ATLANTA, Ga. (May 5, 2012) – RobertHight, driver of the Auto Club Ford Mustang, posted his best time in the second session Friday – a quick 4.104 ET that held the No. 1 spot throughout the end of qualifying today as the field was set at the 32nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Hight will lead the field into Sunday’s eliminations and continue to advance John Force Racing as a whole with the Auto Club team’s qualifying efforts. This makes for Hight’s fourth No. 1 qualifying position of the season. Hight made two laps today, smoking the tires at about the 300 ft. mark on his first lap of the day. On his second, with the track temperature rising, the Auto Club Ford Mustang put a 4.156 ET on the board. “We were testing a little bit the first run, and it didn’t make it, so Jimmy [Prock, crew chief] put it all back to normal. He said, ‘We have to make a run down the track in 130-degree-plus track temperature,’ because we didn’t have that yesterday. It was middle 120s. I’ll be honest with you; I think the right lane is probably the preferred lane, so to run a .15 in the left lane there, that was a statement,” said the crew member turned driver in 2005. “I saw Cruz [Pedregon] in front of me go 4.17, so you know the track’s good enough to hold it. I honestly was thinking if we could get somewhere around 4.17 we’d be good. I didn’t think we’d run a 4.15. Like I said, you gotta have a few breaks. Honestly, leaving the starting line on that run, I didn’t think it was going to make it. It made a hard move to the right, instantly, like right towards the tree. I brought it back and it stayed there the rest of the way so I got on the radio and said, ‘man, it almost didn’t make it. It made a hard right hand turn,’ because I knew I was pointed straight, I wasn’t pointed that way and (track specialist) Lanny Miglizzi told me that the right tire had more bald then the left and so the right one spun and the left one had traction and it shot me over there towards the tree. Luckily I was able to save it. Usually when you have to make a move that hard on a hot track like that on the starting line it’s over. Maybe we dodged the bullet, but we put a number on the board,” added Hight. Hight has competed at Atlanta Dragway eight times since the start of his Funny Car driving career. This is the first time he has qualified No. 1 for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Statistically, the Yorba Linda, Calif. native has qualified No. 1 for 43 out of 168 events, which equates to Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang grabbing the top spot every fourth race of his career on average. “There are a lot of cars that are bunched up there (number-wise, in the field). It’s going to be a tough, tough race tomorrow. I’m excited for it. You’re going to see a lot of close, side-by-side racing. It’s not easy. When you win a race like this, it’s probably a little more special. You probably are going to need a few breaks along the way because anything can happen in this heat. It’s tough,” said Hight. The Auto Club team has raced out to a powerful points lead in the Full Throttle Funny Car category. They have won four races to date for 2012 and raced to 17 consecutive round wins before falling to Ron Capps in the semi-finals in Houston last weekend. Hight’s 4.104 ET holding through the end of qualifying also gained one lucky fan a front loading washer and dryer combo for the fourth time this season, compliments of the BrandSource “Win with Force” promotion. As President of John Force Racing, Hight keeps an eye on the big picture going on around him. Hight’s boss and fifteen-time champion John Force made a good pass in the heat of the day during the fourth and final qualifying session. “That was stout, he (Force) stepped right up. Neff will be back next week too. He’s won the most rounds as a crew chief the last two years and happened to drive it last year. He’s the smartest racer there is out here so he’ll be back.” Throughout the weekend John Force and Castrol GTX HIGH MILEAGE Ford Mustang team have been making steady progress on a very tricky track. The crew-chief tandem of Dean “Guido” Antonelli and Danny DeGennaro have been building a tune-up combination that will not only work this weekend but also for the rest of the summer. “We have a whole new combination. Dean Antonelli and Danny DeGennaro have been working on it with support from John Medlen, Jimmy Prock and Mike Neff. I felt bad today about Mike Neff. I have two cars in the points lead Hight and Neff but I almost wish Mike was in instead of me but at the end of the day he is secure in the points right now and Courtney and I are a little vulnerable,” said Force, who is currently No. 8 in the Full Throttle points. “We need all these cars to go rounds. We are going to focus and work hard tomorrow. We are showing potential. We thought the heat would throw us a curve ball at us but we got through it and ran 4.19.” Force made the fourth quickest run of the final qualifying session when the conditions were at their hottest. His 4.190 second pass narrowly missed earning some of the valuable qualifying bonus points. Force was edged out by Jack Beckman’s 4.183 second pass three pairs after he ran. The seven-time Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals winner is confident he can have a shot tomorrow when he squares off with Cruz Pedregon for the 85th time. Force holds a 57-27 round win edge over the two-time Full Throttle Funny Car champ. “I know personally how to race this track and Guido