The stage wasn’t too big for Austin Prock.

In his first season driving a John Force Racing Funny Car full-time, Prock rose to the occasion and captured the biggest win of his career – the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis – in dominant fashion.

Prock qualified No. 1, won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race and season title Saturday, and then capped his weekend off by winning the prestigious Big Go at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Monday.

“It was special. I'm still holding it now and, yeah, it's one of those deals where you dream of this stuff and you don't know if it's ever going to happen and it happened,” Prock said. “I'm still in shock, but I guarantee you when I wake up next morning, it'll probably sink in a little bit and after that it's back to work.”

Prock, who also filled in as a key member of JFR’s pit crew this weekend, clocked a 3.885-second elapsed time at 327.98 mph in the finals to defeat Ron Capps’ 3.935-second lap at 331.45.

“First off, that tribute car (of Ron Capps) beat my grandpa here in the semifinals in 1973, I believe,” Prock said. “So, we got them back from my grandpa and got our first U.S. Nationals win. Super proud of the team. It was a great effort all weekend long and everyone talks about this Indy, Indy. It's the biggest race of the year and it is, and all weekend long I just kind of treated it like even less than a race.

“I kind of treated it like a test session and just tried to stay focused and race my own lane and that was good enough to get the job done this weekend. So very proud of the team. It still hasn't hit me that we won the U.S. Nationals. So many people dream of winning this race and very few have.

“The list is pretty short for the people who have won the U.S. Nationals, and I'm very proud to add my name to that list with my dad (Jimmy) and my brother Thomas, turning the knobs with Nate Hildahl. It's a pretty surreal moment.”

Prock will take the Indy Wally home to display alongside those from Phoenix, Bristol, Tenn., Richmond, Va., and Seattle. He has qualified No. 1 10 times in 14 races in his John Force Racing Camaro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I think it proves the race car that we are through this regular season that we've done a great job this season going up and down the racetrack and running very quick. And to cap off the regular season the way we did is very, very comforting; very proud,” he said. “This team works so hard, and it's pretty cool to get that ET slip at the end of the day that says win on it and look at those incrementals and go, ‘Man, that Prock Rocket's fast.’ Very proud, and I don't see us slowing down anytime soon. People say when you're hot, you're hot – and right now, we're hot and we have been all year long. My dad, Thomas and Nate Hildahl and this whole Cornwell Tools team, they just seem to keep making the right decisions and giving me multiple opportunities to go up there and stand on the gas and it sure is fun.” 

On Sunday, Prock, who qualified No. 1 with a 3.855-second elapsed time, mowed down Chris King, Alexis DeJoria, Blake Alexander, and Capps.

“When you get caught up in the pressure and you get caught up in the moment, it only makes you worse, I feel like,” Prock said. “Maybe besides Michael Jordan – he was always good in those pressure situations but I've been good in the pressure situations – but when you're good in those situations, you feel like there's no pressure and that's what I've been trying to train my mind and body to understand. And we just won the biggest race of the year, and I drove lights out. This was my best performance by far all year long with leaving the starting line, keeping it nice, true and straight. We were painting railroad tracks all weekend long, and they gave me some serious power underneath me. It sure was fun. And I guess if you're going to win Indy, that's the way to do it.”

Austin’s father is one of the best crew chiefs in NHRA history, and the victory by Austin in Indy was quite memorable for him and the entire Prock family.

Fox’s “Amanda (Busick) said that to me at the top and I think he was in tears,” Austin said. “And we talked earlier this weekend with Fox Sports. We had a little segment on our family, and they asked us what would it mean to win Indy as a family. And every one of us said, ‘It'd be everything.’ This is the stuff you dream of and it's the biggest race of the year. And to do it all together and have my grandfather here. This was the first race that my grandfather showed up this season with me in Funny Car, and we got his number on the side of the car, and we ended up getting the job done. I talked months prior, because I knew he was coming here. I was like, all I want to do is get my grandpa in the winner’s circle. We just so happened – at the biggest race of the year – got him a U.S. Nationals win.”

Prock, who is leading the points standings heading into the six-race Countdown to the Championship, is ready for the challenge ahead.

