The pattern has repeated itself often enough to feel deliberate.
A Jimmy Prock-tuned Funny Car struggles early in testing, works through visible issues, and then delivers a run that changes the tone of the entire session.
That run came Thursday.
Austin Prock, newly named driver of the Tasca Racing Ford Mustang, produced the quickest Funny Car pass of the day during the Professional Racers Organization preseason test. The number stopped the narrative of early-week struggles and replaced it with a familiar one — momentum.
The performance was not accidental. It was the product of rapid reconstruction.
Unlike prior seasons where Prock and his father could lean on an established tuning notebook, this winter required rebuilding the program’s foundation. The team compressed what Prock described as nearly a year’s worth of development into two months.
“We did about a year’s worth of work in two months and we’re still working at it,” Prock said. “We got a long way to go, but we’re going to make this operation really nice and we’re going to put it in the winner’s circle for them.”
Early in the test session, the car did not cooperate.
Severe clutch issues on the opening run forced the team into overnight adjustments. The following pass introduced another complication when the throttle hung before the car ultimately produced a competitive number.
The turbulence was visible. The response was calculated.
“Never count us out,” Prock said. “If we’re struggling, this group is really intelligent and we can work through about anything.”
By Thursday morning, the payoff surfaced.
The Mustang was on pace for an .84-second elapsed time before Prock clicked it off early at 660 feet. Even with the conservative decision, the car ran to an .87 at the stripe, marking the quickest Funny Car effort of the day and signaling that the rebuilt combination is trending upward.
“Worked through some difficult times over the last few months and especially these last two days with this race car, and really proud of this team,” Prock said. “That’s quite the feat to be able to roll out here this morning on track to run 84 and finish the day with an 87.”
The significance extended beyond one test-sheet line.
Prock’s move to Tasca Racing dominated offseason headlines, pairing a two-time champion with a team intent on recalibrating its Funny Car program. The early struggles were expected, given the scope of the overhaul.
The breakthrough came sooner than some anticipated.
“This Prock Rocket’s back on the prowl,” he said.
Team owner Bob Tasca III viewed the progression as validation rather than surprise.
“Hey, listen, I’m having a whole bunch of fun watching these guys drive,” Tasca said. “It’s about winning, it’s about bringing the best people together and that’s what we’ve done here.”
Tasca pointed to the rate of improvement over a compressed testing window.
“Just want to see the progress that they’re making, it’s really incredible, in just a couple of days,” he said. “I think they’re going to come out swinging tomorrow morning and then we’ll be back there for the race.”
The Tasca camp is not declaring victory in February.
The internal messaging remains steady: build the foundation, apply power more efficiently, refine clutch management and let the numbers come as a byproduct.
“We’re going to keep our heads down, keep working, we got a long way to go,” Prock said. “But this is an outstanding start for this Ford.”
Funny Car fields are rarely rattled in testing. But they do notice trends.
And when a Prock-tuned car finds traction, history suggests the gains tend to stack.
The early turbulence is often forgotten.
The breakout run is not.
