NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Don Prudhomme. Raymond Beadle. Frank Hawley. Kenny Bernstein. John Force. Ron Capps. Austin Prock.

That’s it. That’s the short list of NHRA Funny Car drivers who have been able to win back-to-back NHRA Funny Car world championships, with Prock as its latest member after yet another dominating season in the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet tuned by his father, Jimmy, brother Thomas, and Nate Hildahl.

In their 2024 championship season in Prock’s first year in the class, the team won eight races and runner-upped four times. This year, they scored nine wins and three runner-up finishes in the season’s 19 events to forge a big enough lead that when the season was unexpectedly cut short with the cancellation of the rain-plagued In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, their 101-point lead won them the championship ahead of Matt Hagan.

“Last year, a lot of people told me, ‘It’s not going to come as easily next year after the season that you had; it’s not doable over again,’ ” said Prock. “And we came in there, struggled a little bit in the season, and then ended up winning one more race and getting the championship. I think that says a lot about this race team.

“To win one world championship is one thing, and to win two is another, and it puts you in a select group to have ever done it, and to add my name to that list, I wish my entire team could be added to that list. I get all the praise and the glory from the media and from the fans and the TV, but it’s not just me. I couldn’t accomplish what I’ve done in the last two years without the people behind me, and I’m really proud of them,” he said.

Prior to the cancellation of qualifying, Prock had needed only to win his first-round race at the Finals to wrap up the title. Had he lost, four-time world champ Hagan still would have had to win the event to pass him in points. It never came to that.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t get to put on a show for the fans,” said Prock, “but I respect NHRA’s decision. Both of my championships have obviously come in two totally different fashions. Last year, I was at the top end after qualifying locked us in, but this time when I found out they’d canceled the race, I was in the pits signing autographs, and I turned around and just screamed, ‘We’re two-time world champs,’ and everybody looked at me funny because they didn’t know. It brought tears to my eyes. Being with the guys, that’s where I want to be when I celebrate. I wish every one of them could be on the top end with me when I get out of the race car, even on a race win. I love driving this race car, but one thing I miss about being a crewmember is being on the starting line and watching that scoreboard light up and seeing your win light and celebrating with your team, because this sport is all about team effort.

“We had a dominant race car all year long, and we definitely wanted to come in here and race it out. The odds were good for us. We just had to go one round, and I was honestly just looking forward to driving this nitro Funny Car one time for this, one last time for the season. I respect NHRA’s decision, but I definitely think we earned this one,” he said.

Prock has now won championships in both of his seasons in Funny Car after moving over from Top Fuel, where his best career finish was third in 2022. After three-time world champ Robert Hight retired from driving the John Force Racing Funny Car, Prock moved into the saddle, inheriting his father as the architect, but even Hight had never been able to put together back-to-back titles.

As Prock mentioned, the season started out slowly with first-round losses in Gainesville and Pomona surrounding a runner-up in Phoenix, but the team swept the back-to-back four-wide races in Las Vegas and Charlotte to take the points lead they’d never relinquish.

Their points lead took a bit of a hit in June with back-to-back first-round losses in Epping and Bristol, but rebounded for an emotional victory at the American Rebel Light NHRA Virginia Nationals, where a year earlier, team boss and mentor John Force’s racing career ended in a terrible first-round crash. Prock had gone on to win that race but hardly felt like celebrating in the winner’s circle. This year with Force at his side was a whole other story.

“A lot of emotion for sure,” he admitted. “Getting to win last year, that was huge, and being able to take the Wally to John and as an entire team, that’s what we wanted to do again, and [I’m] happy that we could go back-to-back and get the job done for him. To be able to celebrate his health and have him back out at the racetrack and doing good and getting better every day means a lot for our team and John Force Racing.”

The team followed up immediately with another win in Norwalk, winning a pivotal final-round battle with Hagan. After a second-round loss in Seattle, the team went on a major tear, winning in Sonoma and Brainerd, followed by a huge weekend in Indianapolis, where he not only won his sponsor’s event, the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, but also the previous day’s PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout, giving him a weekend worth a whopping $330,000.

It was Prock’s second straight Indy win, something that neither Force nor Hight had accomplished.

“To win Indy in my rookie season was obviously really special,” he said. “We came out guns blazing, and it just put a little bit of an extra pep in our step, and to go out there and execute and do the job and have a dominant performance like we did last year, and then to come back again this year and do it is just surreal. I don’t even know what to say.”

Prock and company entered the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs as the top seed, and after a dis-appointing second-round loss in Reading, he overcame illness to win his third four-wide race of the season in the tour’s return to Charlotte and never looked back, adding another win at the Texas NHRA FallNationals and then was runner-up to Hagan in Las Vegas, a round that momentarily kept Prock from clinching the championship and joining Capps as the only Funny Car drivers since 2002 to win back-to-back world titles.

In two years in the Funny Car class, Prock has scored 17 victories in 39 starts and collected 22 No. 1 qualifiers. He has the best car and is among the class’ top drivers, one who continually pushes himself to be better and excoriates himself after mistakes.

“The last thing I want to do as a race-car driver is let down my dad and brother and this whole Cornwell Tools team,” he explained. “I’m always hungry. Even if I do a good job, I can always find something that I did wrong or didn’t do perfectly, and those are the things that keep me going. I’m a competitor at heart on the racetrack. I’ve got a fire underneath me right now, and I don’t see any time soon it’s going out.”

The team thanked Cornwell Tools, Chevrolet, Hendrick Automotive Group, PEAK / Old World Industries, Monster Energy, Graham Rahal Performance, ARP, Auto World, BME, BMRS, Boninfante, CP Carillo, Champion, Clevite, Darton Sleeves, EZ-GO, Gates, Hangsterfer’s, Hurco, Johnsen’s, Lincoln Electric, Mahle, Marwin Sports, Mastercam, Mechanix Wear, NitroMall.com, Racing Electronics, Right Trailers, Simpson Safety Equipment, Strange Engineering, and Task Force Rahal for their support in the championship battle.

Epilogue: The celebration within the John Force Racing team did not last long, as a week after the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Awards Ceremony, it was announced that Prock and the entire crew had split with JFR and are expected to join forces with another top team for the 2026 season. That announcement is expected in mid-January.

“I am very grateful for the opportunities JFR and partners gave myself and our family,” Prock said. “We had a lot of great memories and success over the years. It was a difficult decision to leave, but we are excited to continue racing as a family for years to come. My family will be making a public announcement on our new endeavors Jan. 15.”