Robert Hight takes Auto Club Chevrolet to Southern Nationals semifinals

Brittany out in round 1, Courtney and Dad out in Round 2, stories below

COMMERCE, GA – Robert Hight set the elapsed-time track record twice in Sunday’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, but he fell in the semifinals to Ron Capps for the second time in three races.

Hight – driving the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS – overpowered Chad Head and John Force Racing teammate Courtney Force in consecutive rounds, with record-setting performances in both. His pass of 3.882 seconds at 328.06 mph against Head reset the mark established earlier in the day by Matt Hagan, by five thousandths of a second. That put head in another matchup against Force, whom he bested two weeks ago at Houston.

In the second round, Hight bested the track record again. He posted a run of 3.880 seconds at 320.81 mph, straight down the track, while Force smoked the tires and clocked in at 5.508 seconds at 118.26 mph.

For the third consecutive race, Hight matched up against the reigning champion Capps, whom he lost to in the finals of the NHRA SpringNationals, and matched up against in a quad in last weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals at Charlotte. Hight – like teammate John Force the previous elimination round – got the advantage against Capps at the start, Hight’s reaction time of .058 seconds was better than Capps’s .060-second time. Hight held the lead at the 60- and 330-feet marks but scuffed the tires halfway down and Capps raced by, with a time of 3.968 seconds at 318.77. Hight’s time was 4.899 seconds at 161.07 mph.

“Awesome runs early on,” said Hight, a three-time Atlanta winner. “We just didn’t back it down enough in the semis. We keep doing this and the wins are going to come. We’re working hard, everyone is doing their job and we’re racing aggressive. That’s how (crew chief) Jimmy Prock races.”

The semifinals appearance showed the team continues to make progress, with Hight eager to win his first race of 2017 soon.

“I really thought this was the day, though,” Hight said. “I’m driving good, but we’ll move on to the next one. I we get conditions right at Topeka, you might see the first 3.70-(second) Funny Car.”

The solid showing in Atlanta helped move Hight up to fourth in the Funny Car points standings.

Hight and team return to action May 19-21 in the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

Courtney Force, Advance Auto Parts team continue to make progress in Atlanta

– Courtney Force and her Advance Auto Parts team had a successful weekend with a backup Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, earning her fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifier and racing to the second round of the NHRA Southern Nationals on Sunday at Atlanta Dragway.

“I think our Advance team has done a phenomenal job, considering we were forced to run a spare car this weekend,” Force said. “To be able to make a few solid passes and then get that No. 1 spot – at the time setting a track record ET – it’s a great feeling. The fact that my team and my crew chiefs, Dan Hood and Ronnie Thompson, have been able to get this thing put together and ready to go and to be out-running the field in qualifying definitely shows what kind of a team I have.”

Force hit the wall in the first round at Charlotte last weekend, prompting the team to bring a second Advance Auto Camaro from the John Force Racing shop in Brownsburg, Ind., to Atlanta. She drove that car to the No. 1 spot on Saturday and then took out No. 16 qualifier Jeff Diehl with ease in the first round of eliminations. Force’s pass of 3.967 seconds at 273.94 mph outran Diehl’s 5.657-second run at 125.58 mph.

That matched her against JFR teammate Robert Hight in the second round, with Hight having lane choice. Force, though, smoked the tires and slowed to a run of 5.508 seconds at 118.26 mph while Hight lowered his track record with a pass of 3.880 at 320.81 mph.

“We were able to get that first-round win, and then we had a tough matchup in the second round against Robert Hight, my teammate,” Force said. “We saw that he actually stole that track record from us in the first round, so we knew we had to give it our all. We didn’t have lane choice over him; we were stuck over in that left lane. If we wanted to run better than his .88, we had to really give it our all and unfortunately in that left lane, our car spun the tires when we hit that bump down track, and it was game over for us.”

Force remains seventh in the Funny Car standings heading to the NHRA Heartland Nationals on May 19-21 at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.

