Austin Prock believes this was the most important lesson John Force ever taught him.

The so-called rookie, who is filling in for Robert Hight, who has won everything but the Missouri Lottery, believes the most important takeaway from the lessons he learned from John Force is to soak up knowledge like a sponge, even if he has been practicing his craft for five decades.

In his opinion, Force has a lot to master if he can learn something new.

“That speaks to his success,” Prock said. “He’s one of the greatest there’s ever been. He drives, he wins, he gets sponsors, he puts together a team that can win with the right people and partners behind him. So yeah, I’ve been lucky to have a lot of great mentors and I grew up around a lot of smart people. Our family was blessed in motorsports in that regard. Just taking it all in and continuing to go day by day and continuing to learn.”

“These race cars are beasts and they always challenge you. You’re always learning something new that opens up new opportunities for you. My dad and a lot of the successful people here, Austin Coil, believe that if you stop learning, you might as well give up because you’ll never improve and you’ll never get better and you’ll never be the best. So you’ve always got to keep learning and I always find ways to do that.”

One aspect that Prock seems to have mastered early in his Funny Car career is winning. Think about it. He has reached the final round in over half of the Funny Car races he has entered, winning seven times, and starting the No. 1 car in 11 races.

The numbers speak volumes: Prock has scored 70 lap wins in 70 races during his entire time as a Top Fuel driver, including four national event wins and three No. 1 qualifiers.

Although he could easily win a series championship, it’s not in Prock’s DNA. He plans to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He’ll drive a Camaro Funny Car tuned by his father and brother, filling in for a famous champion in high-octane.

“You don’t get many, if any, chances like that in your life,” Prock said. “So I knew it was serious, and I knew this race car could win races and championships, and I knew I had to drive it brilliantly. I strive for perfection, and I haven’t been perfect all year.”

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“You’re always working to get better. And every time I get in that race car, I feel like I’m learning something new, feeling more comfortable, maybe getting a little confused, just going through the balances of life and trying to organize it all to stay cool, calm and composed when the pressure is on.”

From the beginning of the season, Prock was excited about the new opportunity and to outsiders it seemed as if not much was expected of the young driver, apart from not being able to handle the race car. After all, he was only a rookie.

“There was pressure, but it was different,” Prock admitted. “I just went up there and did my job, and the longer the race went on, the further the season went on, and the more successful we were, the more the pressure got more and more. And sometimes you have to make a fresh start and just realize that you’re driving a nitro funny car for John Force. Your dad and your brother are tuning it with a great team behind me, and why don’t you go out there and enjoy it, and the cards will fall as they will fall.”

And for Prock, it would be better if those cards ended up in an NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series championship, because anything else would be a major failure.

“I think I’m a little more open about it than maybe my dad,” Prock said. “Even if we have a good run and he doesn’t get exactly what he wants to get, he gets mad, and that’s what I mean about striving for perfection. You don’t succeed unless you work hard and keep learning and just try to squeeze out every little thing to make that perfect run, which, as Frank Hawley would say, is impossible. So yeah, you just have to keep honing it. And my dad did a great job of that this year, but that’s what makes him one of the best. That’s what separates him from good to great.”

In Jimmy Prock’s case, the runner-up is the first loser. This story is told at every successful performance.

“That’s the problem with drag racing,” Prock said. “If you don’t win, you lose. You didn’t come second, you didn’t come third. You either win or you lose. And that’s what makes this sport so great, and that’s what makes it so miserable, because there’s nothing in between, everybody out here wants to win, and there’s only one winner, and the rest are losers.”