Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster rocketed to the top of the Top Fuel class Friday night at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex. Brittany Force has the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster sitting No. 3 and, in Funny Car, Robert Hight currently sits No. 3 in his AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS while John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy are No. 6.
Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster ran 3.804-seconds at 324.61 mph to put themselves in the No. 6 spot heading into Friday evening. Tuned by veteran crew chiefs Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler, Prock handled the Montana Brand dragster to a stellar 3.682-second 334.57 mph pass to jump to the No. 1 spot. Their performance earned them three bonus points and a $15,000 bonus check part of the Texas Motorplex’s Stampede of Speed Friday Night Live. If it sticks through Saturday’s final two qualifying runs, it will be the first No. 1 of Prock’s career.
“I’ve dreamt of getting a No. 1 qualifier, so I hope it sticks. This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster has been coming along since before Indy. It hasn’t really showed the last two weekends, but everything is still there. We just need to make the right adjustments and then you get a performance like this. We seem to be peaking at the right time. To get this $15,000 on top of it, just have to say thank you to Billy Meyer and the Texas Motorplex,” Prock said. “We have that fire under us again. We made a decent run in the first session, went sixth quick and then low this session. This is kind of how it went for us when we won in Reading [Pennsylvania], if we keep going up and down the track, you don’t want to race Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler on Sunday.”
Robert Hight and the AAA Texas team were second quickest of the first qualifying session with their 3.924-second pass at 331.79 mph earning them two bonus points. With header flames lit, Hight handled his Chevy hot rod to a solid 3.854 at 333.43 to once again be second quickest of the session.
“Good day for this AAA team. We’re taking it one run at a time, these qualifying points are important, we want them every run. Two qualify runs today with two more tomorrow, we’ll stay consistent and just keeping doing what we know how to do,” Hight said. “Great show tonight, second year in a row with the Stampede of Speed and the extra money on the line for all the classes. Makes it exciting for the teams and for the fans. We won it last year, would have been nice to do it again but now we’re getting set for race day.”
Brittany Force and the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team had a stout 3.777-second pass at 332.50 mph to earn two bonus points narrowly missing being quickest of the session. In the night run, lined up side-by-side with teammate Austin Prock, Force would break her previous track record speed with a 335.75 mph, 3.689-second pass that would earn her a bonus point for being third quickest of the session.
“Good start to our weekend here in Dallas. We’re excited about that extra qualifying pass that we get and the money that was on the line. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it but very proud of our teammate Austin Prock who took home the big check and low qualifier for the night,” Force said. “For our Monster Energy team, we had two solid passes and that is the most important thing for us chasing down this championship. We ran a 3.77 and a 3.68 so very impressive runs for us, we picked up some bonus points and we’ll come out tomorrow sitting No. 3.”
John Force and the PEAK Chevy came out of the gate running well with a 3.907-second pass at 331.93 mph that earned some three bonus points for being quickest of the first session. A clutch malfunction during the second qualifying session had the PEAK Camaro up in smoke at the hit coasting to a 12.085 at 81.14.
“Had a little bit of a problem there in the second session, but we had a good run in the afternoon. The PEAK Chevy, it’s fast right now, and it’s been consistently fast. We’ll be okay. Two more tomorrow and Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi, they’ll have it figured out,” Force said. “Great show Billy Meyer put on tonight, great for the fans. Can’t wait to get back tomorrow and keep it going.”
Competition at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex continues with qualifying Saturday at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. Eliminations for the event will start on Sunday at noon. Television coverage will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Sunday starting with a qualifying show at 10:00 a.m. ET and eliminations at 10:30 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published on October 15, 2022. 
