Auto Club driver Robert Hight eclipses 400th elimination round-win mark at Brainerd
BRAINERD, MN – While Robert Hight’s exciting 3.793-second run in Friday’s second qualifying session for the 
NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway set the famed race track abuzz, it was only one of the significant milestones the John Force Racing president and driver reached during the weekend.
The driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, Hight – who turned 48 on Sunday (no, that’s not the other milestone) – won his 400th elimination round in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The victory came against Dale Creasy Jr. in the opening round of competition.
Hight, the No. 1 qualifier after setting the first 3.79-second pass for a Funny Car, blitzed down the track to become only the sixth driver in NHRA history to win 400 Funny Car elimination rounds.
Team owner John Force leads the way with 1,280 – he scored two wins Sunday – while Ron Capps is just more than halfway to Force’s total, of 652. Hight’s 401st win came against Capps (also his 31st career win against Capps, the most of any of his 57 career opponents) on Sunday. Others include Cruz Pedregon (544), Tony Pedregon (517), and Del Worsham (505), who reached the 500-round club earlier this year.
Hight scored his first elimination round win in his second career race, Feb. 27, 2005, at Phoenix, defeating Tony Bartone. That first season, he reached 28 round wins.
His 100th round win came against the boss, on Feb. 10, 2008, in the third round of the NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif. His 200th round win came against Cruz Pedregon on April 3, 2011, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada, also in the semifinals.
The 300th round win was against teammate Courtney Force on May 19, 2014, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., in the finals. In all three of these milestones, he went to win that race.
The most elimination-round wins have come from the No. 1 qualifying position, 89, and the track with the most elimination-round wins is Las Vegas, where he has won 49 times. He has won elimination-round races from every qualifying position except No. 15 (which he has only qualified once), and he has won rounds at all 24 tracks at which he has competed.
It’s just the newest milestone Hight has reached or set this season. In June, he scored his 50th No. 1 qualifying effort, becoming only the fourth driver to reach that plateau in the Funny Car class. Last month at Sonoma Raceway in California, Hight zipped down the track at an astounding 339.87 mph to set the new NHRA speed record, the fastest pass in any category – ever.
The following weekend at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., Hight had a near perfect event, setting quick time in three of four qualifying sessions and racing to his 39th career victory. That win was the 250th Funny Car victory for John Force Racing.
Of course, the most important statistics now come in the form of points. Hight jumped to second on Sunday and is within striking distance of taking the championship lead heading into the Countdown to the Championship. And the more points, the better chance Hight has in winning his second Funny Car title, adding to the championship he won in 2009.
The next chance to reach round win 402 will come in the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals from Sept. 1-4 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
