DID YOU KNOW:
Austin is a professionally trained chef with a degree in culinary arts from the Art Institute of Indianapolis. Among his specialties is Krispy Kreme donut-crusted buffalo chicken.
He developed his driving skills in oval racing where he was the STARS midget series Rookie of the Year in 2012 and its National Pavement Champion two years later before graduating to sprint cars with the assistance of Tony Stewart and his team.
His father, Jimmy, is his crew chief on the Cornwell Tools Camaro, and his brother, Thomas, is a key crew member, but his racing roots run even deeper. His grandfather, Tom Prock, was a prominent Funny Car driver in the 1970s and his great grandfather, Jim, was the riding mechanic on an Indy car in which driver Chet Miller finished 10th in the 1931 Indianapolis 500.
He won the first time he ever drove a Funny Car in competition – at the 2024 PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton, Fla.
FOR THE RECORD:
2024 Funny Car World Champion
Current NHRA national record holder for speed and the first Funny Car driver to break the 240 mile an hour barrier in the NHRA’s Mission Foods pro series
2019 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year as driver of a JFR Top Fuel dragster
Funny Car record-setting 14 No. 1 starts in 2024 season
PROCK GOES FOR THE BOOKEND
It’s hard to imagine a more successful debut than the one enjoyed last year by Austin Prock who, with dad Jimmy and brother Thomas providing crew support, raced to the NHRA Mission Foods championship in his first season behind the wheel of a John Force Racing Funny Car.
Although he won four times in the Top Fuel dragster he drove on the team’s behalf from 2019 through 2023, the 28-year-old Hoosier never had made a competitive run in a Funny Car when he pulled the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to the starting line for last year’s pre-season PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton, Fla.
Not only did he win the biggest race outside of the Mission Series, he did so from the No. 1 starting position, a theme that would carry through a 2024 season in which he broke his boss’s 28-year-old record by qualifying at the top of the order 14 times in 20 races.
After winning eight times in his debut season, he now is trying to become the first to repeat as Funny Car champion since Force himself strung together 10 straight titles from 1993 through 2002.
Although his is a remarkable success story, the path was not as straightforward as one might imagine for the son of one of drag racing’s premier crew chiefs. In fact, Austin spent his early years running in circles instead of on a straight line.
While his contemporaries were racing Jr. Dragsters, Austin took his first ride in a circle track car, a quarter midget, at age 10 and won for the first time as a 12-year-old. Without any previous experience, he and his brother basically taught themselves how to race on oval tracks, first on pavement and then on dirt with Austin doing most of the driving and Thomas handling the set-up.
In 2012, Austin was named the National Pavement Rookie-of-the-Year in the STARS. Midget series. One year later, he accepted the Bob Tattersall Hard Charger award and, in 2014, his first year racing the full STARS schedule, he was National Pavement Midget Champion.
That success served as a springboard to winged sprint cars and to even more success for the Procks, who ran their cars out of Tony Stewart’s Indiana speed shop with aid and assistance from “Smoke” himself. When he climbed out of the cage for the last time, opting for a crew job near his dad at JFR, Austin had won 27 of 139 oval track starts and logged 84 Top 5 finishes.
While waiting for a driving opportunity, he worked as a crewman on Courtney Force’s Funny Car and then as the supercharger technician on Brittany Force’s dragster. He attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School, ran a couple races in Super Comp and one in Top Alcohol Dragster.
When his chance to drive a pro car finally presented itself, Austin was up to the challenge. In 2019, as Brittany’s Top Fuel dragster teammate, he won at Seattle, Wash., on the way to claiming NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Briefly sidelined by the pandemic, he returned in 2022 and, after struggling in the regular season, won twice in the Countdown, improved his standing by nine positions and finished third in points.
In 2023, his last year driving with the engine behind him, he won the NHRA 4Wide Nationals at Charlotte, N.C., on the way to another Top 10 finish.
“I really truly enjoy drag racing and loved running the Top Fuel car,” he said, “but Funny Car is where I belong. I always dreamed of driving one like my grandpa, and I am having an absolute blast. I’m loving every second of it. I love the challenge of these cars. I love sitting behind the engine. I love the body dropping. And to top it off, I’m doing it with my family.”
