John Force Racing got off to a dominant start to open the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, as Top Fuel’s Austin Prock and Funny Car points leader Robert Hight powered to wins on Sunday in front of a capacity crowd at Maple Grove Raceway at the 37th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.
Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Joey Gladstone (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also picked up wins at the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
Opening the postseason from the 12th position, Prock drove to his second career win and first of the season with his run of 3.755-seconds at 329.67 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Montana Brands/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster in the final round against points leader Justin Ashley. Prock also jumped six spots in the standings with five races remaining in 2022. His day started with round wins against Doug Foley, Steve Torrence, and Indy winner Antron Brown, outdueling Brown on a spectacular pedalfest in the semifinals. From there, he won a thrilling side-by-side race with Ashley to finish off a monumental weekend.
“It’s awesome and we’re right back in the hunt of this thing,” said Prock, who became the ninth different winner in Top Fuel this year. “If you come out and win Reading, you’re right back in it. This is unbelievable and it was just one of those days where everything was going our way. I’m so proud of this team and thank you to John Force for giving me the opportunity. This was exactly what we needed.
“We came into the Countdown sitting 12th, and if we wanted to play for the big trophy, we knew we had to win this weekend. Everybody kept their heads down and still believed in themselves, and that attitude is how you win a Wally. I was really proud to win four rounds; it was the first time in a long time that I’ve been able to do that on Sunday. It’s super cool that we came out on the good side of a close race.”
To reach the final round for the fifth time this season, Ashley, who took over the points lead, knocked off Jeff Chatterson, Doug Kalitta and Mike Salinas. Ashley jumped past Brittany Force in the points standings on Sunday and will take a nine-point lead to Charlotte.
Hight continued his spectacular season, racing to his seventh win this season and the 60th of his career, making a pass of 3.937 at 328.38 in his 11,000-horsepower Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS against Tim Wilkerson in the championship round. Hight and his…
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