NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

John Force never did it. Indy Funny Car legends Don Prudhomme and Ed McCulloch never did it. But Austin Prock is poised to do something that none of those five-time U.S. Nationals winners, nor anyone else who’s ever suited up in the class’ 60-year history, has ever done.

Prock, the reigning NHRA world champion, could make U.S. Nationals Funny Car history this year by becoming the first fuel-coupe pilot to win the Big Go three straight years.

McCulloch won back-to-back in 1971-72), Prudhomme in 1973-74, Cruz Pedregon on 1994-95, Ashley Force Hood in 2009-10, Mike Neff in 2011-12, and, most recently, J.R. Todd in 2017-18. Force did win five times but never back to back.

Prock is ready to write another page in the sport’s history.

“Originally it wasn't on my mind; I had no idea,” he said. “Someone told me that Friday, and I didn;t believe that could be true, but it is. I feel confident coming into this weekend, just the performance that we had with our race car the last two years, and this package is really coming around, and it seems to suit this racetrack.

“I think that we have an opportunity to do it. I'm not really adding any pressure. If it happens, it happens. Great. It would be cool to be the first one to do it, especially with all the legends that have been in this category; that would be unbelievable. That would be really something to celebrate.

“Plus, the last two times we won Indy, we went on to win the world championship. So maybe that'll happen again next year. “

Much was made of the championship team’s early-season struggles since moving over the Tasca Ford camp this year after two seasons with John Force Racing. They failed to qualify at the season opener and didn’t turn on a win light until the season’s sixth event, in Chicago. Since then, the signs of a comeback are obvious.

“Since Chicago, we've earned the most points than any Funny Car in the category.” He boasted.. Yes, and you know we were just buried in 13th place, and now we’re sixth, and really close to fifth. We go win this thing, we'll be in fifth, maybe even further up if some unfortunate events happen for some cars in front of us.

“I'm really proud of what we've done. If the season ended right now, I would be smiling ear to ear. What we've accomplished at Tasca Racing this year, I don't think very many teams or people could do it, honestly, let alone going from making the race car a championship-level team to the race shop, everything that we've accomplished in the shop. Really proud of what we've done, and we're just getting started.

While many in the sport predicted that the team would struggle early developing a new tune-up with unfamiliar parts, Prock was one who didn’t think they would.

‘I didn't know we were going to struggle,” he admitted. “I believe in this team so much that I didn't think we would struggle. I have the most intelligent team in the pits, in my opinion, and it's like I didn't think that we would struggle that bad. But I also didn't realize how different everything was going to be. Everybody out here says, ‘All the parts are the same, but they’re not, and we changed every component on the race car except the Goodyear tires and the VP fuel in the tank. So you imagine how many variables you have to get through, and what we've accomplished to be, you know, in the position we're in, earning more points than any Funny Car in the last eight races is a really cool stat for us, and I think that we have an honest shot at going and winning the third championship in a row. The way this thing's running, my dad's starting to smile when he looks at the RacePak [data recorder], and that stuff don't happen very often.”

Last year, Prock won the Funny Car Callout and Monday's Big Go, and with Saturday's Mission Challenge win and championship already in his corner, a clean sweep of all three weekend honors is possible, and everyone knows the Procks are back at Indy to win it all.