In Atlanta Robert Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang were the quickest of the pack amongst the John Force team Mustangs. A decision to change lanes in the first round derailed his bid to reach his fourth consecutive final round at the Southern Nationals as the Auto Club Ford Mustang went up in smoke versus Ron Capps.

Hight has qualified well at the O’Reilly Midwest NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol. He has never started lower than the No. 3 qualifying position and included in that number is a No. 1 start he grabbed at the 2006 event.

Unfortunately he has never advanced to the semis at Gateway International Raceway. That is a trend he is looking to correct this weekend.

“I’ve qualified really well there but I haven’t gone a lot of rounds. I am looking forward to winning it,” said the 2005 NHRA Rookie of the Year.

In Atlanta Robert Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang were the quickest of the pack amongst the John Force team Mustangs. A decision to change lanes in the first round derailed his bid to reach his fourth consecutive final round at the Southern Nationals as the Auto Club Ford Mustang went up in smoke versus Ron Capps.

Hight has qualified well at the O’Reilly Midwest NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol. He has never started lower than the No. 3 qualifying position and included in that number is a No. 1 start he grabbed at the 2006 event.

Unfortunately he has never advanced to the semis at Gateway International Raceway. That is a trend he is looking to correct this weekend.

“I’ve qualified really well there but I haven’t gone a lot of rounds. I am looking forward to winning it,” said the 2005 NHRA Rookie of the Year.

Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock have been tweaking their Mustang since Houston and most recently at Atlanta they moved 32 pounds from the front to the rear of their fuel coupe. The move added more weight to the rear tires which should help create more traction to overcome come consistently inconsistent track conditions. This move combined with positive atmospheric conditions around the track has the former crewman turned driver excited.

“If we get this Mustang running like we know it can and we get good conditions like the forecast shows. It is supposed to be cool, like in the 60s. We can thunder if the track is really awesome,” said the driver who opened the season with back-to-back final round appearances. “I am looking forward to getting to St. