“My goal going into this year was to finish fourth or better I would be pumped with that. To be fighting for first or second this year has gone better than I ever expected it to. When you are right in the middle of it you get greedy and you want everything. Really if you take a step back I never expected to be running for first. Now after this year we will be gunning for first,” said Force Hood. “That is not to take away from my team we are only three years in. It is not something I expected to happen. The sky is the limit for us next year. If we can have a team like we did this year next year sometimes luck plays a part in it. We will just do the best we can. Either way if we can be celebrating in Pomona everything that builds up the stress and the anxiety doesn’t matter. In Pomona if one of our teams is on that stage in first place that is all that matters. That is what we have been working for all season.”
After the race team leader John Force was happy for the success Hight is experiencing especially since he has seen him miss a number of championship opportunities.
“We still haven’t wrapped it up but (Robert) has a heck of a lead. Ashley still has a shot. At the end of the day for Auto Club it is great. They have been real loyal. They have stood by us. Even when we struggled they supported us. For Ford motor company in this economy it is a great time to deliver a win. This only makes sense if we can pull it off. One more race and we will know. I have two cars trying to run for the championship. We will be rooting for them and pulling hard for it,” said Force.
“If you look back a few years ago Robert should have won the year Eric (Medlen) was killed. We had to go into missing races and we didn’t make it. That hurt us. Now the new Countdown actually gave him a chance to get back in at Indy. The car has been magic ever since.”
In order to get to the second round Force had to face one of his toughest opponents Cruz Pedregon. The 14-time champion was up to the fight and grabbed the win with a tire smoking Mustang swinging 4.662 to 4.855 battle. At the top end Force was over the top as he described the ride.
“I wanted to give these fans a show so they will go buy Castrol motor oil, Ford Mustangs and Auto Club insurance. I have to tell you that race was for me. That was a great white knuckler against my buddy, Cruz Pedregon. I was sideways and I was like I am going to take the whole side of this hunk. I love this hot rod. I love my team of Austin Coil and Bernie (Fedderly).”
Mike Neff was pulling double duty (driving and tuning) with a twist as he tuned and drove his Ford Drive One Mustang that was resting on one of the new John Force Racing chassis. The switch to the new chassis gave the 2005 Funny Car champion crew chief a new set of issues to deal with. He was up to the task getting his car qualified by in the first round he did not have enough to get around jack Beckman.
“It was a disappointing weekend for us. It is kind of the new car blues. The new chassis we built is great and it will be better than what we have. The problem that we discovered is the parts we put on it that control all the electronics it changed everything. We couldn’t get a handle on it. It kind of threw us a curve ball. We are going to fix all that and go to Pomona. We will be close and take a shot at it. The biggest thing here for Team Force is we are thrilled to see Robert win. We want to put a nail in that coffin for the championship. That is what it is all about and that is what our goal is. That makes me feel good even after out disappointment. It turned out to be a good weekend,” said Neff.
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