 

 

 

“You celebrate now and then it's straight back to work. You've got to get back in that grind. And I've been saying you just got to take it one moment at a time and not get lost in the pressure or the celebrating or the lows. You just got to keep trucking along, and each and every one of us have to try and do our best work that we've done all season long and that's what we've been doing,” Prock said. “Got a good head of steam rolling into the Countdown, and I truly believe that we can make a championship run with this team. Each and every one of these guys is just a complete animal, and it sure is fun working with them. I'm excited to see how everything goes.”

This weekend, Austin wasn’t only the driver, he also was getting his hands dirty working on his team’s crew.

“It definitely keeps you busy. I'm exhausted to be honest, but probably one of the last guys to do it was Don Prudhomme and we one-upped him (Monday). That was really special. I said the other night, ‘How many people go run low ET No. 1 qualifier at the U.S. Nationals and then go service their supercharger?’ And I did that all day long, and I was looking forward to each and every service. It was a lot of work, a lot of focus.

“I haven't done it in about a year, and to just hop back in there and all the guys had my back, and I had their back. And that's what a team's all about, is being able to pick up people. When a guy's down, you got to be able to fill in, and the more each and every crew guy knows about each other's positions, it just makes your team so much stronger. I just happened to be the driver who knows a lot about blowers. I was the first guy who was on call, and I had a blast. I don't know if I'll ever be able to say again that I built the superchargers and won the U.S. Nationals. All in one weekend, that was pretty cool, and not very many people can say that, so we'll add it to the resume.”

Prock never raced a Funny Car full-time until this season. He was thrust into this role when three-time world champion driver Robert Hight was sidelined with a medical condition.

On Monday, he was winning the U.S. Nationals against a three-time world champion in Ron Capps.

“I mean, there was all kinds of things that crossed my mind, but I couldn't tell you a single one of them. I was in another world rolling up to that. I was kind of glad for that little break because when we rolled up there the first time when we were supposed to run at 4 (o’clock), I didn't really feel all that good,” Prock said. “I think it was because I was just so exhausted. And that break gave me about 25 minutes to go sit up in the lounge in the AC and finally cool off. I've been in this firesuit all day long because I don't have time to change.

“When you're building the blowers, you get right back to the pit, and you yard that thing off and go to work. We were servicing in about 26 minutes today. There was no time to get out of my firesuit, and I was hot, I was exhausted. That little break, I think it saved me, and we went out there and just chomped at the bit and got her done.”

 

 

 

Wearing a firesuit all day long is something his boss John Force has done for years. Austin was in disbelief after enduring the same garb all day Monday.

“I don't know how he does it. It's one thing to wear it all day and just be a driver, but it's a totally different thing to wear it all day, be a driver, build the superchargers, mix the fuel, attend the fans,” Prock said. “It was definitely a busy day, but we got it done. And that's what it takes to win these big races. You got to have some grit, and you got to get down and dirty and get the job done.”

From 2019-23, 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.

That seems to be a distant memory considering what Prock has done in a Funny Car.

“Like I've been saying all weekend, no emotion. If you cut emotion out of your job and your job ethic, you get it down to basics and you make life a lot simpler,” he said. “Emotions are just thoughts in your head that don't really matter. Just blocking all that out and go and do the job. I know I can drive this race car at a very, very high level, and I just got to get in there and I tell myself that almost every time I get in.

“Ronnie Thompson, he was one of my first or was my first crew chief, him and LJ. And every time I rolled into the water box, he'd just walk up, and he'd go, ‘I love your work.’ And it just kind of gave me that confidence to just go do the job. You know you can do it. You're in here for a reason and just cut out the crap and just go do your work. It really simplifies this profession, and it really helps me a lot.”

Having an open mind is something Austin has tried to maintain through his career.

“I'm all ears. My dad taught me that at a young age. You always got to listen to the bad information, listen to the good information and make out of it what you believe and what helps you function,” Prock said. “I'm learning every day. We dominated this year and I'm still learning and I'm learning yeah, every time I get into this race car – learning about the race car, learning more about myself, learning more about the mental side of things because this sport is very, very mental. It's a lot of work to get this thing down the racetrack, but you got to have a clear mind and to get the job done in a good manner.”