Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
RICHMOND, Va. (June 22, 2025) – Austin Prock beat teammate Jack Beckman in an emotional all-Chevrolet 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.
“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.”
A product of Force’s Next Generation initiative that developed a host of young drivers including Eric Medlen, Robert Hight, Mike Neff and the Hall of Famer’s own daughters, Ashley, Brittany and Courtney, 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 Hight, Prock extended his points lead. When qualifying begins Friday in Norwalk, Ohio, in advance of the 18th Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, he will lead Beckman by 60 points and Paul Lee by almost a hundred (99).
“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 racetrack.”
Typically, 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.”
The No. 2 qualifier behind his battery mate, Prock was quickest on race day (3.996 seconds) and had top speed (323.66 mph) for the fifth time in nine 2025 events.
After a pair of first round losses in his last two starts, both after qualifying No. 1, the NHRA national record holder for speed at 341.68 mph said his team was determined to flip the script.
“I had a feeling we were going to come here and (show) why we’re the points leader,” he said, “and today we did that.”
While he developed his car control skills in quarter midgets and sprint cars and even though he spent three full seasons in a Top Fuel dragster, earning Rookie-of-the-Year recognition in 2019, the son of Cornwell crew chief Jimmy Prock never wanted to do anything but drive a Funny Car like grandfather Tom Prock, a three-time NHRA national event runner-up in the 1970s and one of the stars of the match race era.
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.
He did so in spectacular fashion, winning a pair of Countdown races and securing a No. 2 finish for Force. That earned him a full-time shot this season in a car prepared by a PEAK Squad led by Daniel Hood, Chris Cunningham and Tim Fabrisi.
The No. 1 qualifier for the third time this year, the U.S. Air Force veteran, while disappointed, considered Sunday a good comeback from an unexpected first round exit two weeks ago in Bristol, Tenn.
“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.
“We were actually ahead by four-thousandths of a second before we started spinning the tires,” lamented the man who was trying to win at Richmond for the first time in his career. “And that is not a would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. The Cornwell team did a better job than the PEAK team today (but) the PEAK team has got a car that will run in the heat and we’re going to be running in the heat for the next couple of months. Can’t wait for next weekend.”
Two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force was unable to capitalize on a No. 1 start in her Chevrolet Accessories dragster, losing to point leader Tony Stewart in the opening round despite a solid 3.938 second effort at 319.14 mph.
After failing to successfully negotiate the concrete surface on either of his three qualifying runs, Stewart recorded the quickest time of eliminations at 3.872 seconds to get his car to the finish just ahead of the 18-time tour winner in the opening round.
“Tough weekend,” said the only woman to have won as many as 300 rounds of Top Fuel racing in the NHRA series. “It’s difficult returning to this track after everything that happened last season but, overall, to be able to come back with my dad is a very positive note.”
Despite her disappointment, Brittany moves on to this week’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio in sixth place in points, confident in her team’s ability to compete in the summer heat ahead after putting up the best numbers of the weekend at 3.839 and 327.98 mph.
“We qualified No. 1, which is outstanding for this team. Unfortunately, we just got outrun first round,” she said. “But again, we’re learning things every weekend, especially on these hot racetracks. We’ll pack up and go to Norwalk sporting our Chevrolet colors once again and try and fight for a win there.”
