NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series held its “prom” on Monday night, celebrating the three repeat and one first-time champion in Temecula, Calif., about two hours south of the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip that hosted the 20th and final race in the sanctioning body’s four professional classes.
Held for a second consecutive year at the Pechanga Resort Casino, nestled in Southern California’s burgeoning wine country, the celebration lauded the accomplishments of champions and every driver and rider who contested the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs that concluded a day earlier.
When the calendar changed from 2023 to 2024, Austin Prock had no idea if he’d be driving a drag racing car in competition this past season. His Top Fuel sponsorship with John Force Racing (JFR) had evaporated, and he wasn’t sure the brain trust at JFR would be able to find a suitable substitute – or several. Then, almost suddenly, it was announced that company president, Robert Hight, a three-time Funny Car titleholder, had medical issues that would keep him out of the cockpit in 2024.
As the adage appropriately states, one door closed and another opened. The open door for Prock to drive Hight’s Chevrolet Camaro SS allowed the 29-year-old to drive with two co-crew chiefs who truly understood his capabilities and, on occasion limitations. The car was then suited to meet Austin Prock’s needs and father Jimmy Prock, coupled with brother Thomas Prock, were suddenly tuning the Flopper for their son and brother.
Hight’s belief in Austin Prock paid off early as he won the big-money PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton, Fla. a month before the NHRA season began at Gainesville. Prock was runner-up at that first race, won the second and it appeared both John Force Racing and NHRA would have a new star on its hands. Austin Prock’s first Funny Car trophy was earned in Phoenix. Over the course of this year’s 20 race events, Prock cleaned up, earning a record 15 No. 1 qualifiers and eight Wally winner’s trophies.
On the final day of the season, Prock officially became the fastest driver in NHRA history in the first of four rounds of competition, In defeating nostalgia drag racing star Jason Rupert, Prock slammed his foot forward and went 341.68 mph on the 1,000-foot dragstrip, putting a bullseye on one of drag racing’s more elusive targets, the 340-mph mark. He’d already locked up his first Funny Car title by being the No. 1 qualifier on Saturday, but being first to eclipse 340 was icing on a cake that, who knows, he might have baked? (Austin feels almost as much at home in a kitchen as he does in a racecar)
Yes, Austin Prock is more than the fourth generation of Prock speedsters. HIs great-grandfather Jim raced with moderate success before an accident ended both his career and his life, and grandfather Tom was an outstanding racer. Austin’s father Jimmy is known for his aggressive tuning decisions that can either see the driver first to the finish or race in a pedalfest. Jimmy Prock has been “setting the world on fire” since 1991 and his “Prock Rockets” are part of four generations of racers. Jimmy Prock is named after his grandfather Jim, who raced before his father Tom was born!
Austin Prock began his career in roundy-round racecars at the prime age of 10 and was the STARS National Pavement Midget champion in 2014, winning four contests en route to his first racing title. Mom Jill wasn’t keen on that type of competition and urged her first-born child to consider drag racing, where he’d be surrounded by family and friends. Austin started in the business the same way most do: washing parts, carrying tires. Nothing glamorous to those positions excepting the ability to learn.
When John Force decided to run a second Top Fuel car alongside daughter Brittany, Austin Prock got the nod and started his professional career at the 2019 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. It’s paid off for Force, who had to park Prock’s car more than once due to financial issues. To date, Prock has earned four Top Fuel wins, the 2019 Rookie of the Year award, earned his eight Funny Car victories this season, aced three No. 1 dragster qualifiers and set the record for most No. 1s in Funny Car this year, with 15 top seeds. What will he do for an encore with a three-year JFR contract in place?
In Top Fuel, Antron Brown came into the season finale this season in second place, needing 44 points to overcome Justin Ashley’s lead, but just a single point ahead of Shawn Langdon of Kalitta Motorsports. Acknowledging prior to the event that his team had a good warm/hot weather setup and that this weekend would have cooler conditions, he still trusted the brain trust of Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald and Brad Mason to find the sweet spot. They didn’t get it right in qualifying, but sure did on Sunday, when it mattered.
Forced to sit for nearly two hours after coming to the water box for a first-round match-up against Ashley, only to have a small, private plane crash at the top end adjacent to the track where private motor homes are located, Brown didn’t panic and neither did his team. They waited for the Safety Safari (who were quick on the scene) to help secure the crash site, for emergency responders to take care of the injured and the FAA to allow racing to restart. Then, by a whisper of a second, Brown defeated Ashley in the first round, won an ugly pedalfest against Langdon and took down the No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force in the semifinals to earn his fourth Top Fuel championship and first as a third-year team owner.
It’s been a long road to these four titles, one that went through Pro Stock Motorcycle, where Brown was teammate to three-time champion Angelle Sampey, who is now affiliated with his AB Motorsports team and driving in Top Alcohol Dragster as she attempts to make the same switch Brown made from two- to four-wheeled supremacy. After racing a motorcycle for Don Schumacher Racing, Brown started his four-wheel career with Lee Beard and David Powers Motorsports, but quickly moved back to Don Schumacher Racing near the close of the 2009 season; he won his fourth dragster start for Powers, showing the world that he could make that change.
In earning his fourth Top Fuel championship in 2024 and his first as a third-year team owner, Brown reminded the world that it’s not where you start but where you finish in this racing life. While the team he built had many former Don Schumacher Racing employees at its core, structuring that team to succeed created challenges for everyone. It took time to get the team acclimated to their new state, but back-to-back wins in the biggest race of the year – the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park – started this team’s ascension to the top. While the Top Fuel runners-up thought of what could have been in Pomona, there weren’t any members of the community that weren’t excited and happy to see Antron Brown take his self-owned team to the championship.
