Three months after winning the NHRA Mission Foods Championship in his first season in a nitro Funny Car, Austin Prock showed no signs of a sophomore swoon Thursday as he powered the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position for Saturday’s second PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
The 29-year-old son of Cornwell crew chief Jimmy Prock stopped the timers in 3.816 seconds at 332.84 miles per hour, just a couple of ticks off the track record-topping 3.805 he put on the board during testing on Wednesday. Second best Thursday was JFR teammate “Fast Jack” Beckman, who coaxed the also brand-new PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy to a time of 3.836 seconds at 329.99 mph.
Not to be outdone, two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force also turned in a stellar opening day performance, qualifying her Monster Energy Chevrolet No. 2 behind only defending event champion Doug Kalitta. Kalitta grabbed the top spot at 3.658 seconds, 332.84 mph, with Brittany just a couple of clicks behind at 3.675, 334.15 mph.
“Pretty solid start to qualifying,” said the second youngest of John Force’s racing daughters. “Car went right down the racetrack, and it did exactly what we wanted it to do. So, we feel really good going into tomorrow. Now we can really push and see what we can get away with going into race day.”
Three rounds of qualifying Friday will set the eight-car lineups for Saturday eliminations in the biggest drag race outside of the Mission Series.
“We backed it down a little,” Prock said of a run that was quickest at every increment. “It’s tough to say that when you run 3.81, but we just wanted to make sure it went down the racetrack, and it was a nice, safe run to get us locked in the show. That way we can have three opportunities to learn tomorrow.
“We have a morning session, an afternoon session and an evening session, so a lot to be learned and we’re in a good place to do that,” said the man who won the inaugural Superstar Shootout in his very first race as a Funny Car driver.
“Really proud of this team,” he continued. “That was quite the hectic run. When we closed the body for the burnout, the windshield was completely fogged over. I couldn’t see on the burnout (but) they wiped it off and it was about fifty or sixty percent cleared up when I was staging. I was going to stand on the gas regardless. It’s not the first time I’ve driven with a fogged windshield.
“This racetrack has a lot of grip, and if you do a little hack-sawing on the wheel, it can take it most of the time. So, I got it down there. It wasn’t the prettiest, but definitely locked us in at No. 1.”
Beckman, making his first competitive appearance in the Shootout after serving as the color commentator at last year’s event, also was pleased with the first few runs he has made in the PEAK Chevy as he prepares to chase the championship over the course of an entire season for the first time since 2020.
“So cool,” said the 2012 NHRA Funny Car champ. “Thursday. Night session. Last pair of Funny Cars, the No. 1 and 2 cars in the country last year and we go to No. 1 and 2 in qualifying. Our PEAK Chevy SS was awesome. It did everything we wanted it to do, and there’s more in it for tomorrow night.”
For Brittany, Thursday’s performance was particularly important. A year ago, she posted a quick time in testing, just as she did this year, but in 2024 she wasn’t able to repeat during qualifying and ultimately failed to make the starting lineup. She and crew chiefs David Grubnic and John Collins were determined not to follow that same path this time around.
“We want to obviously redeem ourselves from last year,” Grubnic said. “We want to keep the momentum going on how we finished the season. So, for right now, we just have to make sure we keep crossing our T’s and dotting our I’s.”
This story was originally published on February 7, 2025. 
