Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
KENT, Wash. (July 20, 2024) – Point leader Austin Prock will start his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS from a familiar position Sunday when he chases the Funny Car championship in the 35th NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
The 28-year-old grandson of former NHRA touring pro Tom Prock claimed the No. 1 qualifying position for the eighth time in 11 races this season with a near record time of 3.838 seconds at 328.62 miles per hour. That earned him a first round bye in a short field of Funny Cars.
For the second consecutive event, the former oval track and Top Fuel racer earned the maximum number of qualifying bonus points by posting the quickest time in each of the four qualifying sessions.
“We’re off to a great start,” Prock said. “We were low all four (qualifying) sessions, got the Mission #2Fast2Tasty, the No. 1 qualifier. Now we’ve just got to go win this thing.”
While Prock extended his season-long dominance in Funny Car, John Force Racing teammate Brittany Force enjoyed a solid if not spectacular qualifying effort in her return to Top Fuel competition at the wheel of the Flav-R-Pac Chevy dragster.
Although the two-time Top Fuel World Champion will start Sunday from the No. 3 qualifying position, her first round opponent will be multi-time former series champion Tony Schumacher, to whom she lost in the 2022 Northwest Nationals final.
Like Prock, Brittany put up her best numbers during the Friday night qualifying session when conditions were most favorable for the big horsepower nitro burners. The 38-year-old former Rookie of the Year stopped the timers in 3.701 seconds at 333.08 mph. Significantly, hers was one of the few Top Fuel cars to reach the finish line under power on all four qualifying runs.
“This is a big weekend,” Brittany said of her return to competition after missing a race while her dad, 16-time champion John Force, was being treated for a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) after crashing in Richmond, Va., on June 23. “To be able to team back up with Austin Prock and carry Flav-R-Pac is a huge deal.
“We lost (Flav-R-Pac owner) Frank Tiegs last season,” said the 16-time tour winner, “(but) we’re proud to carry him with us here in Seattle and let the whole family know that they are forever our partners, forever our teammates.
“Another two good runs today and we’re looking for a long race day (on Sunday). We want to make my dad proud; we want to make Frank Tiegs and his family proud.”
Crew chief David Grubnic, while pleased with the qualifying effort, acknowledged that “all-in-all, we’re not quite where we want to be but we’re definitely on an uptick.”