“I’m really feeling good about my car and my team,” Force said. “I’m looking forward to Kansas. I’m really excited with what we’ve got right now. We’ve got a great car and I think we’re finding that consistency that we’ve been needing. I’m really happy with the way things have gone this weekend with only two qualifying passes, and I’m really proud of my team for this Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro.”

“For all of our sponsors, it was a great job for the Auto Club team and the PEAK team. For the Monster team and my sister Brittany, there’s a lot of changes over there, but they’re going to get back on our feet. I’m really excited for all of us to head to Kansas.”

PEAK Coolant and Motor Oil driver John Force drops close quarterfinals race in Southern Nationals

– John Force ended up seven-thousandths of a second from creating an all-John Force Racing semifinals and a guaranteed trip to final of Sunday’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

The quickest qualifier in the opening session Saturday and the No. 5 qualifier overall, Force fell just a few feet from defeating Ron Capps in the quarterfinals of the race, despite a slightly better reaction time. Force, as well as teammates Courtney Force and Robert Hight, all won their first-round matchups and were pressing for spots in the semifinals.

Force won his opening-round matchup against Del Worsham in a pedalfest, his 4.158-second pass at 227.15 mph besting Worsham’s 5.032-second run at 157.56 mph. Worsham had problems midway through his run, while Force slowed in the final 200 feet. Before Worsham could get back into the race, Force throttled his PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS across the line first and into the matchup with Capps, the reigning Funny Car champ.

In the quarterfinals, Force got a slight advantage on the start – his reaction time of .058 seconds only a thousandth better than Capps’ .059 time. Capps took command at the 60-foot marker and held on at the 330-foot marker before Force edged ahead at 660 feet. But Capps got to the line first, winning by only .0075 seconds, or approximately three feet, eliminating Force from competition in Atlanta for the second consecutive season.

Officially, Capps’ pass was 3.952 seconds at 320.89 mph, while Force went 3.960 seconds at 316.01 mph. Capps went on to defeat Robert Hight in the semifinals.

“We know the road to the championship,” said Force, a seven-time winner at Atlanta. “We’ve been there before. Our sponsors believe in us because we know how to produce. We turned the corner, we believe, in the parts that we need to win. We need some time to run these cars to figure them out. We’re fast. The point is we don’t have consistency. If we find that we’ll be OK.”

Force and team will take a weekend off before returning to action for the next round of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals on May 19-21 at Heartland Park Topeka.

Brittany Force, Monster Energy team go down swinging in first round of Southern Nationals

– Brittany Force and her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster team didn’t go down without a fight Sunday in the first round of the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Force faced an uphill battle all weekend, starting with driving a re-tooled race car. After the race in Charlotte, her team returned to the John Force Racing shop in Brownsburg, Ind., to put a new front-half on the car.

Force needed as many passes as possible on the car, but rain canceled Friday’s two qualifying sessions. She ended up qualifying No. 16, which meant she had to race the No. 1 qualifier in the first round. That turned out to be eight-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher.

Force was up to the task, leaving first with a .072-second reaction time. But the Monster Energy car soon went up in tire smoke as the 10,000-horsepower machine overpowered the track; she didn’t record an official time. Schumacher had a mechanical issue and slowed to a 5.191-second pass at 139.36 mph, but he got the win light.

“Absolutely, we’re always going after it,” Force said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re in the No. 1 spot or the No. 16 spot, we want that ‘1’ at the end of the day. The Monster team, they’re fighters – all of us are. We’re going for that championship in the long run. We’ve gotten off to a rough start, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t turn out to be a good ending.”

Force started from the No. 16 spot for the first time in her career, but she was confident of a good day.

“I felt confident going in to today,” Force said. “I’ve got an awesome team behind me, awesome crew chiefs in Brian Husen and Alan Johnson. These guys have been hustling, and they have not stopped. They hauled the car to Indy in between races and getting it back here in time, I’m proud of them. I know how much they put into this car. We’re going to end up in the winner’s circle soon enough. It’s only a matter of time. We may be struggling, but we’ll claw our way out and move on up and end up in the winner’s circle.”

Force returns to the Monster Energy car for the next round of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals on May 19-21 at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.