9/3/05

Ed. Note: Robert Hight faces boss, teammate and father-in-law, John Force in the very first round of the Skoal Showdown. Here are his thoughts.

y goal in the Skoal Showdown is to basically just have fun. It’s unfortunate that either John or I is going to be gone after one round, but that’s the way it is. There’s no real pressure because no points are involved. The reality is that it’s a big payday and one of us is going to be a step closer to cashing in since there are only three rounds of racing.

As much as we’d like to win the $100,000, the most important thing is that we go down the track against John, because that’s what we’re going to face first round the next day -- when the points do count.

We had the quickest time in the afternoon session Saturday at 4.844 in out Automobile Club of Southern California Mustang, but that was just three hundredths better than my teammate Eric Medlen, who drives the Castrol SYNTEC Mustang. We tried to run a little quicker in the night session and it did run better early. It did exactly what we trying to do to pick it up early, but it didn’t run through the middle as good as it did last night.

That’s the way it goes. When you’re trying to run 4.60s and you’ve never done that before, it’s new territory. It looks like the amount of change you have to make to get it to run that quick is bigger than we thought, but we can’t wait for those conditions again. Next time, we’ll just try harder.

9/2/05

told myself I wasn’t going to get caught up in Indy and all the mystique and the hype, but you can’t get away from it. It seems like every fan that came up to me today was asking about what it was like to race at Indy for the first time, asking about racing John in the first round of the Skoal Showdown on Sunday. So when I finally got in the car for the first qualifying run, that was like the most nervous I’ve ever been.

After all the guys ahead of us ran all those 4.70s, I knew we were going to have to make a perfect run just to stay in the top half of the field. But it just went right down the middle, 4.74, and that was throwing the rods out. We broke No. 7, I think.

Now that we’re qualified, that takes a lot of that pressure off. At least I hope it does. Maybe now I can just try to get my focus back and take it one run at a time. You can’t be thinking ahead. When we went out there today, our goal was to get all three of these Fords qualified solid in the top half. With that 4.74, I think we’ll stay in the top half, but I think somebody will run quicker, maybe 4.72 or better, on Saturday. It may not be us, but somebody will.

My crew chief, Jimmy Prock, loves this track. We had a good test session last week and last year, he and Gary Densham doubled-up in this car. They won the Skoal Showdown and they won the Nationals. That was awesome and most of the guys on this crew were here last year. Everybody has high expectations, but at the same time, I still understand that I have a lot to learn. I don’t ever want to get too comfortable in the car because I think it takes the edge off.

We’ll just try to improve tomorrow and work a little on the set up for the Showdown.

Robert

9/1/05

Meet Robert Hight

By Pete Wickham
8/31/05

John Force was on the phone, all over the map, gushing about his rookie driver, and son-in-law, Robert Hight, in a way he usually saves for the granddaughter that Hight and Adria Force gave the 13-time NHRA Funny Car king last year.

He called Adria and her sister Ashley (who was home in California spoiling 11-month-old Autumn). He called his wife. He called sponsors. Only the late Martha Mitchell was quicker on the draw when it came to late-night messages.

“It was a miracle – just like the day we beat the Top Fuelers (in that long-ago Winston Challenge at Bristol). Robert sealed the deal after starting six races behind,” Force rasped into his cell phone after an amazing array of dominoes toppled just so to allow Hight to clinch the eighth and final spot in the Bud Shootout two weeks from now at Indianapolis. “It proved once again God loves us, thought you don’t know why.”

Hight started at a disadvantage, taking over the Automobile Club of Southern California Mustang at the start of the season (six races into the Bud Shootout points title). After a first-round hiccup at Brainerd he was sure he was dead.

Crew chief Jimmy Prock said, “I’d been keeping tabs on this sheet of paper – and I threw it in the trash.”

Hight looked at the bright side. “In a way it was good because it took our minds off of the shootout and we tended to business,” he said.

On Friday evening, Hight put down the No. 1 qualifying time at the O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals, a 4.883. That was enough to jolt him out of bed Friday night. “It hit me, I was first … (Whit) Bazemore was 10th … we were tied.”

If it stayed put, Hight would have the tiebreaker with an overwhelming lead in No. 1 qualifying efforts (6-1) … if it stayed put.

He couldn’t improve on the number during Saturday’s qualifying rounds. If Bazemore could move just one spot, Hight would be toast.

Let Force provide the commentary.  “All Whit’s gotta do is move a couple of spots … and he smokes the tires,” Force said. “Then (Gary) Scelzi can get Whit in by taking over the No. 1 spot, and he smokes the tires. (Ron) Capps has a shot … and he smokes the tires … it’s a miracle!”

Hight was overwhelmed by the notion that he’d be racing with the sport’s elite after just 17 starts. “This is beyond what you can dream or believe,” he said. “I have so much to learn as a driver, but Jimmy and the guys have given me a car that I haven’t had to pedal. They’ve given me room to make mistakes and still succeed.”

Prock said that the former Force crew member also has something to do with it. “He’s a guy who has proven he wants it badly … but he’s also shown the ability to be very, very consistent in what he does. We give him a car, we know he’ll be quick off the line and drive within himself down the track.”

Not only was it a miracle – with the added pleasure of watching rival Don Schumacher’s three funny cars all go up in smoke -- but it was Hight’s 36th birthday present.

Force gathered all of his teams together in the middle of the compound and told them, “This is an accomplishment for all of you. You all worked hard, you all pulled together.”

They also presented Hight with a cake, and a card put together by Force crew chief Austin Coil before the final qualifying round.

It read: Good news is, you’re in the Bud Shootout … bad news is the Boss (No. 1 seed Force) says you’ve got to go down.”

On that note -- the two met in the second round of Sunday’s Mid-South Nationals. Hight scored his second win three meetings this season.