After suffering through an inner ear infection and slight dizziness during the first round of qualifying Friday night at Summit Motorsports Park, Clay Millican has been replaced by Austin Prock in the Stringer Performance Parts Plus dragster at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk.

“Earlier this week Clay went to the doctor for a normal checkup and they checked his ears and they found out that he had a slight inner ear infection. His hearing hadn’t changed much, so we didn’t think too much of it,” said Doug Stringer, owner of Stringer Performance. “Then on Friday he got in the car and he hit the button and he got dizzy. He got out of the gas and came back and told us and at that point we said let’s not push the envelope and let’s take the opportunity to go get it checked out. The report I just got back is that Clay is all good. He does have an inner ear infection and he is going to have to let it run its course and we will be good to go.”

In his place, Stringer named 2019 NHRA Rookie of the Year Austin Prock as his replacement driver on loan from John Force Racing to re-qualify the car on Saturday and run the elimination rounds on Sunday. Prock got the call Friday night that he would be driving the car for the remainder of the weekend.

“I was already really excited to come to Norwalk. (Bill) Bader always puts on a great show. We’ve been on quite the streak with my old man's hot rod over there in John Force and Robert Hight. And then to get a call like this last night, it is pretty special,” Prock said. “It makes you feel good inside that people you know respect what you do and trust me to drive the racecar. These things aren’t cheap and it takes a lot of talent and skill to do this right. For them to believe in me, that is pretty sweet.”

And Stringer agreed, it was a no-brainer to tap Prock to drive the car for the remainder of the Norwalk race weekend.

“It really was between Austin, Larry Dixon and Tommy Johnson Jr. Austin is a good kid and he wants to get back in the driver’s seat, so if we have the opportunity to help somebody make an opportunity for themselves while we are working through our stuff, that is what it is all about,” Stringer said. “It was a group decision to go with Austin. And it certainly helped that he fit into Clay’s fire suit without any problem. He actually fit into Clay’s shoes as well.

“We are excited to have Austin with us this weekend and see what he can do. Clay will be back at it in Denver and we will continue on.”

While Prock molded perfectly into Clay’s spot, he admits that the car itself took him by surprise after previously running a dragster for John Force Racing.

“This thing is totally different,” Prock said. “There isn’t one thing that is the same on this car that I am used to. There is a lot more going on in his routine. Clay Millican and (Mike) Kloeber, they do this stuff old school. It is a lot of fun to drive. I was a little rusty, but overall I thought I had a nice first lap.”

And what a first lap it was.

After Millican shut it off Friday night, leaving the car 13th on the ladder, Prock bounced back in his first pass in more than a year with a 3.764 at 323.35 mph in the hazy afternoon heat, firmly locking the car into the field.

“We got off to a great start,” Prock said. “We got two points by being second lowest of the session and we placed ourselves fourth on the ladder. We will see what we can do with this car tomorrow.”

Prock had a breakout season in 2019, winning a race and showing the makings of a potential star, but he didn’t race for most of 2020 and had not made an appearance in Top Fuel until this weekend. This weekend marks his first race since February of 2020.

“This last year and a half has been really hard on me. Losing my ride and coming out and working on them and not getting that adrenaline rush was disappointing,” Prock said. “This was an opportunity that you can’t say no to. I am young and this is what I want to do. To turn down something like this I would be crazy. I am just having a blast. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”