On a track on which he won his first NHRA pro tour event five years ago, a milestone made the more memorable by the fact that he shared the winners’ circle with boss and teammate John Force, Austin Prock this week tries to sustain the momentum born of an ongoing dream season at the wheel of the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS.

The quickest qualifier at seven of the season’s first 10 races, owner of the quickest 1,000-foot time over the last seven years (3.820 seconds this year at Gainesville, Fla.) and the runaway Funny Car point leader, Prock rolls into Pacific Raceways as the favorite in the 35th renewal of the NHRA Northwest Nationals.

Racing for the second event without his boss, who continues to recover from a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) suffered in a June 23 crash in Richmond, Va., Prock is poised to become just the third driver in history (after Del Worsham and Ron Capps) to win the Northwest Nationals in both a dragster and a Funny Car.

When he broke through for his Top Fuel win in 2019, he did so in a car sponsored by Rocky Mountain Twist, one of several companies owned by the late Frank Tiegs and his family. In fact, another Tiegs’ company, Flav-R-Pac frozen vegetables, returns this week as sponsor of Brittany Force’s national record-holding dragster.

“I’m excited to be back at the track after a few weeks off and (excited to) see what this Cornwell tools team can do,” Prock said. “I love racing in Seattle. It’s got a special place in our hearts, for sure. We’ll be racing in Frank Tiegs' memory. He was a great friend and partner of ours (and) I’m looking forward to spending time with his family and friends.”

The 28-year-old also is hoping to deliver a “get well” message to Force, to whom he dedicated his earlier Richmond win.

Although his driving career began with success in midgets and sprint cars on dirt and pavement oval tracks, Prock always hoped to wind up where he is right now – in a top-of-the-line Funny Car racing on somewhat of a straight line.

“The Funny Car is such a challenge to drive,” he said. “You have the same amount of horsepower (as a dragster) but you're missing 175 inches of wheelbase. I loved driving the Top Fuel car, but Funny Car is where I belong. I always dreamed of driving one like my grandpa (Tom Prock, a Funny Car contemporary of Don “the Snake” Prudhomme and Tom McEwen) and I am having an absolute blast.

“I’m loving every second of it,” he said. “I love the challenge. I love sitting behind the engine. I love the body dropping (down over me) and, to top it off, I’m doing all of it with my family (dad Jimmy is crew chief on the Cornwell Carmaro along with brother Thomas).”

w/ John Force Racing; Photo: Gary Nastase / Auto Imagery