Prock Second, Beckman Third in Winternationals Funny Car Qualifying
POMONA, Calif., March 28, 2025 – Denied a Friday victory in the final
round of the relocated Right Trailers All-Star Callout, Brittany Force
still managed to drive her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster to the
provisional No. 1 qualifying position for Sunday’s 65th annual Lucas
Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
In the Funny Car division, reigning World Champion Austin Prock was
second after the first two of four qualifying sessions in his Cornwell
Tools Chevrolet SS, one position ahead of teammate Jack Beckman, who ran
his streak to eight consecutive qualifying sessions with at least one
bonus point at the wheel of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy.
“It was a nice run,” Prock said of his 3.837 second effort at 333.28
miles per hour. “This Cornwell Tools / Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet SS
is heading in the right direction. We’ve been struggling a little bit
with these cooler track conditions (but) made some progress today.”
Prock, who is seeking his first No. 1 start of the season after
qualifying No. 1 in 15 of 20 races a year ago, believes the best is yet
to come.
“It still has a bunch more left in it,” he said. “And the
conditions are going to be similar all weekend long, so we’ll just
keep picking away at it but (this was) definitely a good way to end the
day.”
Brittany Force raced to times of 3.646 and 3.641 seconds in the first
two rounds of the Callout and officially became the third member of the
300 mile per hour to the 1/8th mile club Friday in Pomona. In doing so,
she set the fastest speed at that distance at 301.67 miles per hour
during round one but was eventually beaten in the final round by 2023
World Champion Doug Kalitta. She and Kalitta left the starting line in
unison with matching .053 reaction times before her potent Monster
slowed to 3.764 seconds at only 293.47 mph in the final.
“This is my home track, and we want to do well here,” said the
17-time tour winner who now is within reach of her 53rd career No. 1
start. “But, you know, we go right into this All-Star Call-out.
There’s a lot on the line and we wanted to win this thing but it’s
tough because those are qualifying runs.
“Unfortunately, we got beat in the (Callout) final,” she said. “We
put two 3.64s on the board but, in the final, I thought it had cylinders
out. It moved around a little and just before the 1,000 foot, it started
smoking and it jolted me forward in the car. So, I thought (Crew chief
David) Grubnic shut me off, which he didn’t. I’m guessing pan
pressure automatically shut me off, so I had no power.”
It was the two-time World Champion’s third runner-up finish in the
last four years in the Top Fuel bonus race, which was moved to Pomona
from Gainesville, Fla., because of weather.
The second round of the Callout, in which Force recorded her quickest
time while also running 300 miles per hour to the 1/8th mile once again,
did not count toward Winternationals qualifying which continues Saturday
with two final sessions that will set the starting fields in Top Fuel,
Funny Car and Pro Stock.
As for Beckman, who has won his last three starts at his home track, it
was more of the consistency his PEAK Chevy has shown all season long
with times of 3.868 and 3.855.
“Another great Friday for the PEAK Chevy,” he said. “Every single
qualifying run this year; we’ve been a top three car. Anybody that
says they don’t count points, they’re either lying or they’re bad
at math. We’re always counting points. It’s too early in the season
for it to really matter, but we’re trying to get every one we can.
“Case and point: we came into this race two points out of the lead. We
are now the Funny Car points leader with the three bonus points that we
earned and those are the ones that might decide a position or a
championship at the end of the year,” said the two-time World Champion
and 35-time Mission Foods tour winner.
“And we’re going to be even faster tomorrow,” he predicted. “On
Q1, we actually backed it down a little bit to make sure we got down the
track. On Q2, we were just too slow early (in the run). We can fix that
for tomorrow in my first Mission Food 2Fast2Tasty challenge race within
a race. I got my teammate Austin. It’s going to be for bragging
rights both on the win light and on the time slips and I’m looking
forward to another great Saturday.”