knows how to race here. He won with Ashley. In the early days Guido and Coil won all kinds of races here. This combination is completely different. The tires are different, the chassis is different, the aero is different so we are all having to learn, learn, learn.” Shockingly Mike Neff, the No. 2 Funny Car in Full Throttle points, will be on the sidelines for tomorrow’s eliminations. This was only Neff’s 3rd DNQ and the last time the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was not going to be racing on Sunday was September 22, 2008, at AAA Texas Fall Nationals outside of Dallas, Texas. The winner of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals last weekend made the 17th quickest run of the event on Saturday and missed qualifying by .031 seconds to Bob Bode. Even with the DNQ Neff will most likely head into Topeka in two weeks in the same points position. It would take a win AND national record by Ron Capps to move around the driver and crew chief of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. “That is drag racing. We used all our luck up last week. We don’t get that much and we cashed it all in last week to get the win in Houston. I am fine. Of course you want to qualify at every race but you are going to have good days and bad days. We had a bad day today. Days like today are one thing that is positive for the Countdown,” said Neff, a class leading five-time winner last year in Funny Car. “This is not going to hurt us too bad. They are going to take our points away and reshuffle them anyway after Indy. My attitude changed some this season after how we finished last year. These early races are worth nothing at the end of the season. We are trying some different stuff and some of it is working and some of it isn’t. We will be alright and we will be back on track in Topeka. On Neff’s final run of the day he had a mechanical failure that forced his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to pop the blower at the top end. He was easily on a run that would have qualified him. “You always want to know the reason for the problems you have. The worst is not knowing. Something weird happened on the very first run we made here on Friday. It was running down there and the ‘pop’ there goes the blower so we were thinking ignition so we replaced all that,” said Neff. “Here again we are running good enough to qualify and then this cap for the spool where the barrel valve slides in , the snap ring or something, basically it unplugged the barrel valve while the fuel was in it so it lost all the fueland ran lean and popped the blower. It was running alright, it wasn’t going to be anything earthshattering. It was going to qualify.” Rookie of the Year candidate Courtney Force continued her consistent ways today qualifying for her seventh consecutive race to start the season. When you look at the list of drivers who have missed racing on Sunday over the past four races – Ron Capps (Las Vegas), Matt Hagan (Charlotte), Jack Beckman (Houston), and Mike Neff (Atlanta) – the driver of the Traxxas Ford Mustang knows she has been lucky and good. “This Traxxas Ford Mustang is getting qualified and there are so many great cars out here. We are able to say we are going into race day tomorrow with a shot at going rounds. I could not ask for a better team,” said Force, the No. 9 qualifier. “I make mistakes as a driver but having a team behind me that has faith in me and gives me a good race car. They work so hard to put this race car together. My guys have been flawless and they are also all new. They are learning just like me. The fact that we can say that we have qualified for every race so far is huge. It is a big deal especially for a rookie driver.” The past two days have been the hottest on the track and off for the Cal-State Fullerton graduate. With track temperatures soaring over 130 degrees getting a Funny Car down the track is anything but routine. “The heat is definitely a lot different. I think I have a great team behind me and that makes it a lot easier for me as a driver. I don’t have to worry about trying to pedal a car to try and get it qualified. They took me out there and I got a 4.15 and then we ran a 4.22 so we have been pretty consistent. I am a lucky driver. That last pass kind of got me. It shows I am still learning as a driver since I took it a little out of the groove on the outside.I brought it back but it still struck the tires pretty quick.That is something that you have to learn. You just have to be prepared to catch it. I was ready to get my car A to B so that is why it took me a little by surprise. I am having fun and learning at the same time.” In 2008, Force’ oldest sister made NHRA history when she defeated John Force to win the first Funny Car race by a female. IN 1996 Tony Pedregon, then with JFR, also defeated the 15-time champion Force to win his first race of his career. History will not be able to repeat itself tomorrow since Courtney and John could meet in the semi-finals but Force still has an eye on her first win and securing a spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout. “It is definitely a little bit of pressure. Ashley won her first race here so that gives you a little bit of boost. I want to win here too and be a part of that history along with my sister. It is going to be tough. I have a hard first round matched up with Jack Beckman. He is going to give me a run for my money. I just have to on top of my game and take care everything I have learned to far to the track.” From: Elon Werner
