When the world learned that Austin Prock, his crew chief and father Jimmy Prock, and assistant crew chief and brother Thomas Prock had left John Force Racing as a trio and moved to the Tasca Racing camp, the open seat was coveted by many. Vandergriff was on the short list and named early, though. He had earned the respect, the consideration, and, ultimately, he earned position.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Southern California native grew up playing stick-and-ball sports, but racing was bubbling in his blood and taking over his heart. His grandfather, Bob Vandergriff Sr., took over at the helm of Hedman Hedders in 1979 \u2013 one of the hot rod industry\u2019s original manufacturers \u2013 and his uncle, Bob Jr., had made a name of his own in Top Fuel. When Bob Jr. established a driver development program, young Vandergriff was the first graduate. He made his Top Alcohol Dragster debut in 2018 at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in an A\/Fueler owned by Anthony Dicero of the Nitro University, and the next season, he was a Top Fuel driver battling Prock for Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n
In his first season as a nitro driver, Vandergriff reached the semifinals in his debut and highlighted the year with his first final-round appearance in Dallas. The\u00a0Drag Illustrated<\/em>\u00a030 Under 30 2019 honoree competed in 11 events that first year and had a promising future ahead of him, but the entire world\u2019s plans were altered by the COVID-19 uproar.\u00a0<\/p>\n He was willing to pivot, however, and while keeping his eyes and options open, Vandergriff stepped into a new role in front of the camera as an NHRA on FOX reporter for two seasons. Last year, being in the right place at the right time proved pivotal, and he was back in the seat for two races to fill in for injured Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed. Vandergriff qualified No. 3 and picked up a round win in Brainerd, and he was No. 2 on the qualifying sheet at the U.S. Nationals. The experience allowed Vandergriff to issue an effective reminder of exactly where he belonged: in the seat of a race car.<\/p>\n Joining the historic John Force Racing team came with a new opportunity for the steady-handed young man: learning to drive an always demanding, oft-unpredictable, nitro Funny Car under the scrutiny of, well, everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n You had solid footing in a Top Fuel dragster, but how different was it to get behind the wheel of a Funny Car?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It was truly eye-opening. It\u2019s definitely not anything like the dragster, but with the shorter wheel base, it\u2019s a lot more fun to drive. Yeah, it\u2019s a challenge \u2013 but a challenge is always more fun. I\u2019m getting used to it, but it\u2019s very different. You have to steer it differently, and it\u2019s going to want what it wants. The Funny Car really moves quickly, so you have to be ahead of the car as well. We\u2019ve had a lot of runs in testing, but I\u2019ve still had limited experience as a Funny Car driver. Coming into the season, I\u2019m ready to go.<\/p>\n When you realized you were going to be driving for John Force Racing, what was your reaction?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t believe it. I was absolutely speechless. I never could have imagined driving for John Force, and the fact that it\u2019s actually happening, it\u2019s just surreal. I feel very fortunate that John believes in me, and I look forward to making him proud. That\u2019s my goal this year: to drive this car well and make him proud.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you feel like you earned this spot?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I feel like I did earn it. I lost my seat many years ago, but everything I\u2019ve done since then has been working toward getting back in the seat. I\u2019ve put the work in, put in the time, and I\u2019ve been very patient. I\u2019m ready for this moment. It\u2019s my time.<\/p>\n What\u2019s going to be your greatest challenge?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Getting used to this Funny Car because it could surprise you at any moment. I\u2019m trying to stay in the mindset of, \u201cGet comfortable, but don\u2019t get too comfortable.\u201d You never know when it\u2019s going to want to do something you\u2019re not ready for. Really, my main goal and the biggest challenge is just to drive this car well. I know I have a great team behind me that\u2019s going to put together a great race car, and if I can do my part, it\u2019s going to be fast.<\/p>\n What are your expectations from now through the end of this first season for you in a Funny Car?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If I\u2019m being honest, our expectations are high. This car has won the last two championships, and after testing, it\u2019s already running very well again. Our expectation is to keep it going and make it three in a row for Cornwell Quality Tools.<\/p>\n Are you having fun?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m having so much fun. I\u2019ve been dreaming of driving again, and I\u2019m having the most fun I\u2019ve ever had out here at the racetrack. I\u2019m just soaking it all in and enjoying every second of it.<\/p>\n The post DI Interview: Jordan Vandergriff<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a lot riding on the shoulders of 31-year-old Jordan Vandergriff, but the weight of being tapped by John Force himself as the driver of the Cornwell Quality Tools Funny Car is more than welcome. To have been invited to drive for a legendary team would be mind-blowingly cool for anyone, but to settle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Vandergriff-testing_Auto-Imagery-photo.jpg\")