PEAK Motorsports Update- September 3, 2024

NHRA: Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals- Indianapolis

Tuesday, September 3, 2024: Austin Prock applied an exclamation point to his team’s domination of the regular season Monday, driving the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS past the two-time defending champion Ron Capps in the final round of 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

At the wheel of a John Force Racing Chevy prepared by his dad with input from his brother, and with his grandfather watching, the 29-year-old Funny Car rookie went wire-to-wire in drag racing’s biggest single event.

Indeed, after losing in his last start with an uncharacteristic 0.118 starting line reaction time, Prock was 0.063, 0.057, 0.060 and 0.055 on Monday on the way to winning for the fifth time in 14 regular season events in the Mission Foods Series.  

The car’s consistency famously matched that of the driver. After qualifying low at 3.855, the blue and black Chevy stopped the timers Monday in 3.850, 3.879, 3.887 and 3.885 seconds. The only real scare came in the second round when Alexis DeJoria laid down at 3.876. Prock made that slightly quicker time a loser, though, with an .027 of a second edge at the starting line.

Meanwhile, facing the prospect of missing the playoffs in Top Fuel for the first time in her career, Brittany Force responded in a manner one would expect of a driver with her pedigree, powering her Chevrolet Accessories dragster past two former World Champions before succumbing to a loss of traction in the semifinals.

That performance assured the 38-year-old a berth in the Countdown where she will be seeking her third series championship in the last eight years. 

The number one qualifier at Indy for the fourth time in her last five starts, she stopped 2013 World Champion Shawn Langdon in a first round nailbiter that ended in a massive fireball as the supercharger failed almost at the instant that she crossed the line in 3.700 seconds at 333.49 mph, second best of eliminations. 

The margin at the finish was 0.005 of a second, making it the closest race of the weekend during which she posted quick time (3.693 seconds) and top speed (334.32 mph).

After stopping Langdon, she used a 0.049 reaction time to get a jump on 10-time U.S. Nationals champion Tony Schumacher and never trailed, winning in 3.779 seconds. Schumacher crossed the line in 3.792 seconds. Her title bid ran out against eventual race winner Clay Millican in the semifinals where she lost traction and slowed to 8.988 seconds at only 60 mph.

Jack Beckman had another solid day in the seat of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Camaro, posting low elapsed time of eliminations at 3.842 seconds, but his semifinal loss to Capps created a position swap that will send him into the Countdown as John Force’s flag bearer in the number six position instead of the number five slot in which he started the race.

The number three qualifier, Beckman stopped Dale Creasy Jr. in round one, 3.842 seconds to a surprisingly close 3.950. He then turned back two-time former World Champion Cruz Pedregon, 3.870 to 3.949, before his Camaro lost traction against Capps and slowed to 7.691 seconds at only 97 mph in the semi’s.

The NHRA teams have the upcoming weekend off to prep for the start of the six race Countdown to the Championship that begins in Reading, Pennsylvania, September 13-15th.