Chevrolet obtiene títulos de NHRA en Pomona

When the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season wrapped up on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, it featured a familiar theme. 

Multiple Chevrolet teams came out on top. 

The In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at the historic track in Pomona, California, capped Austin Prock’s dominant run to his first Funny Car title in his John Force Racing (JFR) Chevrolet Camaro SS. Meanwhile, fellow Team Chevy racer Greg Anderson drove his KB Titan Racing Camaro SS to his sixth Pro Stock championship after coming out on top in a winner-take-all final round against his KB Titan teammate Dallas Glenn.

Prock concluded 2024 with a runner-up finish to his JFR stablemate Jack Beckman at Pomona, ending a season in which he scored eight victories (including the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park), posted 12 final-round appearances, and broke his boss John Force's record for single-season No. 1 qualifying efforts in the Funny Car category with 15. Plus, to close out the dream year, in Sunday's first round Prock reached 341.68 mph, the fastest speed ever recorded at an NHRA event.  

"How about that Chevrolet?" Prock said of his record run. "That was awesome. It caught me off guard, honestly. We were just really trying to go from A to B. To go 341 mph and some change in a Chevrolet Camaro, that's something to be proud of. I just can't thank Chevrolet enough for everything they've done for us over the years. I'm proud to race for them." 

Prock, a former open-wheel competitor who first joined JFR driving a Top Fuel dragster, was unsure if he'd even be racing in 2024. But three-time Funny Car champion and company president Robert Hight had to step out of his car before the season began with a medical issue. Prock slid into Hight's seat in the Funny Car tuned by Jimmy Prock, Austin's father and a legend in the crew chief ranks. Austin's brother Thomas serves as the team's co-crew chief with Nate Hildahl.

The combination paid immediate dividends and led to a dominant campaign throughout the regular season and six-race Countdown to the Championship, culminating in JFR’s 21st Funny Car championship and 23rd overall.

"Everyone at John Force Racing, we're surrounded by such great people, such great sponsors," Prock said. "[This team] gives you so much confidence to go after something like this. This is 19 years in the making. I started racing when I was 10 years old and all I wanted to do was be a professional race car driver. I'm so proud to drive this Chevrolet with AAA Auto Club, Cornwell Tools and everyone that's a part of this."

The title was the eighth by a Chevrolet driver in the Funny Car category. 

Sixteen-time Funny Car champion John Force also started the year strong with two victories in the first seven events to reach 157 in his legendary career. However, a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond in June took him out of the car for the rest of the season.

With a rule in place allowing for a replacement driver to score points for a car's primary driver in a maximum of eight events, JFR tapped 2012 Funny Car champion Jack Beckman to close out the campaign. Beckman scored victories at WWT Raceway near St. Louis and on Sunday at Pomona, bringing his career win total to 35. He ultimately finished as runner-up in the standings, with the points going to Force.

In Sunday’s all-JFR final round, Beckman posted a career-best time of 3.812-seconds at 327.35 mph to defeat the slowing Prock, who had once again qualified No. 1 on the weekend. 

In Top Fuel, two-time champion Brittany Force drove her JFR Chevrolet dragster to a fifth-place result in the final standings. She also scored her first victory in two years in the season's penultimate event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a storybook ending, the win came in her father John Force's first trip back to the track since his accident. 

In the Camaro-heavy Pro Stock ranks, the battle looked like it would come down to Glenn of KB Titan Racing and Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield. However, Anderson stayed in the picture throughout the Countdown and grabbed his sixth championship by beating Glenn in Sunday’s final round after qualifying in the No. 1 spot. Anderson turned in a 6.501-second pass at 211.30 mph to narrowly defeat Glenn’s 6.516 at 210.50.   

The win was Anderson’s third of the season and 106th of his career.

"I can't even explain it, "Anderson said. "That's incredible. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined. All these young guys are so bad to the bone. They're so good. It's so hard to win out here. I haven't been able to win for the last three months. I've had a great car, but haven't been able to win. I had a rocket ship today. My boys did it for me; I didn't screw it up. They did it for me. We're World Champions again. It feels so good." 

Anderson’s victory was the 401st in the Pro Stock category for Chevrolet, and the Bowtie’s 282nd triumph in the Camaro.  

Glenn posted five victories on the season en route to a runner-up finish in the standings, while Stanfield claimed a series-best six Wally trophies on his way to a third-place points result.  

Chevrolet also turned in a strong campaign in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, led by Joe Sorensen piloting his 1969 Camaro to the Stock Eliminator championship. Additionally, Greg Stanfield guided his COPO Camaro to the Factory X title. 

In a 2024 season that was anything but ordinary, Chevrolet still found a way to win again and again. 

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