RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Prock beat teammate Jack Beckman in an emotional Funny Car final Sunday to win the 15th NHRA Virginia Nationals amidst a summer heat wave at Virginia Motorsports Park, providing a measure of closure for John Force Racing’s namesake owner.
A four-time winner of the Virginia Nationals and a 16-time NHRA Funny Car Champion, Force was sent to the sidelines last year when a crash at VMP left him with a Traumatic Brain Injury for which he continues to receive treatment.
He was back at VMP on Sunday to see his team’s success.
“A lot of emotion for sure,” Prock said of his second straight Richmond victory. “Getting to win last year, that was huge, and being able to take the Wally to John as a team, that’s what we wanted to do again today, and I’m happy that we could go back-to-back and get the job done for him.
“The trophy’s going home with him,” said the reigning series champion. “I might have to hide it in his suitcase or something, but it’s definitely going back with him.”
Prock’s Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS stopped the timers in 4.061 seconds at 318.02 mph in the final.
Driving the latest version of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy SS in which Force won twice last year before his crash, Beckman trailed in 4.071 seconds at 305.42 mph. The margin of difference in the 56th all-JFR Funny Car final was a scant .015 of a second.
In winning for the third time this year and for the 11th time since sliding into the seat previously occupied by Robert Hight, Prock extended his points lead.
“He does so much for me, and he’s given me an opportunity of a lifetime to live my dream,” Prock said of his team owner and mentor, “so to win for him again today and be able to celebrate his health and have him back out at the racetrack and doing good and getting better every day means a lot for our team and all our partners and even NHRA. This sport is not the same without John Force. We’re very blessed to have him at the race track.”
Force tried to deflect attention away from himself.
“I want to thank the fans for coming out on a hot weekend,” he said. “It was a big day for John Force Racing. Congratulations to Austin Prock, his father Jimmy and the entire Cornwell Tools team for getting the win. Those guys are doing a great job.
“I owe a lot to my family, my employees and VCU hospital for keeping me going after my crash last year (and) I want to thank Chevrolet, PEAK, Cornwell Tools, Monster Energy and HendrickCars.com for sticking with us. And I also want to encourage all the fans to support Graham Rahal Performance and the new Task Force Rahal initiative. After what I’ve been through, I know we need to help everybody.”
Like Prock, Beckman too was committed to winning Sunday’s race for the boss. Although he was the 2012 Funny Car World Champion and won 33 races while employed at Don Schumacher Racing, Beckman likely would never have found himself back behind the wheel of a Funny Car if not for Force’s accident.
With Force on the sidelines, he was summoned out of retirement to finish the 2024 season.
“So, I said our goal is to qualify on the opposite side of the ladder of the Cornwell car and race them, which means it’s a final round, and we did all of that,” Beckman said. “My hat’s off to the Cornwell crew, and my hat’s off to the PEAK squad. Everybody did everything through a nasty 102-degree heat index day to get those two cars into the final round and put on a great show for the fans.”
