Robert Hight and his Jimmy Prock tuned Auto Club Ford Mustang dominated their competitors at the 9th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals today in way that was reminiscent of last year’s Countdown performance by Cruz Pedregon in grabbing their third win in five races. Hight ran the quickest elapsed time of every elimination round in route to his third victory in five races.
In the first round he faced arguably the toughest car all year in the Funny Car category teammate Ashley Force Hood and her Castrol GTX Mustang. Coming into the race he had a thirteen point lead over Force Hood but in an unlikely turn of events Force Hood struggled in qualifying and was forced to race a teammate in the opening stanza. Hight knew whoever won that race would have a great shot at winning the entire event and setting themselves up for the Full Throttle Funny Car championship.
“I knew that we would figure this thing out and fix it. Jimmy Prock has just done such a great job since the Countdown started even at Indy getting three wins in the countdown in five races. That is stout. It has all been on performance. We have not gotten lucky. I haven’t had to pedal the race car. We have just out muscled these guys,” said Hight.
“That is what Cruz Pedregon did last year. To have a 105 point lead going into Pomona it gives you a lot of confidence. It is still not over. I think the only person that really has a chance is Ashley. I still believe if she would have beat me first round she would be standing here today. That is a great race car. They are the reason we are on this Countdown. They fixed us. It is amazing what a win can do and get you that confidence back. You can see it in Jimmy Prock. He is not lost out there. He doesn’t go to the car a hundred times and change things. He might make a little change here and there in the staging lanes. That was a close race in the final. It hurt itself. All the rest of the runs this weekend were on performance.”
In the past five seasons Hight has been in contention for the Funny Car championship but for the first time he will be heading into the Auto Club Finals as the points leader. The former crewman for John Force Racing is excited about the final race of the season but also wary of getting over confident. Hight’s confidence is directly attributed to the performance improvement of his Auto Club Mustang.
“My Auto Club Mustang’s performance gives you a lot of confidence. You don’t have to go out there and do dumb things trying to pull wins out. I did that earlier in the year when we were struggling. I got lucky since I never red-lit. I was trying to do too much because I knew the car needed little help. It doesn’t work that way. You have to do what you know how to do. It is all about confidence,” said Hight.
“I never thought I would get to this point. I never thought I would get to drive a race car. I was happy and content to be driving down the road in one of John Force’s trucks and working on his race car. I just owe it all to him for giving me this opportunity to come out here. When you are on a team like this you are expected to win. That put a little added pressure on you. You also know you have good equipment and a good car. That makes it easier to learn and trust me I am still learning. “
Hight defeated Force Hood in the first round then solidly outran John Force in the second round 4.125 to Force’s tire smoking 5.723 seconds. In the semis Hight made the quickest Funny Car lap of the day under the hottest conditions a blistering 4.08 at 312.57 mph to Tim Wilkerson’s 4.233 at 285.41 mph. In the final Hight outdistanced Beckman 4.125 to 4.154 in a spectacular fire spewing side by side race.
Ashley Force Hood entered the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals in second place in the point standings and she is leaving in second place. Unfortunately she knows that her championship aspirations are now a little more of a long shot. Each season she has improved in the point standings and this year she is in contention for her first title in only her third year driving a Fuel Funny Car.
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