Austin Prock defeats Jack Beckman in an all-JFR final at Maple Grove Raceway

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Cornwell Tools sponsored Funny Car driver Austin Prock took out his John Force Racing teammate in the final round. Prock defeated PEAK-sponsored driver Jack Beckman in the final round at the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Monhton, Pennsylvania.

Prock went 3.896 at 332.51 mph to get the win. Beckman went 3.951 at 330.88 mph in the losing effort.

“It feels great to rack up some points and get a little bit of a gap over second again. It definitely feels good,” Prock said. “This is the best way you can start out the Countdown – No. 1 qualifier, we got points almost every round and the car was flying today, and we ended up holding another Wally. Kudos to this Cornwell Tools team for allowing me to do this.

“We saw the ladder last night and said we have two cars capable of meeting in the final round and that was the goal today and we executed perfectly. Jack drove his tail off today, and I’m really proud of him. He’s getting comfortable and becoming lethal in that car. He was mowing the tree down and that thing runs as good as any of these cars out here. It’s great to see him and the team having success right off the bat like they are.”

This was the first time that Prock and Beckman had faced each other in eliminations. And hours before the final round, it appeared like Beckman would not advance past the first round.

Beckman was facing Joe Morrison in their first-round matchup. Beckman initially appeared to be defeated. However, the New Jersey native Morrison crossed the center line, which gave Beckman the win.

The veteran Beckman, who was hired in July as a substitute driver for the legendary John Force following his accident, had a small starting line advantage. However, Prock surpassed him by the time the cars went past the Christmas tree.

Prock then never trailed the rest of the way. This is his sixth Wally of the season in his first season in Robert Hight’s Funny Car.

The youngster now has 10 career wins.