Photography: John Force Racing / Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (April 27, 2025) – Austin Prock put his stamp on another piece of drag racing history Sunday when he drove the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to victory in the 15th NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at ZMax Dragway, becoming the first driver in history to win four-wide races on the same track in both Top Fuel and Funny Car.
Two years ago, the 29-year-old phenom hoisted the Charlotte 4-Wide trophy in his final season at the wheel of a John Force Racing Top Fuel dragster. Now he has a matching Funny Car trophy thanks to a final round time of 3.870 seconds, the quickest of eliminations.
The reigning World Champion overpowered Ron Capps, Matt Hagan and Alexis DeJoria in the final quad to win his second four-wide trophy in three weeks. Sunday’s win comes on the heels of his April 13 victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the only other NHRA venue capable of accommodating four-wide competition.
“Any time you’re holding one of these Wallys (the NHRA winner’s trophy), it’s a great day,” proclaimed the jubilant winner. “The ‘Prock Rocket’ bailed me out there in the final (because) I had my worst light of the weekend (a still very respectable .073).
“It’s just great to be driving this Cornwell Chevrolet SS,” he said. “We had a lot of difficult scenarios with this race car, but my dad (Jimmy) and brother (Thomas) and Nate Hildahl, and the whole Cornwell Tools team did their homework all week and got the thing dialed in and made a killer run there in the final. That was a jaw dropper.”
In winning for the 10th time in his last 25 Funny Car starts on the Mission Foods tour, the 2019 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year raced into the point lead for the first time this season, just ahead of Hagan and JFR teammate Jack Beckman.
When qualifying for the 25th NHRA Route 66 Nationals begins May 16 in Chicago, the former quarter midget and sprint car driver will lead Hagan by 50 points.
“It was awesome to see Mr. H (Rick Hendrick, whose HendrickCars.com brand is a major associate sponsor of the ‘Prock Rocket’) down there at the top end. That was the last thing I expected and when I saw him, I just lit up,” said the man who last year broke boss and mentor John Force’s single season record when he qualified No. 1 15 times in 20 events.
“That was a pretty cool celebration down there with him,” gushed the man who on Saturday won the Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge. “I got a photo with him and the Wally and then got another one with Don Garlits. I mean, what a day. Those are pictures you dream of and to do them back-to-back within a few minutes of each other, that was really special.”
It was four-wide frustration for the second time in three weeks for Beckman who exited in round one at the wheel of his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. The 36-time pro tour winner again qualified fifth, just as he did in Las Vegas, and once again he didn’t survive to the second quad, his usually reliable Chevy losing traction early and slowing to 4.934 seconds at only 178.19 mph.
“I had not lost first round since I came to John Force racing,” Beckman lamented “and now we have back-to-back first round losses. We’re better than this and our car is better than this.
“In Las Vegas, we found the smoking gun,” he said. “Here we were just pushing a little bit too hard but it’s uncharacteristic for this car to be that touchy. The good news is we have two weeks off (before the tour moves to Chicago for the Route 66 Nationals) and the guys can go back and dig deep into the data and come out swinging.
“We have some massive programs going on for PEAK and their employees out there. This silver lining is we had Rick Hendrick out here, and he’s a motorsports guy. All the JFR teams got to meet him this morning and interact with him.
“I got to do some bench racing with him and took him over and introduced him to Don Garlits,” Beckman sad. “It was neat to be a fly on the wall for that. We’ll get this Chevy SS back in the winner’s circle soon and I think Sunday in Chicago in PEAK’s back yard might be the day.”
Two-time Top Fuel World Champ Brittany Force, who also was flying the HendrickCars.com colors this weekend, advanced a round further than Beckman, but couldn’t get her national record-holding hot rod to the final quad. Her 3.834 in round two was not quite good enough to match the 3.70s of eventual race winner Shawn Langdon and Tony Stewart.
“Four-Wide is tough,” said the 17-time tour winner who left with a new speed record after becoming the first Top Fuel driver to break the 340-mph barrier. “First round I pedaled the car and won the round on a pedal-fest and a hole-shot. That makes me feel great. I love being able to win like that for this team and these guys that work so hard.
“Second round, we made a decent run but just got outrun. Overall, we need to work on consistency, but I know we’ll get this thing figured out soon,” said the former NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. “I’m ready to get back to our normal routine, just two cars going down the dragstrip (and) get away from four-wide until the end of the season.”
