B. Force, Prock Reach Milestones as Nitro No. 1 Qualifiers at Dallas
John Force Racing teammates Brittany Force and Austin Prock powered their way into the record books Saturday by securing the No. 1 qualifying positions in drag racing’s two signature categories ahead of Sunday’s 39th annual Texas Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.
On the strength of a 3.667 second, 338.19 mile per hour effort in optimum conditions on Friday night, Force will race her HendrickCars.com Chevrolet dragster from No. 1 for the 50th time in her pro career. The 38-year-old, a two-time Top Fuel World Champion, is just the 19th pro driver, regardless of category, to reach that milestone.
Not to be outdone, Prock will start the AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS from the front of the Funny Car pack for the 13th time in 18 races this year, tying the single season record set by boss and mentor John Force 28 years ago (1996) on his way to becoming the first drag racer to earn Driver of the Year recognition for all American motorsports.
For the record, it’s the 16th time since JFR first campaigned a dragster in 2013 that its drivers have qualified No. 1 in both categories at the same event. The last time it occurred was at last month’s Labor Day U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind., a race in which Prock rode his No. 1 start into the winners’ circle.
As the No. 1 qualifier for the third time in her last five Motorplex appearances (2019, 2021), Brittany will face off against relative newcomer Spencer Hyde in the first round Sunday in her bid to win at the Motorplex for the first time since 2017.
“50 seems like an impossible number,” Brittany said. “To be able to accomplish that in my career is huge and it’s something I’m very proud of. When we were creeping up on it, just hearing the number ‘50,’ I’m like, ‘wow, we’ve done that.’
“And the cool thing is, it’s a collective thing,” she said. “It wasn’t done with just one team but with so many teams since I first started in 2013 with so many different crew chiefs, but they all taught me things along the way that I still use to this day. So I’m thankful to them that they were a part of my career getting to 50 (No. 1s).
“We’ll pull from runs where we’re on, you know, similar conditions, similar track conditions, similar weather,” she said of Sunday preparations. “We’ll pull up just a handful of races that we were running in the heat. So, we’ll look at those runs and see how we set up the car. We’ll try to dial it in as best we can using what we have from today. It’ll be the more important run than last night’s run (in totally different conditions).”
The 29-year-old Prock, whose dad Jimmy is crew chief on the blue-and-white Camaro, will have two opportunities to break Force’s record, the first when the Mission Foods tour moves to Las Vegas, Nev., for the Nevada Nationals Nov. 1-3.
The Funny Car point leader’s reward for recording the quickest time of the last seven seasons (3.813 seconds) is a meeting with No. 16 starter Terry Haddock in the first round and a potential showdown with Beckman in the final that would have enormous championship implications.
“Yeah, that’s pretty special,” Prock said of his 13th No. 1. “I had no idea that we were even close or even that there was a record until a few weeks ago. So, it’s pretty special to be added to that list, and to do it in 18 races is pretty incredible.
“It speaks volumes about this team – my dad, my brother (Thomas), Nate Hildahl, everyone that’s on this AAA car, this Cornwell Tools car. I’m really proud of this team and happy to be driving this race car.
“I just stab and steer,” said the former quarter midget and sprint car driver. “I don’t have anything to do with (the way the car is set up). I just try not to mess it up. We have a pretty solid notebook right now. We can run down a racetrack that’s 140 degrees or a track that’s 80 degrees.
“I’m sure they had to make some wholesale changes (on Saturday),” he said. “Q3 today, it spun about 500 feet and just barely popped the tire. It was really close and I knew that in Q4, we were probably going to make a solid lap (but) tomorrow is going to be tough. You’re going to see track temperatures that we haven’t see all weekend. We’re going to have to read that racetrack and do a good job to win tomorrow.”
Beckman, driving and earning championship points on Force’s behalf, won the most recent event on the tour (the NHRA Midwest Nationals at St. Louis, Mo.) and will start Sunday’s elimination phase from the No. 2 position in the driver standings, 105 points behind his teammate. He’ll start his bid to win the Fall Nationals for the second straight time (he won the last time he raced at the Motorplex in 2020) against No. 14 qualifier Chad Green.
“So, the interesting thing is that the first and second place cars in Funny Car this year, right now, are both substitute drivers,” Beckman said. “Austin’s taken the reins for Robert Hight and I’m taking them for John and a full season in 2025? That’s John’s call to make. I don’t know what’s going to happen but, I’ll tell you this, if they ask me, the answer is ‘yes.’”
Although no one came close to challenging Prock’s track record, Ron Capps recorded the quickest time in the Saturday heat at 3.899 seconds, just a tick quicker that the best numbers for Prock (3.901) and Beckman (3.908).
This story was originally published on October 13, 2024.
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