LAS VEGAS – The entire John Force Racing team will have lane choice in the first round of eliminations at the 16th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals. All four drivers made solid runs on the final day of qualifying and they will all start from the top half of their respective fields. Team leader John Force will start from the No. 3 position followed by Robert Hight No. 5 and Courtney Force No. 8. Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster will start from the No. 7 spot.

The PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car and John Force picked up two more qualifying bonus points and the three-time Toyota Nationals winner will start from the No. 3 qualified position. This is the four year in a row Force has started from the top half of the field at the penultimate race of the NHRA season. In two of the past three year Force has raced to the final round and in 2013 he picked up the win and his unprecedented 16th Mello Yello Funny Car championship.

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LAS VEGAS – John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro led the way for John Force Racing on the first day of qualifying at the 16th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals. Force finished the day as the No. 2 qualifier, two spots in front of teammate Robert Hight and the Auto Club Camaro. The Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster finished the day as the No. 4 quickest dragster and the Traxxas Funny Car will be looking to step up into the field of sixteen when qualifying resumes tomorrow at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at noon.

In the second Funny Car session John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car blasted to the top of the Funny Car class with a track record 3.876 second, 331.94 mph pass. The three-time NHRA Toyota Nationals winner held onto the No. 1 position until the last pair of Funny Cars when Matt Hagan slipped past him by .004 seconds and shifted Force back to the provisional No. 2 spot. The speed on that run was a career fastest for the winningest driver in NHRA history and fired up the 146-time Funny Car winner going into Saturday.

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ROBERT HIGHT SET ON REPEAT LAS VEGAS WIN

LAS VEGAS – Last year Robert Hight rolled into the Toyota NHRA Nationals looking to pick up his second win of the season. This season the two-time winner of the penultimate race in of the NHRA season is looking for a repeat performance. In 2015 Hight qualified No. 3 and took out Gary Densham, eventual Funny Car world champion Del Worsham, Chad Head and Tommy Johnson Jr on the way to the win.

“Getting the win last year was a big boost going into the off-season for this Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro team. We were playing catch up on performance for most of the summer. Things started to come together in the Countdown and the Las Vegas race was a strong performance for us,” said Hight.

The win was big on a personal level for Hight when you consider it kept alive his career-long streak of winning at least two national events every season of his career. Hight has one win in 2016 and has two more opportunities to keep that unprecedented streak going heading into this weekend’s evet.

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ENNIS, TX – The AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team and driver Robert Hight qualified No. 1 and continued a dominant day at the 31st annual AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals racing to the semifinals before falling to eventual winner Matt Hagan. Hight made six consecutive 3.8 second runs including the quickest runs of the first two rounds of eliminations today. No driver has started a race with six consecutive elapsed times in the 3.8 range and his qualifying time was the third quickest Funny Car time in NHRA history.

In the opening session Hight rocketed past Brandon Welch with a stellar 3.866 second pass at an astounding 329.99 mph run. Welch went up in smoke on his pass of 5.451 seconds at 133.33 mph. It was the second time Hight had defeated Welch this season.

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ENNIS, TX – Robert Hight and the AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team secured their 49th career No. 1 and 5th at AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals. This was the second No. 1 for Hight this season and also the second in the past three races. Hight’s quickest run of 3.839 seconds from Friday stood up throughout out the day. On Saturday Hight made two more runs in the 3.8s and will face Brandon Welch in the first round.

The team has been making strides since St. Louis and this weekend they once again picked up qualifying bonus points in three rounds and just missed having one of the quickest runs in the fourth and final round.

“Starting at St. Louis, we’ve turned things around. We were real good there, too. Reading had some weird conditions and we just didn’t get caught up there, but to come out here to Texas – my sponsor’s race – and make four runs in the 3.80s in a Funny Car, that’s showing that we’ve got it going on.

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ENNIS, TX – Robert Hight is taking a page from the playbook of his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers and just continuing to grind it out. The 37-time winner has a tough road to his second championship but performances like today will put the 2009 NHRA Funny Car champion back into the championship conversation. Hight drove his AAA Texas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car to the provisional No. 1 spot tonight at the 31st annual AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals with a career quickest elapsed time of 3.839 seconds at 332.02 mph. The elapsed time was a track record and the third quickest run in Funny Car history.

