John Force is 75 years old and still racing; this will not last forever, and while he has no plans to retire anytime soon, he knows who will take his position when he does.
Sixteen-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force says he isn’t ready to retire just yet, but he had a reason to surprise the drag racing community a week ago when he named Austin Prock as his successor. “All I was saying was here is the future of John Force Racing, this kid right here, and I handed him the trophy,” the 75-year-old Force recalled as he prepared for the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. “There is no reason for me, at my age, to stay forever. It wouldn’t make sense for me to stay in my seat and take a youngster with his talent out.
The fans really react funny, and a driver that takes my seat might make some of them mad, so I’m just telling them early. He’s coming because we want to keep winning and he’s the guy that will be able to do that for me.”
Prock’s family works for John Force Racing, and Force noted he’s known Prock since he was a “little, tiny kid sitting on the tailgate of my truck.”
I raced his grandpa in Funny Car and his dad Jimmy (Prock) has been with me forever,” said Force, who recorded his 157th Funny Car career victory in the NHRA Mission Foods Series event at Epping, N.H. “So, they’re family and he (Austin Prock) belongs here.”
The 28-year-old Prock, who led the NHRA Funny Car standings heading into the Bristol event, said he was speechless at Force’s comments.
“We’ve been talking about this for a really long time, but it’s never been public,” says Prock, who is in his rookie season in Funny Car. “When he said it, I was like ‘Shit, John! You’re not supposed to say that!’
