NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Austin Prock’s king-making Funny Car win at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals was the coronation that seemed almost inevitable given his four-generation bloodline and the family’s racing history in Circle City.

His great grandfather, Jimmy Prock — for whom Austin’s famous crew chief father is named — took part in the Indy 500 four times in the 1930s. Austin’s grandfather, Tom, was a Funny Car semifinalist at the 1977 U.S. Nationals, and, of course, Austin’s father, Jimmy, has won the U.S. Nationals three times as the tuner for Robert Hight.

It's in the blood

The elder Jimmy Prock was a midget driver and a riding mechanic alongside Chet Miller in four consecutive Indy 500s (1930-1933), back in the days when the cars were so unreliable that it took more than a dedicated driver to finish the 500-mile odyssey. They notched a best finish of 10th in the 1931 event. Miller and Prock’s car was numbered 41, which was the number on Austin’s midget car when he began racing.

Miller, nicknamed "Dean of the Speedway," was killed in a crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during practice for the 1953 Indy 500. Jimmy Prock was hurt while driving a midget race car before his son was born, and although it was not a fatal accident, the injuries were severe enough that he never fully recovered, and he subsequently died of the effects of the injuries some 14 years later.

Austin’s grandfather drove and tuned Funny Cars for more than two decades, wheeling entries like the Custom Body Enterprises car of the Castronovo family and his own Detroit Tiger and later tuning for NHRA legend Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen. Tom Prock nearly won the U.S. Nationals, reaching the semifinals in 1977 before red-lighting to Don Prudhomme.

And any recent fan knows the incredible success story of the tuning maestro we all know as Jimmy Prock, a kid who learned the ropes by crewing for guys like McEwen and then tuning for winners like Joe Amato and Cory McClenathan before, like his son after him, he joined John Force Racing and forged a race- and championship-winning résumé second to few.

“My great grandfather was a circle-track racer, so that kind of got my interest sparked in all of that,” Austin related. “It was cool to do a little bit of that, and my grandfather was essentially a pioneer in drag racing back in the days of Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen, so it's obviously in our blood.”

Going in circles

Although Austin’s first Indianapolis win came on the dragstrip, it certainly could have also come on the big oval there given his early start.

“I started out when I was 10 years old, racing quarter midgets, and just ran up the ranks,” he reflected. “I ran quarter midgets, then Ford Focus midgets. Then I got into a national midget, won a championship on the pavement, and I dabbled into the dirt stuff for a few years, racing with non-winged dirt-sprint cars. I raced in Australia one winter and ran a winged sprint car and a midget over there, so I got to do a little bit of everything. I'm really blessed and lucky to have driven all the race cars that I've gotten to drive."

“My entire life, all I've known is going to the racetrack or going to the dragstrip,” he continued. “As young as I can remember, I've been at the dragstrip. I remember running around Joe Amato's hospitality area. I see pictures of me when I'm maybe 1 or 2 on my dad's back in a backpack, and he's putting fuel in the car, and I'm looking over his shoulder. It’s just bred into us. It's all we really know."

The big decision

“I was always around fuel cars my whole life, but I started on circle tracks and really had a passion for that, and I really loved it. I always said, ‘I'm going to keep circle-track racing, and if someone ever calls me and says they want me to drive their nitro Funny Car or Top Fuel dragster, I'll be all in.' And it just so happened to work out.”

The guy who called was his dad’s boss, NHRA icon John Force, who wanted young Austin to become a development driver for the team, and Austin enjoyed a brief but successful Top Fuel career with four wins through the end of the 2023 season.

“That was a big decision for me in my life, whether I should keep pursuing my dream that I’d been chasing for 10 or 12 years or do I drop everything and go give drag racing a shot?" he reflected. "I didn't really have any idea where it was gonna go, but you can't say no when John Force gives you a call and says he wants to put you in one of his race cars one day, and it was the greatest thing that I ever did.”

Which all circles back to Indy …

The stars for Austin’s Indy Funny Car win began to align early this year when Hight was ruled out of competition for medical reasons, and Austin was asked to fill in. It was an unfortunate turn for Hight but a lifesaver for Austin, who was planning to sit out the season after his Top Fuel car was unsponsored for the year and now would get a chance to race with his father and his brother, Thomas.

Austin took to the Funny Car in remarkable fashion. He was runner-up in his first official start in Gainesville and scored his first Funny Car win at the Las Vegas four-wide event, where he took the points lead. He lost the lead for one race after a first-round exit in Charlotte but has topped the points since the Epping event in early June.

He came into Indy with four wins and three runner-ups and the top seed in the Countdown all but locked up.

The Cornwell Tools “Prock Rocket” Camaro dominated the event. Jimmy and Austin’s brother, Thomas, tuned him to five straight three-second passes to qualify No. 1, and they raced their way easily to the final round.

Waiting in the final was Ron Capps and his Don Prudhomme tribute car, a replica paint scheme of Prudhomme’s Army-sponsored floppers and the car that stopped Austin’s grandfather in the semifinals of that 1977 event, and a chance for some redemption 45 years later. (The qualifying numbers oddly lined up, too; Prudhomme had qualified No. 1 in 1977 and Prock No. 7; this year, Austin qualified No. 1 and Capps No. 7. Crazy.)

With his grandfather watching, Austin won the final and his first U.S. Nationals title handily, leaving on Capps and driving away to a solid 3.88 to 3.93 victory.

“That tribute car beat my grandpa here in the semifinals in 1977, so we got him back for my grandpa today,” he said in the media center after the win. “It was a great effort all weekend long. I'm very proud of the team. It still hasn't hit me that we won the U.S. Nationals. So many people dream of winning this race and very few have. I'm very proud to add my name to that list with my dad and my brother, Thomas, turning the knobs with Nate Hildahl. It's a pretty surreal moment. 
 
“To cap off the regular season the way we did is very comforting. This team worked so hard, and it’s pretty cool to get that e.t. slip at the end of the day that says ‘win’ on it and look at those incrementals and go, 'Man, that Prock Rocket is fast.' I don't see us slowing down anytime soon. People say when you're hot, you're hot, and right now, we're hot and have been all year long.

“We just won the biggest race of the year, and I drove lights-out. This was my best performance by far all year long with leaving the starting line, keeping it nice, true, and straight. We were painting railroad tracks all weekend long, and they gave me some serious power underneath me. It sure was fun, and if you're going to win Indy, that's the way to do it.

“[Me and my family] talked earlier this weekend with FOX Sports, they asked us what would it mean to win Indy as a family, and every one of us said it would mean everything. This is the stuff you dream of. It's the biggest race of the year, to do it all together, and to have my grandfather here … this was the first race my grandfather showed up this season with me in Funny Car. We have his number on the side of the car, and we ended up getting the job done. Months prior, I knew he was coming, and I was like, 'All I want to do is get my grandfather in the winner's circle.' We just so happened to do it at the biggest race of the year and got him the U.S. Nationals win.”