There were many changes on the KB Titan Racing side of Pro Stock this year. For starters, Ken Black stepped aside and Greg Anderson is leading that team. While he started the year with a win at Phoenix, it was the team’s entry for Dallas Glenn that reaped the benefits of a large squad with many tentacles to work with. Anderson won twice in the early going but the pendulum swung towards Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield, a third generation drag racer whose father, Greg, is rejoining the class next year with Elite.
Anderson ended the season with three victories, the last one at the season finale. With that, he took his class-leading 106th win and his sixth championship, tying Erica Enders, who took the title in 2023, but had what was, for her, an off year. As the championship came down to the season finale at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Anderson was third in the standings coming in, behind Stanfield and Glenn. Stanfield was out in the semifinal round, which allowed NHRA to adjust the final passes of the year, placing Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle in the water boxes before Pro Stock. Theirs was the only title that was undecided.
It was consistency that netted Anderson his sixth championship, as he remained in the top half of the field from start to finish. With a pair of runners-up in the five previous Countdown to the Championship battles before the season finale, Anderson was able to pull it off. He’ll be back for more in 2025 and it will be a battle between old- and new-school fighters, with Anderson and Enders the old school, along with evergreen Jeg Coughlin Jr., who earned three wins this year. The new school is Stanfield, Glenn, Troy Coughlin Jr., former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Cory Reed putting himself in the mix, along with Eric Latino and the Cuadra Boys of Fernando Jr., twins David and Cristian Cuadra (you try telling them apart; it’s tough for me)
What can we say about the battle between now two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Gaige Herrera, riding his Vance & Hines Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa3 and Matt Smith, a six-time champ who vowed retirement if he won this year? Well, Smith has been told by sponsor Denso that he’s coming back in 2025 and riding that red Buell that’s been his talisman. Smith attempted to switch to Suzuki last year but it wasn’t the right motorcycle for him; getting himself back on the Buell, along with wife Angie and his two teammates, John Hall and Jianna Evaristo, proved to be the right thing. It just wasn’t enough to halt the juggernaut that is Herrera and his team, enhanced by the retirement of Eddie Krawiec and the assumption of new rider Richard Gadson, who improved from start of the year to the close.
While NHRA saluted its champions in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, it also named a new Rookie of the Year and gave out awards for its Manufacturers’ Cup. The rookie honors went to three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, whose TSR Nitro team copped the Funny Car championship in its first year of operation last season and nearly doubled up, with Stewart’s wife Leah Pruett in the hunt for Top Fuel honors until the final lap of the final race.
This season, with Stewart and Pruett beginning their family, “Smoke” took over the dragster’s seat – after a near-championship in Top Alcohol Dragster last year – and earned a ninth-place result in the overall standings, making the Countdown to the Championship in a very difficult class to conquer.
Stewart, 53, who had a semifinal result on Sunday with probably only cat-naps as his son Dominic James made a 4:43AM appearance in Phoenix (he cut the umbilical cord), flew out after final qualifying Saturday night and back to Pomona in time for the first round of eliminations. Anyone that knows Stewart understands that this is the way he rolls. He’s in it to win it, whether it’s racing or helping to welcome his first son into the world. Upon returning to the Pomona track, he changed the name on the side of his car from Smoke to Dad.
Stewart earned the Rookie prize, beating out seven first-year competitors, by advancing to a pair of final rounds, making it to the semifinals four times, earning a berth in the Countdown to the Championship and that ninth-place overall result. “It’s a big honor to win this award this season,” Stewart said Monday night. “There are some great drivers in the NHRA and it’s one of the most diverse forms of motorsports I’ve been a part of. I’ve had a really good time working with the series this season to promote and continue to grow the sport.”
The NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, who is also a USAC and INDYCAR champion, gave great credit to his “coaches”, wife Leah and TSR Nitro 2023 Funny Car champ Matt Hagan. They helped him beat Pro Stock racers Brandon Foster, Derrick Reese and Sienna Wildest, Top Fuel standouts Jasmine Salinas and Ida Zetterstrom, Funny Car racer Daniel Wilkerson and Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Richard Gadson.”Thank you, Leah,” he said, “for giving me this opportunity. I want to thank everyone at NHRA. It’s been a blast this year!”
When Antron Brown won the Top Fuel title, honors also went to Toyota, earning NHRA’s Manufacturers Cup in the first season the sanctioning body included Top Fuel. Hard to believe that Toyota has been part of NHRA for 23 season, joining the series in 2002! Toyota won the championship last year when Doug Kalitta took his first title and this year with Antron Brown. Toyota won 16 of the 20 available race victories and had success in Funny Car. At least one Toyota-supported entry made the final round in every NHRA race in 2024 and Toyota has been represented in the final round in 43 straight races. Antron Brown’s championship netted Toyota its eighth driver’s championship.
Toyota supports teams across both nitro categories, including AB Motorsports, Kalitta Motorsports, Torrence Racing, SCAG Racing’s Top Fuel program, Ron Capps Motorsports and DC Motorsports. This year Toyota drivers saw the winner’s circle quite often, as Antron Brown earned six wins, Justin Ashley took four, Doug Kalitta had three wins, his teammate Shawn Langdon had two, Steve Torrence and J.R. Todd each scored a single win, while Toyota drivers captured 11 No. 1 qualifying slots.
“The 2024 NHRA season has been storybook for Toyota, and to complete it with our first NHRA Manufacturers Cup is icing on the cake,” declared Paul Doleshal, group manager for motorsports. “None of this would have been possible without the incredible efforts of our partner teams, drivers, our engineers at TRD and so many others this season, and we’re proud to celebrate with all involved. This championship is another tremendous accomplishment in Toyota’s motorsports history, and one we’ll be sure to cherish for a long time.”
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