As NHRA gathers for its third race in a 20-contest Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, there’s a lot of questions for the current two-time Funny Car champion, Austin Prock. The 29-year-old phenom, who spent a season in Top Fuel and the previous two in Funny Car, all the time competing with John Force Racing, left that squad after earning his second straight Flopper championship and, together with his father Jimmy and brother Thomas – as well as most members of their crew – departed the Chevrolet-based team to work with Ford Motor Co. stalwarts Tasca Racing.
Bob Tasca III was the first NHRA Funny Car racer to topple the 340-mph barrier. Unfortunately for Tasca, he made that 1,000-foot voyage in the PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park, not at a sanctioned NHRA race. So it wasn’t an official run. The official 340-plus lap came much later in the year, during the season finale on In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip’s racetrack. And it was set by Prock as he enunciated his first championship in 2024. In the first round, as the No. 1 qualifier, Prock hit 341.68 mph at 3.828 seconds against Jason Rupert. He would have loved to do it again in 2025, but that season finale was lost to catastrophic weather.
Tasca had his typical up and down year in 2025, ending up tenth in the final standings. Sometimes he’s right there in the championship fight; other times he has appeared lost. That the third generation NHRA racer decided to step away from the driver’s seat and bring the whole Prock group from John Force Racing to his team was a surprise. No driver wants to hang it up, especially after nearly earning credit for the quickest and fastest lap in NHRA Funny Car history. But that is what Bob Tasca did, with the consent and approval of Ford and his ancillary partners.
Some people say that “parts are parts” but when you’ve worked with the same evolving chassis and engine combination through much of your career, a change from one team to another can be difficult. That’s something Jimmy, Thomas and Austin Prock are discovering. The properties of their new chassis and body are very different from what they’ve been using.The engine parts are different. No matter the genius turning knobs, adjustments are necessary when the situation calls for them.
The transition from JFR to Tasca Racing hasn’t been as seamless as the Prock family had hoped. While they tested prior to the season starter at Gainesville Raceway, that central Florida track absolutely mystified the Tasca group. They weren’t in the field come Sunday and, rather than stay on-site so fans could at least say hello to the current titleholder, Tasca Racing packed up and left. That decision left a gaping hole next to the staging lanes at the 57th Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals. It was a very Bob Tasca-like move.
Things were a bit better once the team arrived in Phoenix for the 41st FMP Arizona NHRA Nationals. Prock made the field, albeit in the bottom half, ninth, which meant his Ford Mustang would be running against the No.8 qualifier, J.R. Todd, whose Kalitta Motorsports team has had solid results thus far in a two-race season. Prock lost to the 2018 titleholder’s Supra. While he was first out of the gate, by half-track tire-spin relegated the Procks, Tascas and their Mustang to the losing column.
There’s work to be done to get the car to do what Jimmy, Thomas and Austin need it to do. No doubt they’ve been testing in advance of next week’s Lucas Oil Winternationals at the same track where the family has celebrated its most majestic accomplishments.They’ll come around; winners always do. But the waiting and watching as fans and competitors alike watch this operation gain traction could be one of the more interesting aspects of NHRA’s 75th anniversary season. Will race No. 3 bring the Prock family redemption or is that learning curve still in effect?
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