As if the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series regular season wasn’t an indication, the race to the Funny Car title goes through John Force Racing.
During Sunday’s Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Pennsylvania’s Maple Grove Raceway, No. 1 qualifier Austin Prock put on a show en route to a category-leading sixth win of the year.
However, he had to go through new teammate Jack Beckman, who’s filling in for 16-time champion John Force following Force’s violent crash at Virginia Motorsports Park in June.
It was the second time this year Prock and Force/Beckman’s Funny Car faced off in the finals, with the last coming in June at New England Dragway in New Hampshire. Force got the better of Prock that time.
Prock outstretched Beckman with a 3.896-second at 332.51 mph pass. Beckman clocked in at 3.951 at 330.88 mph.
Beckman, who entered Maple Grove sixth in the standings, vaulted to third with his first final-round appearance of the season.
While it was a stout outing for the former Funny Car champion, Beckman knows the challenges ahead.
“If we want to win the championship, Austin is the target,” Beckman said. “We can’t spot him (points) every race and expect to win it but they did everything right this weekend. That car was the class of the field.
“Our PEAK Chevy went down the track top three every run in qualifying (but) we had two elimination rounds where it didn’t do what we asked it to, but we got eight total runs (for the weekend) and the crew chiefs are smart enough to be able to look at that and figure out what the car is wanting.”
With Beckman and the rest of the Funny Car Countdown drivers playing catch up, Prock increased his advantage at the top.
At the end of the regular season, the 29-year-old led Bob Tasca III by more than 300 points.
That margin was reduced to 39 following the Countdown reset.
Now after a win at Maple Grove, Prock’s margin over Tasca is 86 markers. While Tasca looms large, Prock and his Cornwell Tools-sponsored team are keeping a watchful eye on Beckman as he grows more comfortable in Force’s race car.
“We know what that car was capable (of) and we know what Jack Beckman is capable of,” Prock said. “That’s an outstanding car and they’re gonna be a pain in everyone’s neck in this category, including ourselves.
“We just gotta keep doing what we’re doing. As a team, if we can qualify on opposite sides of the ladder, I bet we can meet in the final round a lot this playoffs.”