Word of advice to the Funny Car field: Don’t let Austin Prock get comfortable. Once the two-time NHRA champion finds his rhythm, consistency usually follows, and when that happens, championships have a way of following, too.
After sweeping Saturday in Norwalk with his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory, Prock believes he’s getting closer to the form that carried him to back-to-back Funny Car titles. For the rest of the class, that may be the biggest takeaway from the weekend.
Prock capped the day by defeating Ron Capps in the Mission Challenge final with a 3.875-second run at 333.49 mph. Earlier in qualifying, he delivered a 3.863-second pass at a track-record 337.41 mph in his Ford Racing Mustang, earning his first No. 1 qualifier since joining Tasca Racing.
The numbers only tell part of the story as Prock made the quickest run in three of the four qualifying sessions, collecting nearly every available bonus point while positioning himself for a second straight Norwalk victory and his second win of the season.
“It’s been a great weekend for us so far,” Prock said. “We’ve pretty much gobbled up every point that was available except one yesterday in Q2. I’m really proud of what we have accomplished this weekend. We came in here with a plan that we were going to press harder and try to become the dominant race team that we know we’re capable of being.”
That confidence didn’t appear overnight. After leaving John Force Racing to join Tasca Racing, Prock said the team essentially started from scratch. The early results didn’t always reflect the work taking place behind the scenes, but the progress has become increasingly visible.
“You’ve got to crawl, then you’ve got to walk, then you’ve got to run,” Prock said. “We started from ground zero and we’ve really made incredible progress each weekend in these 10 races. Our progression has been very linear. It really hasn’t gone up or down. It’s just been a steady pace up.”
Prock believes Chicago has been the turning point for a challenging season.
“We had this cylinder-dropping issue early on in the season, and when you drop a cylinder at the hit, you might as well not drag the car up there,” Prock said. “It’s equivalent to not even starting it.”
Once that problem was solved, the performance began matching the expectations.
“My dad worked really hard on trying to figure that out, and once we did, we really started making some leaps and bounds on this Ford Mustang,” Prock said. “We’re running competitive quick runs, good enough to get No. 1 qualifiers, good enough to turn on Mission #2Fast2Tasty win lights, and I feel like we’re just going to keep pressing.”
Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Prock wasn’t the elapsed times or the speed. It was how he felt behind the wheel. He’s feeling comfortable, at least more than he did months ago.
“I’m getting there,” Prock said when asked how close he is to the comfort level he had during his championship seasons. “Each weekend I feel like I’m the most comfortable I’ve been, and today especially I felt more comfortable, more confident, and when I get comfortable and confident, that’s when I turn into a machine.”
Prock said he has resisted forcing quicker reaction times, choosing consistency first.
“I’ve always believed that first you get consistent, then you get quick,” Prock said. “I have to keep reminding myself of that sometimes.”
The Mission Challenge victory also carried added significance in the championship race. Those bonus points transfer into the Countdown, making every Saturday win more valuable than it appears in June.
“These Mission #2Fast2Tasty points are a huge deal when the points reset,” Prock said. “That’s why I treat these like race day.”
