Auto Club of Southern California Funny Car driver Robert Hight kept rolling on the first day of the NHRA Nationals on Friday at Maple Grove Raceway, speeding to the provisional No. 1 spot with the track-record for elapsed time as well as speed.
Hight kicked off the six-race Countdown to the Championship by winning last weekend in Charlotte, taking over the Funny Car points lead in the process.
On Friday, Hight made a run of 3.844 seconds at 339.02 mph to continue his hot streak. In addition to setting both ends of the track record, Hight’s speed was second only to his national record 339.87 mph speed set at Sonoma, Calif., in July.
Hight now owns the two fastest speeds in NHRA history, as well as four of the seven fastest speeds in NHRA.
“I’m pretty excited that we’re having these conditions, because we really picked up where we left off in Charlotte, and we know how that went,” said Hight, who has won three of the last six races heading into this weekend’s event. “It wasn’t like you had to come in here and make major changes from how you would normally make changes coming into Reading, since it’s usually cool.”
With a swap of dates, Reading was moved to earlier in the year, and the weather reflected that. Temperatures were in the 80s on Friday, but that didn’t slow down Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock. Hight was No. 2 after the first qualifying session and then led Q2, picking up a handful of bonus points.
“We got five points today, and that’s what you have to do, pick up points,” Hight said. “We’re taking it run-by-run. It’s going to be really hard to have six really good races. You’re bound to have one (bad one). You don’t want a bad one obviously, but if you can get a lot of those qualifying points, it’s going to make up for having a bad race.”
Charlotte finalist Courtney Force sits in the No. 7 spot after Q2, making a run of 3.935 seconds at 321.88 mph in the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet. Her dad, PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet driver John Force, is qualified in the No. 12 spot after a top pass of 3.978 seconds at 324.12 mph.
Brittany Force, a semifinalist in Charlotte, made two good runs Friday and sits No. 4 in Top Fuel with the Monster Energy dragster. Her best pass of 3.731 seconds at 314.53 mph came in the second session.
Two qualifying rounds are scheduled for Saturday (1:30 p.m. Eastern and 4), with final eliminations slated for noon on Sunday.
Fox Sports 1 will television one hour of qualifying on Sunday at 2 a.m. FS1 will broadcast three hours of live coverage on Sunday at 2 p.m.
John Force Racing PR/Photo Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery
