After Jack Nicklaus won the 1965 Masters in dominating fashion, Hall of Fame golf great Bobby Jones famously observed that “he plays a game with which I’m not familiar.”

Funny Car rivals of young Austin Prock are beginning to share that sentiment after the 29-year-old drove the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to victory in Sunday’s 39th Pep Boys Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, beating teammate “Fast Jack” Beckman in an all-John Force Racing final round.

Prock, who has started 11 of 15 races this season from the No. 1 qualifying position, won in 3.896 seconds at a finish line speed of 332.51 miles per hour. Beckman, driving the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Camaro in relief of Force, trailed in 3.951 seconds at 330.88 mph.

For Prock, it was his sixth win in 15 races this season, his second in succession, and it enabled him to open a commanding 86-point lead after the first race in the Mission Foods Countdown to the Championship. He’ll be heavily favored when qualifying begins this Friday for the 16th NHRA Carolina Nationals at Charlotte, N.C.

“It feels amazing,” Prock said of the win. “It’s great to rack up some points and build a bit of a gap over second place again, especially after losing about 300 points (in the points adjustment that precedes the playoffs) This is exactly how you want to start the Countdown. We were the No. 1 qualifier, picked up points almost every round (of qualifying) and the car was flying today.

“To win (the championship) we just have to do what we’ve been doing all year long,” said the grandson of ‘70s era Funny Car driver Tom Prock. “We have to execute exactly how we have all season long. We’re racing ‘lights out’ right now and I feel like we’re consistently making the best runs we’re capable of making.”

“You couldn’t script it any better,” said assistant crew chief Nate Hildahl of Sunday’s win. “We’re going to keep pushing and maybe we’ll even tie (or eclipse) John Force’s all-time record of pole starts (13).”

Beckman, who had been out of the sport for more than three years and was working as an elevator repairman when Force crashed heavily at Richmond, Va., on June 23, quickly has acclimated himself to the cockpit of the aqua blue Chevy. He reached the quarterfinals in his first start, the semifinals in his second two weeks ago at Indianapolis, Ind., and advanced to the final on Sunday. Obviously, there’s only one more rung on that ladder.

As Force’s surrogate, by NHRA rule Beckman can earn points on the 16-time champion’s behalf in a maximum of eight races. His performance Sunday moved him and Force from sixth to third in the driver standings behind only Prock and Reading semifinalist Bob Tasca III.

“If we want to win the championship, Austin is the target,” Beckman said. “We can’t spot him (points) every race and expect to win it but they did everything right this weekend. That car was the class of the field.

“Our PEAK Chevy went down the track top three every run in qualifying (but) we had two elimination rounds where it didn’t do what we asked it to,” said the 33-time pro tour winner, “but we got eight total runs (for the weekend) and the crew chiefs are smart enough to be able to look at that and figure out what the car is wanting.”

The Prock-Beckman shootout marked the 54th time JFR teammates have opposed one another in the final round of an NHRA tour event. It was the second such occurrence this year, following on the heels of Force’s win over Prock in the final at the NHRA New England Nationals at Epping, N.H., on June 2.

Prock’s Sunday victory came just two years after he won the same race at the wheel of a JFR Top Fuel dragster, but this win light was significantly more meaningful insomuch as he celebrated in the winners’ circle with a crew that includes dad Jimmy and brother Thomas. It was the third straight Maple Grove win for the Cornwell Camaro team following on the heels of 2022 and 2023 victories by three-time World Champion Robert Hight, who is sitting out the season for medical reasons.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 15th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It is the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

The Top Fuel final round was a thriller, too, as Antron Brown picked up his fourth win of 2024 and the 78th in his career in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools/Toyota dragster thanks to a run of 3.798 at 327.27 in the championship round against Shawn Langdon. It made a tight field in the loaded category even tighter, as Brown pulled to within one point of leader Justin Ashley. With his final-round appearance, Langdon is just six points behind Ashley as well.

But Sunday ultimately belonged to Brown, who again came to life during eliminations. He went a Sunday-best 3.723 in the opening round to defeat Jasmine Salinas and then knocked off Tony Schumacher and Dan Mercier to reach the final round. Facing off with Langdon, Brown delivered a stellar .043 reaction time and then held off Langdon in a terrific side-by-side race to win for the third time at Maple Grove Raceway as he aims to try and win his fourth world championship.

“Going into raceday, we knew we were going to have something, but the track got a little bit trickier than we thought it was. It was medieval out there. A lot of people were spinning the tires, but we made it far enough down the track,” Brown said. “Brian Corradi, Mark (Oswald), all of our Matco boys gave me a car that went the distance. We were just better than everybody that we raced at that time. When we got to the final, we knew it was going to be a monster matchup.

“I knew Shawn was going to run about the same E.T. and it was going to be who can leave the starting line. Lo and behold, I was able to keep my head down and we got a little bit of an advantage right there and the car outran him. It was one of those deals, we got the win and the car was smooth down the racetrack. It felt really good when that win light came on, we needed a start like that if we wanted to be in this race to win this championship.”

Langdon advanced to the final round for the seventh time this season and the 45th time in his career after defeating Ida Zetterstrom, Tony Stewart and Ashley. Doug Kalitta, who was the points leader entering the Countdown, dropped to fourth after a first-round loss.

In Pro Stock, there seems to be no stopping red-hot Aaron Stanfield, as he won for the fifth time this season, going 6.569 at 209.26 in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance/Janac Brothers car to defeat Elite Motorsports teammate and defending world champion Erica Enders on a holeshot in the final round. It’s also Stanfield’s second straight win and he moves into the points lead for the first time this season after picking up his 13th career win.

To reach the final round, Stanfield defeated Troy Coughlin Jr., Chris McGaha and Dallas Glenn to reach the final round and set up the teammate versus teammate matchup. Stanfield went an impressive .017 on the starting line – on a day where he was also .012 and .014 in eliminations – and held off Enders at the finish to continue his recent roll. Stanfield has now won five of the last seven races.

“It feels great. Momentum is real,” Stanfield said. “Things have been rolling our way and we've been getting those round wins when we need them to go our way. We did our job today, Erica and I and all our guys. We put both of our JHG/Melling cars in the final round there, and that was the goal.

“When you start out No. 2, you know you've got a shot. I know the equipment I'm in, and I know how hungry my guys are to win. We definitely have a shot here, we just need to keep this momentum that we've got rolling.”

Enders went to the final round for the fourth time in 2024 and the 82nd time overall after defeating Mason McGaha, Matt Hartford and longtime rival Greg Anderson. Stanfield’s lead now stands at nine points over Dallas Glenn, with Enders 35 points back.

Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Hector Arana Jr. enjoyed a spectacular Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway, finishing it off with a 6.839 at 198.38 on his GETTRX Buell to defeat Richard Gadson in the final round. It is Arana’s first victory of the season and 19th in his career, and he had to go through some standouts to get it.

Arana knocked off Jianna Evaristo and Angie Smith to reach the semifinals, and then got past points leader and defending world champion Gaige Herrera when Herrera went red. That set up a final-round duel with Gadson and Arana quickly tracked him down, winning at his home track for the third time in his career. The victory also pushed Arana into fourth in points, setting up the potential for a memorable late-season run for the veteran.

“We have a great team and we have a great motorcycle that everybody works hard,” Arana Jr. “We tried a bunch of things this year leading up to the Countdown and now it's time to turn it on. We collected everything, got it together, and here we are in the winner's circle holding up a Wally. I couldn't imagine a better day.

“Fortunately for us, we were able to stay green and here we are in the winner's circle. But we have some more power to make to fight with them. I came in here with confidence. We had a great bike and I said it all weekend, you have to have a good consistent bike in order to win the race, and that's what we did.”

Gadson advanced to the final round for the second time in his rookie season, defeating Geno Scali, Chase Van Sant and defending event winner Matt Smith. Herrera remains in the points lead, holding an 17-point advantage over M. Smith. Gadson is 19 points behind in third.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Sept. 20-22 with the 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.

Reading Sunday Results

TOP FUEL: 1. Antron Brown; 2. Shawn Langdon; 3. Justin Ashley; 4. Dan Mercier; 5. Clay Millican; 6. Tony Stewart; 7. Tony Schumacher; 8. Steve Torrence; 9. Ida Zetterstrom; 10. Doug Foley; 11. Jasmine Salinas; 12. Smax Smith; 13. Josh Hart; 14. Billy Torrence; 15. Doug Kalitta; 16. Brittany Force.

FUNNY CAR: 1. Austin Prock; 2. Jack Beckman; 3. Bob Tasca III; 4. Alexis DeJoria; 5. Ron Capps; 6. J.R. Todd; 7. Chad Green; 8. Cruz Pedregon; 9. Matt Hagan; 10. Mike Smith; 11. Blake Alexander; 12. Jim Campbell; 13. Daniel Wilkerson; 14. Dave Richards; 15. Buddy Hull; 16. Joe Morrison.

PRO STOCK: 1. Aaron Stanfield; 2. Erica Enders; 3. Greg Anderson; 4. Dallas Glenn; 5. Cristian Cuadra; 6. Matt Hartford; 7. Camrie Caruso; 8. Chris McGaha; 9. Jeg Coughlin; 10. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 11. Mason McGaha; 12. Cory Reed; 13. Eric Latino; 14. Kenny Delco; 15. Jerry Tucker; 16. Deric Kramer.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: 1. Hector Arana Jr; 2. Richard Gadson; 3. Gaige Herrera; 4. Matt Smith; 5. Angie Smith; 6. Steve Johnson; 7. Chase Van Sant; 8. Marc Ingwersen; 9. John Hall; 10. Geno Scali; 11. Chris Bostick; 12. Jianna Evaristo; 13. Ron Tornow; 14. Kelly Clontz.

w/ NHRA Communications  & John Force Racing (photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery)