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John Force Racing
Hight Pre-Race Package
Event: 22nd annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, 4th of 24 events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Site: Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas
Dates: Mar. 27-29, 2009
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HIGHT LOOKING TO RELIVE ROOKIE MOMENT IN HOUSTON
“If the race track is good it doesn’t matter where you are at. You simply have to be better than the other guys. That is all it amounts to. If the track is underwater and you have to run on it you still have to do it better than the other guy.” – Robert Hight
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Follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing
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The Driver
Robert Hight, 39, driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, is entering 2009 following his fourth consecutive Full Throttle Top Five finish. He is the only Funny Car driver to have led the points each of the last four seasons. The 2005 winner of the Auto Club’s Road to the Future award that identifies the Rookie of the Year, he owns the two quickest 1000 foot times in Funny Car history (4.056 and 4.005 seconds) and well as the quickest quarter mile times in Funny Car history (4.646 and 4.636 seconds).
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Robert Hight By the Numbers:
0 – Number of wins by Hight in 2009
1 – Number of wins at Houston Raceway Park for Hight (rookie year of 2005)
2 – Number of starts at Houston Raceway Park for Hight (2005 and 2006)
5 – Most races he has competed in to open a season without a win
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Full Throttle Point Standings (After three events of 24 Full Throttle events)
FUNNY CAR - 1. Ron Capps, 263; 2. Bob Tasca III, 225; 3. Del Worsham, 188; 4. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 164; 5. Mike Neff, Ford Drive One Mustang, 163; 6. Tony Pedregon, 160; 7. Matt Hagan, 157; 8. Jim Head, 155; 9. John Force, Castrol EDGE Ford Mustang, 146; 10. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 145.
TOP FUEL – 1. Antron Brown, 259; 2. Brandon Bernstein, 239; 3. Larry Dixon, 206; 4. Doug Kalitta, 194; 5. Tony Schumacher, 181; 6. Cory McClenathan, 178; 7. Morgan Lucas, 176; 8. Shawn Langdon, 137; 9. Spencer Massey, 122; 10. Joe Hartley, 95.
PRO STOCK – 1. Jason Line, 285; 2. Allen Johnson, 228; 3. Jeg Coughlin, 223; 4. Greg Anderson, 212; 5. Mike Edwards, 211; 6. Kurt Johnson, 182; 7. Greg Stanfield, 176; 8. Ron Krisher, 134; 9. Jim Yates, 116; 9. Johnny Gray, 116; 11. Rickie Jones, 137.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE - 1. Hector Arana, 117; 2. Matt Smith, 98; 3. Karen Stoffer, 56; 4. Angie McBride, 55; 5. Andrew Hines, 74; 6. Shawn Gann, 72; 7. Craig Treble, 34; 8. Eddie Krawiec, 53; 8. Steve Johnson, 53.
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Track Records:
Top Fuel* - 4.480 seconds by Gary Scelzi, Oct. '99; 335.32 mph by Tony Schumacher, April '05
Funny Car* - 4.695 seconds by John Force, March '06; 328.06 mph by John Force, March '06
Pro Stock - 6.638 seconds by Kurt Johnson, March '08; 209.10 mph by Warren Johnson, March '08
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.929 seconds by Matt Smith, March '08; 195.73 mph by Andrew Hines, April '05
(*performance records will not be officially recorded in Top Fuel and Funny Car at this event)
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Race Schedule:
Friday –
FC Qualifying: 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Saturday –
FC Qualifying: Noon and 3:30 p.m.
Sunday –
Pre-race: 10:00 a.m.
Final eliminations: 11:00 a.m.
ROBERT HIGHT
HIGHT LOOKING TO RELIVE ROOKIE MOMENT IN HOUSTON
Baytown, TX (March 25, 2009) --- Robert “Top Gun” Hight is frustrated. He knows he has one of the best cars, best teams, and best organizations in the National Hot Rod Association. He knows they have all the pieces. They have seen flashes already this season but they haven’t been able to get the pieces to fit together yet.
Heading into the 22nd annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals Hight is looking to reach back into the past and relive some of his rookie year magic. It was at the Houston Raceway Park in 2005 that the young rookie impressed the NHRA universe by picking up his first career win in only his fourth start as a full-time driver.
He qualified number one at that event and plowed through four rounds of racing on Sunday trailering Bob Gilberton, Tommy Johnson Jr., John Force and Cruz Pedregon in the final. The past three years at Houston Raceway Park have been less than forgettable. In 2006 he was the number two qualifier but lost in the first round to Bob Gilbertson. The next two year Hight didn’t make a pass on Sunday. In 2007 the entire John Force Racing operation skipped the Houston event following the tragic death of teammate Eric Medlen. Last year, Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock could never get a handle on the tricky track conditions and he suffered his only DNQ of 2008.
This season Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team have gotten off to a slower than usual start. They qualified number one at the rain impaired Winternationals in Pomona and reached the semis before losing to eventual winner Ron Capps. In Phoenix Hight qualified in the top half of the field (No. 5) but lost in the second round to Del Worsham. Two weeks ago Hight qualified No. 10 and made an early first round exit losing to rookie of the year front-runner Matt Hagan.
Hight knows success is right around the corner and it all comes back to the basics no matter what is going on with his Auto Club Ford Mustang, the track, or the weather.
“If the race track is good it doesn’t matter where you are at. Honestly it doesn’t matter where you are at anyway. You simply have to be better than the other guys. That is all it amounts to. If the track is underwater and you have to run on it you still have to do it better than the other guy,” said Hight.
Following his early exit at Gainesville Hight chronicled the team’s struggles but also related that he knew they would rebound.
“We just have to do a better job than we are doing. I honestly feel lucky to have qualified (in Gainesville). We really didn’t fix anything from the first run (when it blew up supercharger). We still have to fix that problem. We’ll keep working hard. Next up is Houston where I won my first event and we’ll try to do it again,” said a hopeful Hight.
Robert Hight has never started a season without winning at least one of the first five events. In the previous three years he picked up two wins in the season opening race in Pomona (2006 and 2008) and then in Las Vegas (2007). For one of the hottest drivers on the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series a win in Houston would do a lot to ramp up his chances for his first Full Throttle Funny Car World Championship.
“I firmly believe that if you can reach at least the semi-finals at every race you will win the championship. I want to win races though. We have a team capable of doing that. We just need to keep working hard and smart then things will start happening for us. Hopefully, that will happen in Houston,” said Hight.
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Did you know…
- Hight along with other NHRA stars will be competing in the U.S. Bowling Congress Open Championships on April 2nd the Thursday before the Las Vegas NHRA National event
- Hight is featured in behind the scenes segment for Full Throttle TV at Ben Avery Clay Target Center in Phoenix to show off his trapshooting skills and teaching host Jessi Combs the ropes
- Over the off-season Hight built a full size practice tree simulator at the John Force Racing Yorba Linda shop. The simulator allows JFR drivers to sit in a full size funny car and visually and physically experience reacting to the Christmas Tree
- Hight is the only funny car driver to have led the points the past four seasons. He is currently in 4th place 99 points behind Ron Capps for the points lead.
Follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing
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