ST. LOUIS – September 29, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Funny Car points leader Austin Prock rolled to his 12th No. 1 qualifier of the season for John Force Racing in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway, as he looks to stay unbeaten in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs at the 13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals.
T.J. Zizzo (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 17th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Prock just missed the track record set by Robert Hight in 2017, going 3.836-seconds at 330.72 mph in his 11,000-horsepower AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS. His 12th No. 1 qualifier this season also pulls him to within one No. 1 spot of tying John Force for the most top qualifiers in a single season in Funny Car history.
Prock has picked up 12 No. 1 qualifiers in the first 17 races and he remains focused on his quest for a first career world championship. The young standout has won the first two playoff races, holding a 129-point lead entering the weekend, and will try to pick up his eighth win of the year on Sunday.
“This whole team, they’re so incredibly smart and dialed in right now,” Prock said. “It sure is fun to drive. We were low both sessions and I’m really proud to be driving this AAA Camaro this weekend.
“We’re definitely not changing our mindset, we’re not laying up at all. We’re going out there and racing like what got us to this point. We want to get as much of a points lead as we can possibly have going into Pomona, and we’ve been doing a good job of that today. We racked up all the qualifying points today. It was another great day – stout runs, and we have a good hot rod for tomorrow.”
Chad Green jumped to the second spot during the final qualifier with a run of 3.876 at 325.77 and Ron Capps took third on the strength of a 3.878 at 333.33.
In a Top Fuel field filled with championship contenders, it was part-time racer T.J. Zizzo who impressed the most for the second time this season, racing to the No. 1 spot with a run of 3.714 at 327.66 in his 11,000-horsepower Rust-Oleum dragster. It’s the second career No. 1 qualifier for the veteran, who earned his first career top spot earlier this year in Chicago. He put together a similar performance on Saturday in St. Louis, holding off an absolutely…
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