POMONA — Austin Prock can enjoy his weekend in Pomona for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Finals.
But he usually enjoys all his visits to the Southern California drag strip.
Prock, a driver for John Force Racing, is on the verge of winning his first NHRA Funny Car championship. He was 189 points ahead of teammate Jack Beckman in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs and only needed to make a qualifying run Friday to win the Funny Car championship.
Whatever else happens this weekend is extra wax on the hood.
Prock won’t officially win the Funny Car championship until qualifying is completed Saturday, but he had an insurmountable lead after Friday’s qualifying round.
Rain delayed the start of qualifying for the Funny Car and Top Fuel teams by about two hours. A second rain delay ended qualifying Friday before the Top Fuel portion was completed. Qualifying resumes Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m.
But not even the rain could put a damper on Prock’s championship season.
Beckman was the top qualifier with a 3.828-second run at 334.82 mph. Prock was second with a 3.842-second run at 331.94 mph.
“First place when I last left Pomona, first place now in my PEAK Chevrolet. That’s got a good ring to it. Friday at Pomona is always really cool weather. Friday at the Finals is always very interesting because the whole year has come down to one race, and you can’t wait to get up there for the first run,” Beckman said.
“And then we had a rain delay. In Southern California … Now, it’s happened a lot at the Winternationals, but It doesn’t happen very often in November. It has just been a weird start to the last race of 2024. So, we get some sunshine. We drag the car up there. 3.828 and my best speed since 2020. It’s the fastest I’ve gone this year by over 2 miles an hour.”
Prock won his eighth race of the season in Las Vegas two weeks ago and it took all the pressure off finishing the season at Pomona Dragstrip for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA…
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