Same song, different verse.
Austin Prock once again set the qualifying pace, grabbing the provisional No. 1 qualifying pace with a 3.958-second elapsed time at 317.34 mph Friday at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.
Prock, who pilots the AAA/Cornwell Tools Camaro for John Force Racing, clocked his time in Q2. He had a 4.056-second elapsed time at 299.00 mph in Q1.
Prock’s latest accomplishment came while he navigated a blistering ET at a dragstrip notorious for its bumps.
“This place is very tough to navigate for sure. It’s very bumpy down on the track and it’s a driver’s racetrack, I would call it,” Prock said. “You got to be on your game all the way until you’re pulling the parachutes. You typically do in a Funny Car, but this is just up another level. It’s a really fun racetrack to drive for sure. Stressful for the crew chiefs, but if you’re a race car driver, you sure do enjoy a place like this.
“So, first run, got a little bit outside and hit the bumps and it started spinning. I just tried tucking my elbows in and seeing if I could get it back on track, straight, and it worked for about two tenths of a second until it dropped two cylinders on the left side, and you could see the whole Cornwell sticker down the left side of the car from the starting line.
“So got it reeled in and made a really nice run. We were third quick, and then tonight, left beautiful. Got a little nervous through the middle. There was a little bit of lifting going on and in about the 330 to 400 feet over there, and the tire was definitely nervous, and the clutch package definitely saved it there. And I think I ran over a log at about 500 feet. The whole car was off the ground I think, and I had a big old grin on my face, I’m sure. But when I heard a 95 over the radio, that was the number they were calling, and it ended up being good enough.”
If Prock’s time holds through Saturday’s final two qualify sessions it would be his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season in eight races.
“After watching everybody, I think we wanted to push harder, but we knew if we run 95, we were more than likely going to be first or second,” Prock said. “So ended up working out well for us and just another great Friday night, or Friday. The entire day was great from this Cornwell Camaro.”
Prock arrived in Bristol first in the season standings, 22 points in front of his legendary boss John Force. Prock has one win this season (Phoenix) and three runner-up finishes. He’s also been the No. 1 qualifier in Gainesville, Fla., Phoenix, Las Vegas, Chicago and Epping, N.H.
“Lately, I’ve just been trying to stay calm. I’ve noticed that I definitely leave a starting line a lot better when I’m just cool, calm and collected, so yeah, I’ve just been really just trying to enjoy it,” Prock said. “Not overthink it, not worry, not get nervous, just have fun. I got to pinch myself sometimes that I’m getting to drive one of the baddest Funny Cars in the last decade with my family and getting paid for it on top of it. I would do this stuff for free all day long, but I get to make a living at it, and life is just so good right now.”
Prock, who never raced a Funny Car full-time until this season, was thrust into this role when three-time world champion driver Robert Hight was sidelined with a medical condition.
From 2019-2023, Prock drove a Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing, finishing a career-best third in the points standings in 2022. He collected four national-event wins and three No. 1 qualifiers.
Prock acknowledged all his racing experience in drag racing and beyond came into play Friday.
“Definitely all of the feel, learning, growing up racing sprint cars and midgets, especially on the dirt, feeling the tire and just feeling the English of the car. That definitely all comes into play, but these things are a totally different animal,” Prock said. “You have to make such split-second decisions to make clean runs like we did, so definitely fun.”
Speaking of runs, Prock also is excited about how consistent his car is making A-to-B runs.
“You could start noticing it about halfway through the season last year. My dad (Jimmy Prock) and brother (Thomas), at the beginning of the last year, they pretty much built a whole new packet going into last year, and they just picked at it and picked at it all year long and you could really start to see it evolve. And when we dropped the door at the beginning of the year in Bradenton (Fla.), it just showed all that hard work that they put into it last year. Testing and learning really paid off, and then along with studying every bit of those runs all winter long. My dad and brother, they don’t get off the computer very often — just to eat and that’s about it, so when they leave work, they go right home, and they get right back on the computer. They definitely put in the hours, put in the hard work, and it definitely shows.”
