Austin Prock first got behind the wheel of a race car at age 10. He collected his first race win before he was 12 years old and in 2012, was named the National Pavement Midget Rookie of the Year. A year later he was awarded the Bob Tattersall Hard Charger of the Year. In 2014, in his first year racing a complete schedule, Prock was the STARS National Pavement Midget Champion after winning four races. Following his championship year, he entered the world of Dirt Sprint Cars and picked up a win in his seventh start. Prock finished his circle track career having entered 139 races with 27 wins and 84 top five finishes.
Early in his career, Prock had the opportunity to race out of the shop of three-time NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart. He learned what it took to be a championship caliber driver and work on a top tier team from some of the most well-respected open wheel crew chiefs and mechanics.
While he worked his way up racing circle track, Prock’s roots and end goal were always in drag racing. Prock is the grandson of former NHRA driver Tom Prock and the son of world champion tuner Jimmy Prock, the crew chief of the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing.
Prock started his career in drag racing as a member of Courtney Force’s Funny Car team and then moved to working on super-chargers for Brittany Force and her Top Fuel dragster team. Throughout his time with John Force Racing, Prock had been working his way to being the next driver for the legendary team.
In 2017 the perfect opportunity presented itself when he was offered the chance to join the family business as part of the John Force Racing driver development program. His years of experience both on track and in the garage made the move almost seamless for the young driver.
As the newest addition to John Force Racing’s Next Generation initiative, Prock took his first pass down a dragstrip in Fontana, California, in April 2017 when he was licensed in a Super Comp dragster through Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School, the same drag racing school from which world champions Robert Hight and Brittany Force as well as Courtney Force, Eric Medlen and even Force family matriarch Laurie Force earned their licenses. In June 2017, he was licensed in an Alcohol Dragster in Indianapolis with Anthony Dicero and raced in one regional event in the Alcohol Dragster category at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in August. He was the No. 2 qualifier and made it to the semifinals.
Prock made his first passes in a Nitro Funny Car in April 2018 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and, in June 2018, Prock earned his Nitro Funny Car license at Summit Racing Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
Prock made his professional drag racing debut at the 2019 season opening Winternationals in Pomona, California where he earned his first career round win. TheTop Fuel standout continued to impress throughout the season building his resume with competitive passes in the .70s and .80s before powering the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster to the winner’s circle for the first time at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Washington. He went on to clinch a spot in the Countdown to the Championship at the U.S. Nationals and was the only rookie in the nitro categories to do so. At the AAA Texas Fall Nationals, Prock piloted his 11,000-horsepower machine to a career-best elapsed time of 3.688-seconds and top speed of 334.40 mph. Prock finished the 2019 season eighth in the points standings with one win, five semifinal appearances and most notably the 2019 NHRA Rookie of the Year award.
After John Force Racing took a step back in 2020 due to the pandemic, Prock worked on the crew of Robert Hight’s Funny Car team under his father, crew chief Jimmy Prock, in 2021. Prock made his return to the seat of his Top Fuel dragster in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing season. Prock began his second year of full-time driving duties with one national event win from his rookie season under his belt. In 2022 and 2023, Prock added 3 event wins and 2 No. 1 Qualifiers.
In 2024, Prock was met with the opportunity to drive the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Funny Car with his father Jimmy brother Thomas, and Nate Hildahl as crew chiefs. It is a dream come true for Prock to drive with his family and follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Tom, and make his Funny Car debut.
In addition to his passion for racing, Prock enjoys cooking. Cooking was always a hobby for Prock, as he was helping the John Force Racing team chef at the age of 10 while at the track with his dad. He earned his culinary arts degree from the Art Institute of Indianapolis while on the road with the team.