Mile-Hight Nationals: Auto Club of Southern California driver Robert Hight storms to Denver victory
MORRISON, CO – Robert Hight broke through in a big way on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway, storming to a 
victory in the Mile-High Nationals.
The Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS driver has been fast during the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, earning two No. 1 qualifiers and racing to two final rounds. But he was still looking for his first victory of the season – until Sunday.
Hight beat Todd Simpson, Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon and Tommy Johnson Jr. to earn his 38th career win, his fourth at Denver and his first of 2017.
“It’s been awhile,” Hight said. “I think we’re back.”
Hight also extended an impressive streak, as he’s now won at least one race in each of his 13 seasons as a Funny Car driver. The Denver victory also locked up a spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, a special race held during the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
Hight qualified No. 3 in Denver and faced No. 14 qualifier Simpson in the first round. Simpson double-stepped and went red, immediately handing Hight the round win.
“That threw me off, and I double-stepped it,” Hight said. “But we got the win.”
Hight left first in the second round and then had to pedal his Auto Club Chevy. Hight got the car to settle and made a pass of 4.146 seconds at 305.22 mph, beating Beckman’s 4.319-second run at 289.63 mph.
Hight then took out Pedregon, leaving first with a .065-second reaction time and making a pass of 4.068 seconds at 314.24 mph. That edged Pedregon’s 4.089-second run at 308.28 mph.
But Hight also knew there was more in the Auto Club Chevy.
“We just kept dropping cylinders,” Hight said. “But when you’ve got (crew chief) Jimmy Prock, (co-crew chief) Chris Cunningham and the whole Auto Club team behind you, you go to the starting line every time confident. You know they can turn this thing around.
“In the final, it ran 3.99, and that was a great run. It was boiling clutch dust in there, so it was happy.”
The winning pass was a 3.995 at 317.57 mph, and it came after leaving first again, this time with a .046 light.
And now Hight has a chance to sweep the Western Swing, the three-race stretch that includes Sonoma next week and Seattle the week after.
“Our performance is there,” Hight said. “We run really well, we qualify well. We just haven’t raced well on Sunday – and we haven’t had any luck. Today we got some luck, and we needed it.
“This is a big time of year, and my favorite time of the year – the Western Swing. I’m from the West coast, and it’s three awesome races, three great race tracks in a row. It’s a big deal to sweep the Swing. Well you can’t sweep the Swing unless you win Denver, and we did that.”
Courtney Force can’t ‘Advance’ her Chevrolet Camaro SS from Denver’s No. 1 qualifying spot
– Courtney Force and her Advance Auto Parts team started the Western Swing on the right foot, speeding to the No. 1 qualifier for the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.
But Force bowed out of the race too early when her Chevrolet Camaro SS struggled off the starting line before shutting off before the finish line.
“JFR being 1-2-3, that’s starting off the Western Swing right,” Force said. “Unfortunately, we had a hole out on the hit of the throttle, so immediately, our car left slow. I brought it back in the center, and it stayed hooked up, but once it got down to the top end our pan pressure was through the roof, and it shut my car off automatically, so we had to coast to the finish line.”
Force’s official pass was 4.271 seconds at a coasting 242.67 mph, and it wasn’t enough to beat Jim Campbell’s slowing 4.260-second run at 239.53 mph.
“It wasn’t the day for us,” Force said. “It actually looked like a close race, but we had to coast to the finish and couldn’t really do anything about it. That’s just how racing is, and it’s unfortunate.”
Denver marked the first of a three-race stretch in three consecutive weekends known as the Western Swing. The Swing continues in Sonoma, Calif., next weekend before concluding in Seattle.
“We’ve got to get this car figured out better in the heat. We don’t have a lot of qualifying passes that are in the kind of conditions that we run during race day. We’re going to have to guess and figure it out and learn off the runs we have made and try to figure out why this cylinder keeps dropping.”
The NHRA races in the Sonoma Nationals next weekend at Sonoma Raceway.
Despite Denver exit, 16-time champ John Force ‘feeling good’ about his PEAK Chevrolet team
– PEAK Coolant and Motor Oil driver John Force wouldn’t make any excuses after suffering a close first-round loss at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway.
But Force is encouraged by the progress his John Force Racing team continues to make, and by the camaraderie his team continues to show.
“I’m feeling good about this team because they’re staying together,” Force said. “We’re going to turn the corner.”
Force qualified No. 2 in Denver, continuing a long tradition of JFR success. Force himself seven has victories at Denver, the most in the Funny Car class. And this weekend, John Force Racing qualified 1-2-3, with Courtney Force No. 1 with the Advance Auto Parts Chevy and Robert Hight No. 3 with the Auto Club of Southern California Chevy.
John Force, though, put a hole out during his first-round race and slowed to a pass of 4.339 seconds at 247.66 mph. That ended his day early.
“We’ve always run fast on the hill,” Force said. “I set the record here years ago: The first 300 (mph run) here on the mountain – that was even before the dragsters. Austin Coil and this team helped build a combination. You’ve got to spend a lot of money to come on the hill to change it. We did for all the Funny Cars.
“It showed: 1-2-3. And let me tell you, we backed them down, probably too far. Mine dropped a hole, and Courtney’s burned up at the other end and automatically shut off. There’s no excuses. Everyone’s got the same heat, the same race track.”
Force and his PEAK team returns for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals next weekend at Sonoma Raceway.
Semifinal finish in Mile-High Nationals a good start to Western Swing for Monster Energy’s Brittany Force
– Brittany Force pushed herself and the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster to the semifinals of the NHRA Mile-High Nationals on Sunday at Bandimere Speedway, marking a solid start to the Western Swing.
The Swing, the three-race stretch that starts with this race, continues next week at Sonoma Raceway and concludes in Seattle. It’s an important part of the 2017 season, as the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis is two races after the Swing ends – and then the Countdown to the Championship begins.
Force was a force on Sunday, beating Terry McMillen and points leader Steve Torrence before falling to eventual winner Antron Brown. Force was especially sharp on the Christmas Tree, improving her reaction times each run, culminating in a best of .057 seconds in the semis.
“Overall, a great weekend,” Force said. “We’ll move on to the next, but we’re using this weekend to motivate us all. I feel like I’m bringing my game. We’re getting ready to go into the Countdown, and I feel like we’re all in a really good place, so we just keep moving forward, keep pushing and we’ll be in the winner’s circle before we know it.”
Force has one victory this season, at Epping, N.H., and she’s solidly in the top 10 of the Top Fuel points standings. The top 10 are eligible for the Countdown, the final six races of the season that determine NHRA champions.
Force qualified No. 6 and started race day with a pass of 3.915 seconds at a slowing 255.15 mph, but that was enough to beat McMillen’s 4.672-second run at 172.54 mph.
She then ran away from Torrence in the second round, making a run of 3.806 seconds at 321.58 mph to Torrence’s 3.972-second pass at 294.56 mph.
Against Brown, Force dropped a cylinder early and slowed to a run of 4.459 seconds at 163.10 mph while Brown, the eventual race winner, sped to the final with a 3.797-second pass at 317.12 mph.
Force and her Monster Energy team return for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals next weekend at Sonoma Raceway.
