Robert Hight felt the best way to answer the critics of his inclusion within the Countdown to 1 battle was to let his actions speak louder than their words. Hight encountered a firestorm of controversy over a semi-final race win over team owner John Force to earn a berth into the NHRA’s Funny Car portion of the Countdown to 1.

“Just like John [Force] has always said to me you have to let your race car talk,” said Hight, who now has consecutive final round appearances on the tour. “At Indy I drove my car,” Hight continued. “I don’t play into any of the decision-making and I just go out there and try to win every round. I tried to beat Ashley in the final and she got me. Those aren’t my decisions and people can think anything they want if we win this championship but we deserve it if we win it. It’s definitely not going to be easy there are way too many good cars out there.”

Hight landed in the tenth and final position for the Funny Car division. His victory at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals vaulted him seven position from the 10th spot to the third spot in the Countdown.

Robert Hight felt the best way to answer the critics of his inclusion within the Countdown to 1 battle was to let his actions speak louder than their words. Hight encountered a firestorm of controversy over a semi-final race win over team owner John Force to earn a berth into the NHRA’s Funny Car portion of the Countdown to 1.

“Just like John [Force] has always said to me you have to let your race car talk,” said Hight, who now has consecutive final round appearances on the tour. “At Indy I drove my car,” Hight continued. “I don’t play into any of the decision-making and I just go out there and try to win every round. I tried to beat Ashley in the final and she got me. Those aren’t my decisions and people can think anything they want if we win this championship but we deserve it if we win it. It’s definitely not going to be easy there are way too many good cars out there.”

Hight landed in the tenth and final position for the Funny Car division. His victory at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals vaulted him seven position from the 10th spot to the third spot in the Countdown.

Should he win the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship, Hight will feel no remorse in hoisting the trophy high in the presence of those who questioned the way he played the points system to compete for the championship.

“Going back when they first started the Countdown if they hadn’t have started it that year I would’ve been the world champ,” Hight contends. “So the Countdown works in your favor and against you. We’ve been for it because it definitely brings a lot of excitement for the fans and you know I lost that one. So I’m definitely not going to feel bad for coming way back and getting near the top here. This is the way it works and this is what it was designed to do. Luckily my car is running right at the right time.”

Hight drove his way from the No. 3 spot in Funny Car qualifying to the winner’s circle by stopping upset-minded Matt Hagan in the final round.

The victory represented Hight 12th career victory in 24 final rounds in five seasons of Funny Car racing.

“I probably got spoiled in the beginning because I won a lot right off the bat,” Hight explained. “But you definitely cherish it and you respect it a lot more when it takes you this long to get one.”

And after the last two months, switching cars and crew chiefs and the relentless controversy of testing and a supposed manipulated race, winning bodes well for him.

“I’d say it’s been a crazy month,” Hight confirmed. “With all the switching we did with me going to John’s car and vice versa it’s been great. For whatever reason, it’s worked. John Force is not a tuner but he knows how to shake things up. Whether it has had anything to do with it or not, it worked. You know Jimmy Prock since John drove his car in Maple Grove it has been almost the best car out there and he could have gone to the final round there in Maple Grove.

“It’s unbelievable timing we’ve got here. The first part of the year stunk, we were terrible. You start to even wonder if you will ever win because you look at all these races out here and it’s not easy to win.”

After one race in the Countdown, Hight will continue to follow the advice of his boss, he'll let the car do the talking.  

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