Austin Prock, the son of world championship NHRA crew chief Jimmy Prock, as reported by CompetitionPlus.com did his inaugural testing in a nitro Funny Car April 9 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“It was everything I thought it would be and more,” Austin said about his first time driving a nitro Funny Car. “My mom, dad and brother Thomas were there and that was cool.”

Prock, who was behind the wheel of the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro driven by Courtney Force, made three runs. Throughout his training he will drive all three John Force Racing Funny Cars.

The elder Prock is a crew chief for reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car world champ Robert Hight at John Force Racing. 

“The first one was a planned shutoff at the 330 and I made to the 330 cone and it was nice and straight,” Austin said. “The only thing that was a little screwy was that I pre-staged and staged and then the tree never dropped so I was just sitting up there waiting. I didn’t know if they weren’t dropping the tree because they didn’t want me to go or something was wrong. Then (Brian) Corradi (Courtney Force’s co-crew chief) gets on the radio and yells ‘Go!’ and I stood on the gas and it went nice and straight and made it there. The burnout was perfect, and it was a good first hit. My first squirt when I went to the 330 it was hauling ass. It felt really fast and I was impressed with how good the visibility was out of these things compared to an alcohol Funny Car. It was moving, and since the tree didn’t drop we didn’t get a timeslip but they went back through and overlaid that run and data to a different run and that thing was going to run a low 80 on my first hit in the car.”

Prock said on the second run, they planned on him going to the 660-foot mark.

“It dropped a hole at the hit and pulled me inside and I corrected it and then I clicked it off to make sure we didn’t hurt any parts,” he said. “Then, the third lap, we were going to go to the 660 again and I made it about 450 feet and it dropped a hole on the left side and it shot me inside and I was correcting it and they clicked me off again. When you get clicked off, you lose some of your downforce and it pulls you even harder and I kept it off the paint and they were proud of me. They said I caught it quick and it ended up being a good day. Even though it was first time, it was cool feeling those situations you know you are going to run into when you are racing these things. The second lap when it dropped the hole at the hit I could tell it felt a little laggy leaving the starting line and I felt it pull me inside and that was something cool to feel. The last run I did, the real fun starts happening from the 330 to the finish line when the clutch starts coming in. That last hit I made, it set me back in the seat and you have tunnel vision and it feels like someone is just slamming you into that seat. It’s crazy and when it drops a cylinder it moves in a hurry.”

Austin acknowledged he was a bundle of nerves before, and during his first time piloting a nitro Funny Car.

“I’ve never experienced the feeling I had in my stomach all morning and after the first run,” he said. “I had this knot in my stomach, I just wanted to puke all day long. I was talking to Danny (Hood, who also is a co-crew chief on Courtney Force’s Funny Car) and I told him I don’t know if I’m getting sick or I’m just nervous. Mentally I didn’t feel nervous, but the way my stomach was feeling I just wanted to puke. I told John (Force) that I had this serious knot in my stomach and he told me that knot will never go away. He said you will have that the whole time you race this thing, especially on Sundays.”

This season, Austin’s primary job is building superchargers for reigning Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force.
 
On twitter, John Force Racing said the following about Prock’s test session:
@ProckRocket_FC getting his first taste of nitro Funny Car! Austin will be testing all season long in one of the three JFR @TeamChevy Camaros. #NextGeneration.

Pro Stock driver Tanner Gray, who won the 2017 Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award as a rookie last season, had the following response to Prock on Twitter.

“That’s bad ass man.”

Austin said he may test again in Charlotte, N.C., following the Four-Wide Nationals April 27-29.

“I felt really comfortable at this first test and next time we go and test we will probably try and go to the 660 out of the box and then we will make full pulls,” he said. “All I need is one more full pull and I will have my (nitro Funny Car) license. It was a pretty productive (first) day. I didn’t even expect to make to the 330 cone. I was kind of underestimating myself and it ended up being a good day.”

In 2014, Austin competed in the USAC National Midget Pavement class where he was a national champion, then he competed in the Dirt Midgets (2015) and Dirt Sprint Cars (2016). He drove for Tony Stewart Racing.