Austin Prock scored his first specialty race victory Sunday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, winning the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout, and collecting an $80,000 payday.
Prock ran 3.873 seconds at 333 mph in the final round to defeat Ron Capps, who slowed to a 4.048 at 302.01. The win also capped a $230,000 day for Prock, as he also clinched the Funny Car regular-season championship.
“This is my first specialty race win,” Prock said. “To get in there this year and then get the job done obviously felt good.”
Capps advanced with wins over Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan. Hagan’s semifinal loss continued his unusual record of never having defeated Prock in eliminations. “They [Hagan] beat up on everybody out here, and the fact that we’re undefeated against them is just mind-blowing,” Prock said.
All eight cars in the Callout were competitive, but Prock said his team saved its best for the final.
“That .87 was stout on that racetrack,” he said. “It definitely gives us some confidence going into tomorrow, getting comfortable behind the wheel again, as crazy as that sounds. It always feels good when there’s extra cash on the line to be able to cash that check at the end of the day.”
Prock said the victory was especially meaningful after his struggles in 2024, when he was unable to qualify for the Callout despite scoring multiple No. 1 qualifiers. Last season, he qualified No. 1 in 14 of 16 events, yet didn’t qualify for the series, which began counting points in 2023.
Asked about his mindset going into Indy after a strong performance in Brainerd, Prock said he tries to approach every event with the same determination.
“Every time I get in the race car, I want to be on a serious mission,” he said. “I want to be intimidating when we get up on the starting line, and all the stars just aligned that day. Coming here, I kind of just had to take a step back and then work back up to that point again. Hopefully, I’m on kill like I was over there.”
A lengthy delay caused by a power outage to the TV broadcast trailer complicated the day for Prock, who said the unexpected pause affected his rhythm.
“Anytime you’re sitting in the water box and they tell you to go home, it’s frustrating,” he said. “I was like, ‘Just run us. There’s got to be some sort of camera around here they can get it on.’”
He recalled a similar delay in the 2023 U.S. Nationals final against Capps that left him exhausted but ultimately worked in his favor. “This year, I was just amped up, ready to go and that delay kind of stung. But definitely glad to get the job done. The Capps car, it’s coming around and it’s running really good. So we are definitely going up there [with] guns loaded.”
As the No. 1 seed in the Callout, Prock had the opportunity to choose his opponents – decisions he said were guided more by circumstance than by strategy. “My dad told me, ‘I really don’t care who you pick. We’re going to have to beat them all at some point anyways,’” Prock said.
“Every one of these cars is competitive, and we would’ve beaten any other car. To be honest, I picked Cruz because it was a Snap-on car. I figured we’d start out the day with some ‘tool wars’ at the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals. Then you get a choice of Beckman – which I’m not going to pick – Hagan or Capps, and both of them are stout. I really enjoy racing Matt. I have a lot of respect for Matt. He’s an excellent leaver and I’m an excellent leaver, and I know that we can go up there and throw down.”
Prock said he relished the duel with Hagan, despite Hagan’s inability to beat him in head-to-head races.
“Hagan’s one of the toughest dudes in the game right now,” Prock said. “Mike Knutson and Phil and Alex Conway, they do a great job with that car. And Matt’s a four-time champ for a reason.”
He added that Hagan’s record against him is hard to comprehend. “We respect the shit out of them and we know that they can throw down and I don’t know how our cards have worked out the way they have,” Prock said. “The fact that we’re undefeated against them is just mind-blowing.”
Prock’s final-round performance drew praise from fellow drivers, including No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman, who called the run the one to beat, given the hot track conditions. Prock said the numbers impressed him as well.
“When I saw .87 come up on the board when I was throwing the laundry, I was impressed,” he said. “I knew we were going to send it, but I didn’t think we were going to send it like that, and it was smooth as glass. They’ve been doing a good job. We struggled through a few things the first two days, and then to come out today and put it all together felt good.”
Looking ahead to Monday’s eliminations, Prock said the Callout victory gives him momentum while he remains focused on consistency.
“It was flying to the eighth mile,” he said. “It was running 283-plus all day long and putting up 330-mile-an-hour runs easily. It always feels good when there’s extra cash on the line, but more than that, it shows what we’re capable of as a team.”
