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John Force Racing
Robert Hight Pre-Race Package
Event: 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented Castrol Syntec, 2nd race of Countdown to 1 and 20th of 24 events in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Site: Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas
Dates: September 24-27, 2009
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HIGHT ROCKS CHARLOTTE; LOOKING TO GET ON ROLL IN DALLAS
“It’s a perfect time to be on this roll and continue the momentum that we have going on here. I’m excited about that, and as a race-car driver in any form of motorsports, the more you’re in a car every week, you don’t get out, there are no days off, I think you perform better. It just gets easier at least it does for me. I’m excited about going to Dallas this weekend and continuing this streak,” said Robert Hight.
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Team info at www.johnforceracing.com
Follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing
Follow John Force RaceStation store at www.twitter.com/JFRaceStation
Follow Courtney Force at www.twitter.com/courtneyforce
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The Driver
Robert Hight, 40, driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, is entering the 2009 Countdown to 1 in the 10th spot. He clinched his Countdown to 1 spot by reaching the finals at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, a feat he accomplished for the fourth year in a row (two wins 2006 and 2008). 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:
3 – Hight’s position entering the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals, the 2nd Countdown to 1 race
4 – Hight’s finish in the 2008 Full Throttle point standings
5 – Number of points Hight edged out Cruz Pedregon for final Countdown position
7 – Number of positions Hight jumped after first Countdown to 1 race in 2009
10 – Hight’s position entering the Full Throttle Countdown to 1 point standings
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Full Throttle Point Standings after 19 NHRA events
FUNNY CAR – 1. Tony Pedregon, 2148; 2. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2147; 3. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 2120; 4. Ron Capps, 2115; 5. Bob Tasca III, 2112; 6. Jack Beckman, 2103; 7. Tim Wilkerson, 2076; 8. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2070; 9. Del Worsham, 2053; 10. Mike Neff, Ford Drive One Mustang, 2045.
TOP FUEL – 1. Cory McClenathan, 2162; 2. Antron Brown, 2152; 2. Tony Schumacher, 2152; 4. Larry Dixon, 2141; 5. Shawn Langdon, 2113; 6. Brandon Bernstein, 2098; 7. Spencer Massey, 2076; 8. Morgan Lucas, 2065; 9. Doug Kalitta, 2042; 10. Clay Millican, 2031.
PRO STOCK – 1. Mike Edwards, 2198; 2. Jeg Coughlin, 2142; 3. Jason Line, 2136; 3. Greg Stanfield, 2136; 5. Allen Johnson, 2128; 6. Greg Anderson, 2092; 7. Kurt Johnson, 2079; 8. Johnny Gray, 2053; 9. Ron Krisher, 2040; 10. Rickie Jones, 2020.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE – 1. Hector Arana, 2194; 2. Eddie Krawiec, 2185; 3. Andrew Hines, 2125; 4. Douglas Horne, 2121; 5. Karen Stoffer, 2094; 6. Matt Smith, 2093; 7. Shawn Gann, 2092; 8. Michael Phillips, 2085; 9. Craig Treble, 2072; 10. Matt Guidera, 2020.
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TRACK RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.820 seconds by Larry Dixon, Sept. ’08; 315.19 mph by Brandon Bernstein, Sept. ’08
Funny Car - 4.063 seconds by Robert Hight, Sept. ’08; 304.67 mph by Melanie Troxel, Sept. ’08
Pro Stock - 6.631 seconds by Jeg Coughlin, Sept. ’08; 208.26 mph by Warren Johnson, Sept. ’08
Pro Stock Motorcycle - 6.970 seconds by Eddie Krawiec, Sept. ’08; 191.92 mph by Krawiec, Sept. ’08
(Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; PS and PSM race distance is 1,320 feet)
NATIONAL RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.771 sec. by Tony Schumacher, Oct. ’08, Richmond, Va.; 319.22 mph by Antron Brown, Sept. ’09, Indianapolis
Funny Car - 4.023 sec. by Ron Capps, Feb. ’09, Chandler, Ariz.; 312.13 mph by Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, April ’09, Atlanta
Pro Stock - 6.528 sec. by Greg Anderson, Feb. ’09, Pomona, Calif.; 212.03 mph by Mike Edwards, March ’09, Baytown, Texas
PS Motorcycle – 6.860 sec. by Andrew Hines, May ’09, Madison, Ill.; 197.45 mph by A. Hines, March ’05, Gainesville, Fla.
(Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; PS and PSM race distance is 1,320 feet)
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Race Schedule:
Friday, Sept. 25
Top Alcohol Qual. 12:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
Nitro Qualifying: 2:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 26
Top Alcohol Qual. 1:15 p.m.
Pro Qualifying: noon and 3:15 p.m.
Top Alcohol Rnd 1 4:15 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 27
Pre-race ceremonies 10:00 a.m.
Final eliminations 11:00 a.m.
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Television:
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise 2 hours of qualifying highlights at 12:15 a.m. (ET)
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Sept. 27, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise 3 hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).
ROBERT HIGHT
HIGHT ROCKS CHARLOTTE; LOOKING TO GET ON ROLL IN DALLAS
DALLAS, TX (September 22, 2009) --- It takes a long time to turn grapes into a fine wine. There is a point along the process where the fluid is not quite wine and not really grapes. It is in the final stages of becoming something special.
That is the position Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team emerged last weekend at the 2nd annual NHRA Carolina Nationals. Labor Day weekend Hight raced to the final round at the largest and most prestigious race, the Mac Tools U.S Nationals, and then two weeks later at the first Countdown to 1 race Hight steamrolled the competition and captured his first win of 2009 jumping from 10th place in the Countdown to 1 to 3rd place.
Just like that from a bunch of grapes to a fine wine. It appears to happen overnight but a good vintner will tell you it takes months and months plus lots of pressure. Hight know about pressure as he heads into the 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec. For the first seven months of the season Hight and his Auto Club team felt the pressure as the perennial championship contending team continually came up short week after week. Finally team owner John Force got involved and shook up Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock’s world.
Force moved Hight to his Castrol GTX High Mileage team and under the control of his Hall of Fame crew chief tandem of Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. A two race experiment was cut in half when Coil was admitted to an Indianapolis area hospital before the final regular season race. Hight moved back to his original team where a new attitude permeated the pits.
“I guess like John always says, its destiny. I would have still been in his car come Indianapolis had Austin Coil not been sick. With Austin not being there and him being in the hospital, John thought it would be best to go back with Jimmy Prock. The bottom line is, that I have been saying for a long time is that our car is close. We just have not had any luck, and we’ve had little things bite us, but we were never that far off. It just seemed like when John got in my car in Reading, Pennsylvania, that things finally came together for the team, and they have been rolling ever since,” said Hight.
“I’m a big baseball fan and when I used to watch the Dodgers back in the ’80s, I’d watch the manager, Tommy Lasorda, and he would coach third base some of the innings. Last year when he came to the Auto Club Finals he was the grand marshal of our race and I asked him what was all that about, and he said you’ve got to just shake things up a bit. When the batter looks out th
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