HIGHT ADVANCES TO SEMI-FINALS AT DENVER

Morrison, CO – Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car team came to Bandimere Speedway looking to make a move up the Mello Yello point standings. They dominated qualifying and raced to the semi-finals but despite their best efforts his new team led by crew chiefs Mike Neff and Jon Schaffer will head to Sonoma, the second stop on the Western Swing, in the same position they came into Denver. Hight lost a close race to fellow Ford driver Bob Tasca III in the semi-finals.

“Unfortunately we didn’t make up any ground this weekend. The good news is we didn’t lose any ground either. We are only one round out of the Top Ten. I am not trying to get the 10th spot. We are aiming to get solidly in the Top Ten in the next couple of races,” said Hight a two-time Mopar Mile High Nationals winner. “Neff gives you confidence. We ran great in qualifying and in the semis we just dropped a cylinder. I am excited to be over here and I am excited John (Force) is with Jimmy (Prock).”

This was the first race for Hight to be teamed with Neff and his crew who previously had led Force to the 2010 Mello Yello Funny Car championship and Neff to top five finishes the last two seasons.

“I think you give us a couple of races and we will be in great shape. There are a lot of rounds left and there are a lot of points out there. No one is hanging their heads over here. We still have a shot at the Traxxas Shootout and trust me I am not going to let any more opportunities get away from me,” said Hight.

Hight qualified No. 7 and took out four-time 2013 winner Johnny Gray in the opening round, as the scoreboards lit up 4.213 to 4.263 seconds. In the second round Hight had to race the 2012 Funny Car NHRA champion Jack Beckman and he quickly dispatched the veteran driver 4.205 to 4.276 seconds.

John Force came up a few thousandths short in his first round race with fellow Ford driver Bob Tasca III. Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang dropped a cylinder at about half track as the 15-time Funny Car champion was pulling away from the former Alcohol Funny Car driver from Providence, Rhode Island. Force’s time of 4.313 seconds was just a bit slower than Tasca’s 4.268 seconds.

Force was also racing with a new team and the winningest driver was confident he had made the right decision in shaking up his championship caliber team. The Force and Jimmy Prock combination will continue to evolve as the team head to Northern California.

“The bottom line is I enjoy working with Jimmy. We come from the same school. I am putting the right people together. I needed to mix these teams up. I brought in Hogan with Guido and the Castrol EDGE dragster. It is showing promise. The car qualified third and won a round all that with a new chassis. I have to get my head more into racing. I have been focusing on my other businesses but now I am ready to focus on racing. We are getting paid to win a championship. Prock and Neff have different crew chief styles is all and I am fine with it. They are both world championship crew chiefs,” said Force.

“I believe I made the right call. I am going to stick by it. You don’t fix things like this overnight. We will get this fixed and we will be ready in Sonoma. ”

Courtney Force came out of the No. 13 qualified spot today and took on Alexis DeJoria, the only other female Funny Car driver in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, who qualified in the No. 4 position. This is the fifth time the two have met eliminations.

“Since we didn’t have lane choice over Alexis, it was tough going up there and being put in the left lane. I struggled with that lane a little bit during qualifying. It pulled me to the inside in the last qualifying session. I tried to pull it back and that’s when it caused my Traxxas Ford to spin the tires and I had to get out of it so we lost out on a good run. So, after that, obviously I was nervous being put in that left lane,” said Force.

Force took the starting line advantage and got the win. Force’s Traxxas Ford Mustang ran an impressive 4.195 ET at 302.28 mph, one of only three car’s to run in the teens in session one, to DeJoria’s 4.328 ET. Force is now 4-1 to DeJoria.

“Luckily, I was able to get down there beside Alexis, keep it straight and it was great to get that win. I have a great team and my crew chief Ron Douglas was able to tune our Traxxas Ford Mustang in the heat to one of the best runs of the session, a 4.19. It feels good that we both got together and were able to get a good run out of it, especially after we lost out on a good qualifying run yesterday,” said Force.

The all-female round upset sent Force into round two against DeJoria’s teammate and No. 12 qualifier, Del Worsham. This is only the third time the two have met in eliminations. Force ran a 4.371 second pass at 286.98 mph, but lost to Worsham’s 4.336 ET at 292.14 mph.

“Del and I were running pretty similar this weekend. We were ahead of him the whole way down the track. Our car just dropped a hole down track, right at the finish line. Our numbers were ahead of his all the way until the 1,000 ft mark right at the end and that’s when I saw him. I saw him out my window. I watched him come up and drive around me.”

“It’s a bummer for sure. Our car had a problem and slowed us to a 4.37, but you know what, for the heat I think we’ve done a pretty good job this weekend. We just have to do better next weekend in Sonoma. It’s the ‘Western Swing,’ and it’s a good thing we have three back-to-back races because we’re ready to compete again,” said Force.

It was a learning weekend in Denver for Top Fuel rookie Brittany Force and her Castrol EDGE team when they brought in a brand new dragster to Bandimere Speedway for the start of the Western Swing. They proved themselves well during Friday and Saturday’s qualifying efforts, claiming the third position heading into Sunday’s elimination rounds, marking it as the best qualifying effort by the rookie this season.

It didn’t stop there for the 27-year-old Yorba Linda, California resident when she defeated fellow competitor Scott Palmer in the opening round of eliminations. With a clean pass and an ET of 3.947, this gave Force the opportunity to go some rounds.

“We definitely improved and we’re getting up there,” Force said. “We brought in a completely new car and having Richard Hogan on board, our team is really coming around. We ended up qualifying No. 3, which is the highest we’ve ever qualified, so I’m very happy about that.

The Cal State-Fullerton graduate came into the quarterfinals with a huge dose of confidence as she faced Bob Vandergriff, who has had some success this season. It was a close side-by-side race down the track, but Force fell short of the victory. Despite the loss, Force feels the weekend was great overall and her team are making strides in the right direction

“I’m glad we had that first run to adjust to the new car without a canopy, even though it was only to half-track,” Force said. “It was something I needed as a driver, and after making some passes with it, I feel good in it. If we keep on doing this and going some rounds, we’ll get a win and get into the top ten in points.

Force did move up to No. 12 in the Mello Yello point standings and she is just 27 points behind Brandon Bernstein who sits in the No. 11 spot.

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