“That was pretty impressive. Going up for that run (crew chief) Mike Neff told me he thought it could run 3.84. To me you look at that and think, ‘We have never run 3.84 so how do you go about doing that?’ How are you so confident that it is going to go up there and run 3.84 and we have never done that,” joked Hight in the Motorplex press room. “To go up there and run a little quicker at 3.83 shows he has a really good handle on this AAA Texas Camaro and I am not going to question him. It was great. We went to St. Louis and made a bunch of changes to our car and ran really well. We didn’t get the win and we had crazy conditions in Reading. To come right back here and pick up where we left off in St. Louis and running this good shows my AAA Texas team is on the right track. All we can do is go out and try and win these last three races and see what happens.”

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CHAMPIONSHIP WITHIN REACH FOR BRITTANY FORCE AND MONSTER ENERGY

ENNIS, TX – With three races left fourth year pro Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel team are chasing their first Mello Yello Top Fuel championship. The 31st annual AAA Texas NHRA Fallnationals will be another test for the teacher turned Top Fuel racer but the Yorba Linda, California resident is up for the challenge especially coming on the heels of a strong finish two weeks ago in Pennsylvania. Force is in third place trailing Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta.

“The Reading (Pa.) win was huge for our team. Going to the final was a big step especially now that there are only three races left. Now it is all about the teams that are going to be at the top for the next few races. We didn’t get the win but we got to the final and we are going to build on that. With two races left that is what we need to keep doing, winning rounds. If we keep having success on Sunday then this championship is not out of our reach,” said Force, who has a 3-1 record in final rounds this season.

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READING, PA – For the second time in three years Brittany Force raced to the final round at the Dodge NHRA Nationals. Today she was facing the two-time world champion Antron Brown in a rematch of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. It was one of the closest final rounds so far in the Countdown as both dragsters ran identical elapsed times of 3.721 seconds. Force came up .003 of a second short to Brown after both drivers had nearly equal reaction times with Brown slightly edging Force, a three-time winner this season at the stripe.

“It was definitely a crazy challenging weekend. Everyone only got one qualifying pass, we blew up in the second round and that just makes it tough on everyone. I have a strong team behind me. They pulled through today and we made it to the finals. I have the greatest group of guys on this Monster Energy team. When I saw the time slip I couldn’t believe how close that race was,” said Force.

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READING, PA – For the second year in a row Mother Nature exerted her will on the Dodge NHRA Nationals. Yesterday’s qualifying sessions were completely wiped out and today only one session was completed before persistent heavy mist and cool temperatures made track conditions impossible to continue the race.

In the lone session Robert Hight was the standout for John Force Racing. The driver of the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car was running beside teammate Courtney Force when both drivers launched hard and overpowered the race track. Hight was able to pedal his Funny Car and regain some traction crossing the finish line with a usually pedestrian elapsed time of 4.69 seconds which was good enough for the No. 5 qualifying position.

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MILWAUKEE, WI – The entire contingent of John Force Racing drivers as well as the crew of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team spent the day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, participating in two rewarding and exciting events in conjunction with Old World Industries, the parent company of team sponsors PEAK and Blue Def. The team, led by 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, were the featured speakers at the Al Hurvis/ADAMM Education Foundation, Inc. luncheon and then in the afternoon Force fired up his 10,000 horsepower Funny Car for over 100 students at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).

“Today was a great day to talk about what is really important which is the young people of this country that need some encouragement and mentoring. The Al Hurvis Foundation luncheon was a great opportunity to talk with a group people that give their time and money to help inner city kids have a chance at a better life through scholarships,” said Force, who was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. “After the luncheon we went to the Milwaukee Area Technical College and talked with some students that someday could be on a Funny Car or Top Fuel crew or working in a Chevrolet dealership. They are getting some of the best training and education you can get. I was blown away by their questions and I think I blew them away when I fired up this hot rod. I have to thank all the teachers and students from MATC and the Oak Creek Fire Department for being there to keep us safe.”

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