In less than 17 seconds Sunday at Reading, Pa., Austin Prock morphed from a self-proclaimed “charity” recipient into the racer no Top Fuel competitor has any sympathy for as the NHRA Countdown to the Championship got under way with the Pep Boys Nationals. 

With his 3.755-second elapsed time at 329.67 mph on the 1,000-foot Maple Grove Raceway course in the final-round victory over new points leader Justin Ashley, Prock ended his personal streak of five first-round defeats. 

He improved from 12th place – last among the title-eligible drivers – to sixth as the Camping World Drag Racing Series heads south to Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway for the Betway Carolina Nationals this coming weekend.

Prock shared the winners circle with Funny Car’s Robert Hight and gave his father a nitro-double day, too. Jimmy Prock is Hight’s longtime crew chief. 

“I've dreamt of this day my entire life,” the 27-year-old racer said. “The only thing better could be is if I was sitting in the seat of his race car. But this is really cool for the Prock family. My grandfather's birthday was earlier this week, so to win for Tom Prock, that's extra special. I'm sure he raced back here in the ’70s, in a custom-body Funny Car, so really cool to get it done for the family. I can't wait to go see him.” 

In becoming Top Fuel’s ninth winner this season, Prock plowed past Doug Foley, Steve Torrence, and Antron Brown – all of whom were as desperate as he was for a strong showing – before meeting Ashley in the final round. 

“It was exactly what we needed, a satisfied Prock said. 

With his opening-round exit at Indianapolis two weeks ago, Prock said with a sigh that he had been awarded “the charity spot” in the Countdown field. He was referring to the NHRA’s second-year rule that any driver who doesn’t end the regular season in the top 10 can be included in the Countdown by attending all races and making at least two qualifying passes. 

So now he’s in sixth place, a real threat who’s just 74 points off Ashley’s pace. 

What’s more, Prock said he believes his rivals – and he knows they’re all plenty tough – will not discount him. 

He said he “absolutely” thinks his car is right in the thick of the championship conversation. 

“You know what? I’ve stared at the squiggly lines on my dad's computer screen since I could see. So I know enough to be lethal. I definitely couldn’t tune one, but I understand what's going on. And after that test [at Indianapolis recently], I was pretty confident that we were going to come out here swinging, and it absolutely showed the results that we were looking for. We got a nice baseline coming in this weekend, and they executed perfectly, made really smart decisions. 

“I did my job. They did their job. The crew didn't make any mistakes,” he said. “And when you have the best sponsors and the best parts and pieces like we do at John Force Racing, you make the right decisions and you end up victorious. It's hard to keep your head up sometimes, and everybody did a pretty good job of that. And now we're walking with a little bit of a pep in our step now.” 

He said, “We come into the Countdown sitting 12th, and if we wanted to play for the big trophy at the end of the year, we had to win this weekend. So we did exactly that. And I'm just really proud of this team,” he said. “It's been a trying year, and everybody has kept their heads down and still believed in themselves. You keep that attitude, and you end up with a Wally. So really proud of everyone. 

“But I was ready to go another four rounds. It's been so long since I've gone rounds on Sunday,” Prock said, alluding to his career-first victory at the August 2019 race at Seattle. “And after the final round, I was ready to drag it back up there and do it again. But super-cool.” 

He said he will be able to savor this victory just enough o make himself want to focus on the Charlotte follow-up. 

“We're just going to have a little more confidence rolling in there. It's only going to make us better,” Prock said. “Every weekend we go in there, at least I do, with the same mentality, even when we're testing. I go up there like it's a final round, trying to cut the tree down. So I don't think it's going to hurt us at all. I think, if anything, it's going to benefit us. We got some momentum going and you've been around this sport long enough to where people get on rolls and sometimes they stay on a roll, and this is the perfect time to do it for us.” 

Having the Force brain trust at his disposal, to help crew chiefs Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler, is, he said, “one of the best things about John Force Racing: All the crew chiefs work together, and it obviously showed this weekend. We stayed and tested in Indy, made more laps and boom – the race car’s back in the fight of things. So really proud of everybody at John Force Racing, especially my crew chiefs, opening up the lounge, listening and making the right decisions when it counted because you can get as much help as you want, but if the tuners aren't making the right decisions like they did today, it's worthless. So they're very smart individuals. That's why we hired them in the first place. Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler are some of the best out here, and it showed today. They made really good decisions all weekend, and hopefully we can do that the rest of the year. 

“We're right back in the mix of things,” Prock said. “We went from 12 to six in one race, so who knows what's going to happen the rest of the season? But we did exactly what we needed to do. You couldn't have done it any better other than qualifying first. If we keep running like we do, and I drive like I do, there's no reason we can't end up winning this deal."