

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 had won eight times entering the season finale, with additional wins in Bristol, Richmond, Seattle, and Indianapolis in the regular season and three victories in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in Reading, Charlotte, and Las Vegas. Only five drivers in NHRA history had previous won eight or more events and Prock still has the opportunity to win a ninth national event, a feat that hasn’t been done since Force did in 2000 with 11. 

Prior to his Funny Car launch, Prock had won four times in Top Fuel and qualified No. 1 just once previously, with a best career points finish in Top Fuel of third in 2022.

In addition to leading the points at the end of the regular season heading into the playoffs, Prock and team also won the Mission Foods #2fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge bonus program with victories there as well.