After making history during his Funny Car championship campaign during the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing Countdown to 1 first time champion Robert Hight immediately began working towards his title defense. A busy off-season was interrupted briefly in December for the Auto Club John Force Racing Fan Cruise. In early January the driver of the Auto Club Ford Mustang was in Brownsburg, Indiana at the John Force Racing facility making sure his Mustang and crew were ready to go for the 2010 Full Throttle season.
While he was in the shop Hight took a moment to personally make one major adjustment to his Mustang for the 2010 Full Throttle season. The former crewman and sixth year driver applied the no. 1 decal, symbolic of his team’s Full Throttle Funny Car championship, to his Auto Club Ford Mustang.
“Honestly it is still hard to get used to seeing. I know when I used to see the no. 1 on someone else’s car I wanted to go after that guy. It is a little like putting a target on my Auto Club Ford Mustang. I knew how I felt when I was chasing the car with the no. 1 on the side and now I am that car,” said Hight. “People have said it is tougher to stay on top or to repeat as champion. I know this season will be tough but I am looking forward to defending this championship and keeping this no. 1 for more than one season.”
Hight, the 2005 Auto Club Road to the Future winner, narrowly edged out teammate Ashley Force Hood for the championship. After making the Countdown to 1 in the 10th and final spot at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, Hight won three of the final six races of the season to clinch his first title. It has been seven seasons since a driver defended his Funny Car championship. The last driver to achieve that feat was Hight’s team owner, teammate and mentor John Force who ended a streak of ten consecutive Funny Car championships in 2002.
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