Maybe they’ll listen to the two-time NHRA Funny Car champion when he gives them a warning.
Austin Prock, the defending NHRA U.S. Nationals champion, said the Bob Tasca Ford Mustang had found its groove, and on Saturday it wasn’t the quickest or the fastest. But it got the job done, and Prock insists there is considerably more left in it.
Prock defeated J.R. Todd in the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, running 3.921 seconds at 317.87 mph against Todd’s 4.006 at 325.06. The victory was Prock’s third Mission Challenge win of the season and gave him the season championship in the specialty series.
That hardware seemed a long way off when Prock and the Tasca team opened the season unable to win a Mission Challenge round through the first six races. Since late May, Prock has reached five Mission finals and turned what once looked like a lost cause into his first championship of 2026.
“We went the first six races without winning a single round,” Prock said. “And then after Chicago, we made it to our first semi-final round, and I think we’ve been in every Mission #2Fast2Tasty challenge except one. And it just shows that how far this team’s come to go to the semi-finals week in, week out. Those are the kind of stats that’ll win you a third championship in a row.”
Prock’s turnaround has been swift enough to change the conversation around his first season with the Tasca operation. What began as a championship team trying to find its footing with a new program has become a threat entering the most important portion of the season.
“To be buried in the points, in the official standings, and the Mission #2Fast2Tasty standings, and then come back and sneak out a win in the last round on the last day of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty challenge, I mean you can’t ride it any better,” Prock said. “It just shows you how hard this team’s worked.”
Prock said the team started from zero, then reconsidered the assessment.
“We started from zero,” Prock said. “I might even say we started from negative five at some point. And we’re a championship-contending team and a championship-winning team. Again, this is the first championship on the table for the 2026 season and we earned this one. We dug ourselves out of a hole and brought home the hardware, and 15 valuable points going into the countdown.”
The more ominous part for the rest of the Funny Car field is Prock doesn’t believe the car is anywhere near finished. His estimate Saturday was 85 percent.
“Yeah. I think everybody in the pits knows we’re here,” Prock said. “I think we’re running that, maybe, 85% right now. This Prock Rocket, this Ford Mustang still isn’t fine-tuned yet. And once we get it fine-tuned, we’ll really start clicking off some impressive numbers.”
Prock pointed to the Indianapolis qualifying sheets as evidence. The Ford has been dropping cylinders on its completed runs and still producing competitive elapsed times.
“Both runs that we’ve made that were full pulls this weekend, had a few cylinders out, and the ET board still shows that we’re second quick, we’re third quick,” Prock said. “We’re making impressive runs on six cylinders in this Ford Mustang. I think that’s pretty impressive.”
The growing pains were hardly unexpected inside the team. Prock conceded they may have understated publicly how difficult combining the personnel and equipment into a championship-caliber operation would be.
“I think that we knew it was going to be hard,” Prock said. “I think we may have underplayed it a little bit. But any year, if you don’t roll into the season going, I’m winning the first week out, I’m winning the championship. What are you doing here?”
For Prock, confidence was never optional. Neither was patience.
“You always have to have that attitude of being able to go out there and believe in yourself, believe in your team, believe in your owners,” Prock said. “Everybody has to believe in one another to go out there and succeed like that. And that’s a package that we have right now, and that’s very, very powerful.”
There were people who understood the timetable better than most. Pat Galvin, a longtime racer and Prock family member, predicted it might take six to eight races before the combination began producing results.
Prock said they won the seventh.
“I try not to pay attention to what people say in the pits, but I heard grumblings,” Prock said. “People thought we were going to win three races out. And a family member of mine, Pat Galvin, he’s like, ‘I bet it’ll take you six to eight races.’ And I think we won the seventh. So, he hit it on the head.”
Galvin’s prediction came from experience. Prock said the iconic drag racing crewman understood the size of the job better than those expecting immediate results.
“He’s been there, done that, seen it,” Prock said. “He’s been out here since the ’70s. And it wasn’t a matter of if, it was just when.”
Prock credited his father Jimmy, brother Thomas, Nate Hildahl and the rest of the team for refusing to accept anything short of the standard they established during consecutive championship seasons.
