Championship drag racer Robert Hight can now check the Daytona 500 off his bucket list. The 2009 NHRA Funny Car world champion spent this past weekend at the Daytona 500 and it was one full of memories for him.

“It was awesome,” said Hight, who also has been the president of John Force Racing since 2011. “I had never been before so it is hard for me to compare it to what it has been in years past. It’s a completely revamped stadium. I like going to baseball and football games and I’m not kidding you, this Daytona is nicer than any stadium I have ever been in. It was amazing.” Hight acknowledged he felt like the little fish in the big pond at the Daytona 500 – NASCAR’s Super Bowl.

“It was a packed house, but I will say this, there are a lot of NHRA fans at a NASCAR race,” Hight said. “I’m no John Force (his father-in-law). John, other like Dale Earnhardt (Jr.), gets noticed at a NASCAR race as much as any driver. Obviously I’m not that well known, but a lot of fans recognize me from NHRA drag racing and that makes me feel good that a lot of the fans are crossover. They will go and see a lot of motorsports.”

Still, Hight said he was a little surprised fans at the Daytona 500 knew who he was.

“It did kind of (surprise me) because I’ve never really been to a NASCAR race without John (Force),” Hight said. “The fans are tuning in to watch us, and they want to talk about Del Worsham winning the championship last year and Ron Capps winning the Winternationals. They are tuned in.”

Hight also was able to spread the NHRA word when they took him into the Daytona media center.

“NASCAR.com did a story, USA Today, there were quite a few stories done, and I got to do an interview with FOX during practice (Feb.20),” Hight said. “There were a lot of people from Gainesville (Fla.) who wanted to talk about Gainesville (Gatornationals March 17-20). I did an autograph session at Chevrolet on the midway. I got up and spoke to the crowd and did a Q and A. I could’ve stayed there as long as I wanted to sign autographs. It was awesome.”

According to Hight, Peter Clifford, NHRA’s president, also was at Daytona promoting the sport of drag racing.

The race Hight witnessed was one for the ages as Denny Hamlin beat Martin Truex Jr. by 0.01 seconds. That photo finish, however, was nothing new for Hight to see.

“We see that at 320-plus mph,” Hight said. “The (NASCAR) drivers all want to talk about NHRA drag racing. They love it. It was a great experience.

A lot of our sponsors were there like Peak and Monster and Chevrolet and I hung out with the Freightliner people (Sunday). There’s a lot of symmetry between NHRA and NASCAR and I had a blast. I got to watch the race and take it all in.”

Hight, a former clutch specialist for JFR, said he especially enjoyed mingling with pit crew members at Daytona.

“I have a lot of fun hanging around the garage area,” Hight said. “I came up as a mechanic and I still love the technology of any kind of motorsport and engines and mechanical things. It’s fun to hang around the garage area and there are a lot of crew members who are now on NASCAR teams who have been in NHRA drag racing and they take you in and show you the cars and what they are doing and explain things to you. It’s also pretty cool that a lot of those crew members talk about how hard our guys in NHRA work and how amazing it is to watch our guys completely rebuild and engine and put the car back on the track in 50 minutes or less.”

Although Hight had quite the memorable Daytona 500 experience, he isn’t about to switch from being an NHRA to a NASCAR driver.

“None,” Hight answered when asked if he had the urge to go NASCAR racing. “NHRA drag racing is where I want to be. Not even if I was 20 years younger, and had to do it all over again, I would choose the path that I chose. I think it is harder to drive those (NASCAR) cars than people think. It’s kind of deceiving at a restrictor plate race and they are on the gas and work with other guys or gals on the track, but I will be honest, when you get out there in a pack going three wide, and you’re in the middle of that thing with nowhere to go, I’m sure that’s not very easy.”