Despite last year’s weather-induced anomaly in which he qualified 15th and bowed out in the first round, Austin Prock can’t wait to get his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car back on the concrete and asphalt at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this week for the 65th renewal of the Lucas Oil Winternationals, second oldest event in the Mission Drag Racing Series.
“Coming off a good weekend in Phoenix, I’m excited to get back into the groove,” said the reigning Mission Foods Champion. “Pomona is my favorite track on tour. The history and atmosphere of the place just gets me going and it’s just been good to me. We will try and get this Cornwell Tools/Hendrickcars.com Chevy in the finals again.”
The 29-year-old’s enthusiasm is not unwarranted considering the fact that he has reached the final round in five of nine career appearances at the iconic Los Angeles Country Fairgrounds track on which he became the first to break the 340 mile per hour barrier (a national record-setting 341.68 mph) during last November’s season-ending In-N-Out Burger Finals.
Runner-up in last week’s Arizona Nationals at Phoenix, the former circle track standout is anxious to re-establish his Chevy as the dominant Funny Car in the series.
“We’re always pushing to make things better,” he said of the team anchored by his dad Jimmy, his brother Thomas and friend Nate Hildahl. “We have a totally different package than we did last year.
“My dad and this team have done things to try and make the car better, and I know this thing is on the right track. We’ll get one of those Wallys here shortly,” he said, referencing the winner’s trophies named for NHRA founder Wally Parks.
Evidence that the Cornwell crew is pointed in the right direction was provided during pre-season testing at the PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton, Fla., where Prock stopped the timers in 3.791 seconds on the quickest run in Funny Car history, .002 under the official NHRA record set by his predecessor, Robert Hight.
Although he has yet to win the Winternationals, the 2019 Rookie-of-the-Year was the Top Fuel runner-up in 2020, 2022 and 2023. His lone Pomona win came in the 2022 In-N-Out Finals in which he applied an exclamation point to a sensational playoff performance during which he moved from 12th at the start to third at the finish, equaling the biggest improvement in the Countdown era.
Despite his success driving quarter midgets, sprint cars, Top Fuel dragsters and now Funny Cars, Prock understands better than most that drag racing at its core is not an individual sport.
“You’ve got to win as a team out here,” he said. “When the car is down, the driver has got to step up and when the driver is down the car has got to be there, and when you can do both of those at the same time, that makes dominance.”
This story was originally published on March 27, 2025. 