“My dad, and brother, and Nate Hildahl, and this whole Ford racing team, they’re just so intelligent,” Prock said. “And we don’t settle for second. If it’s not perfect, if it’s not the best, we keep going to work until it is. And when it is, then we go, ‘Well, how can we make it better to continue to lead the class?’ And that’s just something you can’t replace.”.
Saturday supplied the first championship trophy, but Prock wasn’t interested in treating it as a finish line. His larger targets remain directly in front of him.
“We definitely have worked harder for it, I would say that,” Prock said. “We’ve put in some hours this year, and we’re just getting started. It’s nowhere near complete. And it’s gratifying.”
The team’s national event victory in Maryland provided the first significant payoff. Prock said it carried extra weight because of everything required to reach it.
“Like I said, that Maryland win, that meant a lot to me, that meant a lot to the team, that meant a lot to the Tasca family, and we’re just getting started,” Prock said. “So, we just got to keep our heads down.”
That approach is particularly useful at Indianapolis, where Prock still has plenty available to win.
Sunday brings the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout, where Prock will face Todd again in the opening round. Jack Beckman selected Chad Green, Matt Hagan chose Spencer Hyde and Ron Capps called out Alexis DeJoria, leaving Prock and Todd as the remaining pairing.
Prock viewed not being selected as a compliment. Nobody volunteering to race the two-time defending world champion was just fine with him.
“Yeah. I mean, last year, we had pickings,” Prock said. “And this year, we’ll have pickings second round. So, nobody picked us. Me and JR, we were the last two ducks sitting. And from your competition, that’s quite the high-five. If they didn’t pick you, they don’t want to race you.”
Todd gets another shot at Prock less than 24 hours after losing Saturday’s Mission final. Prock wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Well, it’s good to get the first at the toughest,” Prock said. “I’ll go to sleep happy, and he’ll go to sleep thinking about it. So, I look forward to — I said it earlier — I look forward to those big, first round matchups, and I’m looking forward to it again.”
The pressure is part of the attraction for Prock.
“If you’re a competitor, you thrive on those things,” Prock said. “If you’re scared of it, you shouldn’t be in it. So I’m looking forward to it, and hopefully we can win the call-out for the second year in a row. I’d sure love to see that paycheck.”
Then comes Monday and a piece of U.S. Nationals history no Funny Car driver has claimed.
Prock has won the U.S. Nationals the past two seasons. A third consecutive victory would make him the first Funny Car driver to win Indy three straight years, something Prock initially had trouble believing nobody had accomplished.
“It was brought to my attention, and I was like, ‘There’s no way that that’s true,’” Prock said. “Force or Pedregon or McEwen, someone had to win Indy three times in a row.”
They didn’t. Prock has the opportunity.
“And the fact that I’m eligible for that and nobody’s ever done it is cool, but it just says a lot about what we’ve been doing in the Funny Car category the last three years,” Prock said. “And if we can get it done, that’ll be something to celebrate really big.”
There is also the possibility of a rare Indianapolis triple. Prock has already collected the Mission Challenge championship and Saturday victory, can win the Callout on Sunday and then chase his third consecutive U.S. Nationals trophy Monday.
The number wasn’t a surprise to him.
“Yeah. I like the number three, especially consecutive,” Prock said. “Yeah. 3, 3, 3. My fiance, she’s ate up with angel numbers, and I’m sure that means something cool.”
Saturday’s changing weather gave Prock and the team another chance to learn. A rain delay lowered track temperatures, although the atmospheric conditions remained difficult.
“Every crew chief gets excited for better track numbers and cooler conditions,” Prock said. “The air was still horrific, but our superchargers on this thing can overcome most air conditions. So yeah, we were excited.”
Prock wanted more than the 3.921 that beat Todd, and he expects the team to continue working toward it through Sunday’s Callout and qualifying. Monday is when the U.S. Nationals trophy goes on the line, and Prock isn’t hiding what he expects by then.
“Obviously, we wanted to run a lot better in 92, and the early numbers showed that,” Prock said. “So, we’ll just keep picking at it. It’s still early in the week and there’s a lot of racing to go tomorrow. And I guarantee you, this Ford Mustang will be dialed in on Monday.”
