It all comes down to the Auto Club NHRA Finals, November 10-13. Years ago this race was known as the World Finals and for Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team winning this race and possibly a second NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship is not an out of this world proposition. Hight is 71 points behind point leader Matt Hagan and as recent history has shown anything can happen at the last race of the season.
“I know I have a tough point deficit to overcome but John has always said you fight until they tell you there is no way to earn enough points to win the championship. No one has told me I can’t earn enough points to win so we are going to Auto Club Raceway with a focus on winning the Full Throttle Funny Car championship,” said Hight.
The win in Reading midway through the Countdown was a turning point for the Auto Club Funny Car team. Since that win Hight’s team has had an up and down experience in Phoenix and Las Vegas. They have had good qualifying efforts and poor race day performances. Hight is looking to put the total package together during the last race of the season. Auto Club Raceway at Pomona is a track that Hight has had much success and heading into this weekend’s event Hight is looking to build on that positive mojo.
“I have won at Auto Club Raceway four times but only once at the last race of the season. I want to do well for my sponsors and for my crew guys. They have really given me a great car all season. We have five wins which is a career high and I can’t thank them enough,” said Hight, a former crew man on John Force’s championship Funny Car teams. “We are nominated for the Full Throttle Hard Working Crew award and I hope everyone goes to nhra.com to vote for my guys.”
The Auto Club Ford Mustang crew has been nominated for the Hard Working Crew award for their extraordinary efforts after a crewman, David “Shafty” Karcanes, was injured starting Hight’s Mustang at the Topeka national event. The crew pulled together and won the race which was the 200th Funny Car win for John Force Racing.
Hight will be battling some of the toughest Funny Car teams in recent history if he is going to win his second world championship. The Don Schumacher Racing backed duo of Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman are at the top of the points. Right behind them sits another tough combo of two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon and Hight’s JFR teammate Mike Neff. Hight will need some help to get around those four drivers but in recent weeks non-Countdown Funny Car teams have been eliminating Countdown teams so a favorable ladder could open the door for Hight and the Auto Club team to race through.
“I know I will need some help from the non-Countdown Funny Cars and I know John Force’s Castrol GTX HIGH MILEAGE Ford Mustang is ready to do some damage to help me and Neff by taking out some of the guys in front of us. It will be a great race from the first qualifying session on Thursday. Every point will help and I am going to be just thinking about one thing: winning,” concluded Hight.
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JFR history @ AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA:
Wins – 23 (13 in the season-ending Auto Club of Southern California Finals). 14 (8) by John Force for Castrol GTX (1988, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2010 Auto Club Finals; 1991, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2010 Winternationals; 2001 NHRA 50th Anniversary Nationals); four by Robert Hight for the Automobile Club of Southern California (2006, 2008 and 2011 Winternationals; 2007 Auto Club Finals); three by Tony Pedregon for Castrol SYNTEC (1999, 2003 Winternationals; 1997 Auto Club Finals); one by Mike Neff for Ford Drive One (2009 Auto Club Finals); and one by Ashley Force Hood for Castrol GTX (2004 in Top Alcohol Dragster).
Last year – After qualifying second, John Force entered the elimination phase 38 points down to Matt Hagan for the 2010 championship. When Hagan was upset in round one by Bob Tasca III, it gave Force the opening he needed and he drove through it, winning the race and clinching his 15th NHRA Championship. Daughter Ashley Force Hood also made up ground on the final day and finished third.
Notable #1 – John Force has won 106 racing rounds at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the only pro driver to have won as many as 100 racing rounds at a single race track. Force has won 47 rounds in the Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals and 55 in the Auto Club Finals. The other four round wins came in the one-time 50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals contested in 2001.
Notable #2 – John Force and Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. share the distinction of being the only drivers to have won three different events at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Both won the 50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals contested in 2001; both have earned multiple victories in the Winternationals and Auto Club Finals.
Notable #3 – Robert “Top Gun” Hight has qualified his Auto Club Ford No. 1 38 times in 132 starts on the Full Throttle tour. Nevertheless, three of his four victories at Auto Club Raceway, including a 2007 win in the Auto Club Finals, came from starts outside the quick 8. He won the Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals from the No. 12 and No. 9 positions in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and the Auto Club Finals from No. 14. His victory in this year’s season-opener came from a No. 4 start.
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