Even if he hadn\u2019t won the pre-season PRO Superstar Shootout; even if he hadn\u2019t won the Mission Foods regular season championship in runaway fashion; even if he hadn\u2019t qualified the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet No. 1 10 times in 14 events; and even if he hadn\u2019t won the world\u2019s biggest single drag race two weeks ago at Indianapolis, Ind., Austin Prock likely still would have been the Funny Car favorite in this week\u2019s 39th Pep Boys Nationals.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the team that manages the power on his blue-and-black Camaro is the same team that sent Robert Hight to the winners\u2019 circle the last two years at Maple Grove Raceway.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, while Prock will be making his first Funny Car appearance in the Pep Boys Nationals, he already knows the way to the winners\u2019 circle.\u00a0Two years ago, he was the Top Fuel winner at Maple Grove, initiating an unprecedented Countdown run during which he improved his standing by a record-tying nine positions.<\/p>\n
This year, all he has to do is hold on to the spot from which he starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been hard at it in the race shop preparing for the Countdown,\u201d said the 2019 Rookie-of-the-Year.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been a great year so far and we\u2019re looking to keep it up for this six-race dash.\u00a0Our Cornwell Camaro has been hot all year long and (it) definitely feels good rolling into the playoffs off a win (in the Labor Day U.S. Nationals).<\/p>\n
\u201cI really, truly enjoy drag racing,\u201d gushed the 29-year-old who began racing in quarter midgets and sprint cars.\u00a0\u201cI loved running the Top Fuel car, but Funny Car is where I belong.\u00a0I always dreamed of driving one like my grandpa (Tom Prock, a top tier 1970s Funny Car driver).<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the challenge. I love sitting behind the engine; I love the body dropping (down) and, to top it off, I\u2019m doing it with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prock\u2019s dad, Jimmy, is crew chief and his brother, Thomas, is an assistant crew chief on the Chevy that carried him to a record six straight wins and the season championship in the Mission Foods 2Fast\/2Tasty Challenge series within the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is storybook stuff,\u201d Prock said of his situation, made possible when Hight, the three-time former World Champ, took a leave of absence for medical reasons.\u00a0\u201cThis is stuff they write for movies, but it\u2019s actually happening in real life.\u00a0It\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge, now, is to stay on script.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur attention is ahead,\u201d Prock said, \u201cone moment at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on September 12, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Austin Prock Looking to Add Funny Car Title to Match 2022 Top Fuel Win at Maple Grove Raceway<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even if he hadn\u2019t won the pre-season PRO Superstar Shootout; even if he hadn\u2019t won the Mission Foods regular season championship in runaway fashion; even if he hadn\u2019t qualified the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet No. 1 10 times in 14 events; and even if he hadn\u2019t won the world\u2019s biggest single drag race two weeks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95922","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}