When Jimmy Prock resigned Oct. 21 as the long time crew chief for legendary nitro Funny Car driver John Force, it was stunning.

On Oct. 24, Prock was back working again, joining rival Don Schumacher Racing in an unspecified role.

When Jimmy Prock resigned Oct. 21 as the long time crew chief for legendary nitro Funny Car driver John Force, it was stunning.

On Oct. 24, Prock was back working again, joining rival Don Schumacher Racing in an unspecified role.

“It is a change for me, but I’m excited to be here, you know it’s a great race team and everything,” Prock said. “I’m just here trying to work and try and help them win races and get better.”

The DSR powerhouse team consists of Top Fuel dragsters driven by Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown and Spencer Massey, along with nitro Funny Cars driven by Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr.

At Prock’s first race with DSR last weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Prock joined Chris Cunningham and Terry Snyder on Beckman’s car. Beckman qualified No. 6 but was upset by Robert Hight out of the John Force Racing stable in the first round.

“I’ve known a lot of the people who work here (DSR) and I think all of us are excited to work together,” Prock said. “It should be good. We will work well together over here and try to get better.”

Hagan heads to NHRA’s season finale – the Auto Club Finals Nov. 13-16 in Pomona, Calif. - with a 21-point lead over Force, the 16-time world champion.

“It’s difficult,” Prock said about leaving John Force Racing. “Anytime you work 14 years at one place it wasn’t an easy decision to not be there for me. I thought it was time for a change and I was thankful to get this opportunity (to work for DSR). We just started and I’m happy to be here and we are all working together and I’m looking forward to it.

"I just felt it was time for a change and I was intending to finish the year out over there (at John Force Racing), but it didn’t work out that way and that’s all right," said Prock. "Like I’ve said, I’m excited to be here (at DSR) and it is something new for me and I’m going to work hard at it. I just brought a few ideas that I had in here with what I did and we are trying to mesh them together so we can learn more for the future. That's really what we are trying to do.”

In 2013, Prock took over tuning duties for Force after a midseason team swap orchestrated by the team owner that saw Prock leave longtime driver Hight. Prock tuned the winningest driver in NHRA history to five consecutive final rounds in the Countdown, including three wins in a row to clinch Force’s 16th world title.

Before Prock began tuning Funny Cars, he made a name for himself as a Top Fuel crew chief as the wrench boss for Cory McClenathan and five-time NHRA world champion Joe Amato.

“I’ve thought about it,” Prock said about tuning a Top Fuel dragster again. “I could do it, it has just been probably 15 years since I ran one, but if that’s what they (DSR) want me to do I will do that. I will run whatever car they want me to run.”

Prock also said he doesn’t have any problems with Force.

“I really haven’t talked to him since the day (Oct. 21) he let me go,” Prock said. “I will talk to him, I don’t have any problem with that.”

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