Story By: JERRY BONKOWSKI / JOHN FORCE RACING – BRAINERD, MN – Although a rare lapse at the starting line took him out of contention for the championship in the 42nd Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, Austin Prock still managed to reach some major milestones Sunday at the wheel of the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS.
The runaway Funny Car points leader clinched the No. 1 starting spot for the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship even though the upcoming 70th NHRA U.S. Nationals pays one-and-a-half times as many points as any other regular season event.
When qualifying begins at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Aug. 30, the soon-to-be 29-year-old Funny Car rookie will lead the field by 218 points with a maximum of only 180 points available to the No. 2 driver in the standings, Bob Tasca III – and that’s before Prock gets his bonus points from the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in which he has seven outright wins this year.
Nevertheless, the fourth-generation racer was more fixated on a very out-of-character .116 of a second reaction time that enabled J.R. Todd to steal a second-round victory by .006 of a second.
“It’s embarrassing and it sucks for my team,” said the eight-time Mission Foods tour winner. “I’m really upset right now at myself. This Cornwell Tools Chevy team has been unbelievable, and I just lost it.
“They tell you a good running race car is the hardest one to drive because all you can do is mess it up,” he said. “I’ve been doing a good job of not (messing it up) but right now I look like an idiot.
In Sunday’s first round, Prock turned on a win light for the 100th time as a pro driver when he handily beat Jim Campbell with a 3.872 second time that stood as the quickest of eliminations.
In his first race in relief of a sidelined John Force, “Fast Jack” Beckman took the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro to the second round, earning enough points to pick up a position in the standings.
“So, for the first time in MY drag racing career, the PEAK Camaro won a round,” Beckman said after holding off Bobby Bode with a time of 3.885 seconds, thus far his best. “It’s kind of a neat thing to say. It’s been John all these years. It’s still John’s car (but) I get to shoe this thing for now (and) it’s awesome.”
For Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Chevrolet team, it was another weekend of what might have beens. The two-time Top Fuel World Champion was one of four drivers to break the 3.70 second barrier, was the No. 3 qualifier for the third straight race and posted top speed of the entire event at 336.07 mph only to endure an early loss that left her in the vulnerable No. 10 position in points.
“It was definitely a disappointing race day getting taken out in the first round of eliminations,” said the former Rookie-of-the-Year. “Our Monster Energy team had such a strong two days of qualifying. We felt confident with our car and our setup. Our car ran right what we wanted it to (3.756 and 332.51 mph) but, unfortunately, we just got beat by Clay Millican.
“(We’ll) test tomorrow and get more prepared for the U.S. Nationals,” said the 16-time tour winner. “We leave tenth in the standings and we’ll have to fight to stay in the Countdown at the biggest race of the season.”