Consistency continues to be the name of the game for Austin Prock and his John Force Racing Funny Car team this season.
Prock entered the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., with a solid point lead and three NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series victories.
He kept the win train rolling with a class-leading fourth victory, defeating Paul Lee in the final round.
With the victory, the 28-year-old extended his lead in the standings to 256 markers over defending champion Matt Hagan.
Prock is still in the midst of his maiden Funny Car season.
“It’s very exciting,” Prock began. “My dad, brother and Nate Hildahl and this whole Cornwell Tools team is just doing such a great job and giving me an opportunity to go out and compete for wins every weekend.
“Really proud of that. We’ve been going a lot of rounds lately and all year long. I just hope we can keep it up throughout the rest of the year.”
The Michigan native added another accomplishment to his tool belt along the way as he became the fourth different driver in NHRA history to win in both Top Fuel and Funny Car at Pacific Raceways.
His 2019 Top Fuel victory was his first NHRA triumph.
While records and achievements are easy to get wrapped up in, Prock continues to credit his crew for the success.
“We’re still picking away at it and we’re all learning every run,” Prock said. “We learned some things yesterday and changed a lot of things in the setup to come in here today.
“Just kudos to those guys. They won this race today. I didn’t drive all that hot this weekend. I was consistent, but consistently slow on the starting line.”
Regardless of how Prock believes his performance inside his 11,000-horsepower Funny Car was, he continues to acclimate to the machine seamlessly.
Wheeling a Funny Car is known to be a strength test with every pass. For Prock, the transition to Funny Car has been a bruiser — but for different reasons.
“I mean, I’m sore at the end of the weekend, but mostly it’s because Bobby Lane, one of the higher ups on the team for sure, he bolts me in there so tight,” Prock said.
“He bruises my shoulders. If something ever goes wrong, he always says, ‘It’s not gonna be on me.’”
Aside from excruciatingly tight safety belts, Prock was adamant that he’s used to the high demands his race car places on him.
“We’re halfway through the season, my body’s becoming more accustomed to the g-forces on these race cars and all sorts of things,” Prock said. “We got that out of the way.”
With a lead of more than 200 points and three races left before the NHRA Countdown to the Championship, the sport and its fans continue to be amazed by Prock’s dominance.
As he reflected on what he describes as a “fairytale,” Prock pointed to a specific time in the season when everything clicked.
“It’s very impressive, this team’s been outstanding since the door dropped three days after Bradenton (PRO Superstar Shootout in Florida). We sucked the first three days then the switch flipped and they’ve been on it since,” Prock said.
“It’s really been a blur to me. I can’t even comprehend the success that we’ve had, the amount of runs that we’ve had, the amount of qualifying points that we’ve accumulated, rounds on race day. It’s a fairytale.
“I hope we can keep it going. But, there’s no signs of slowing down right now, and that’s very, very promising.”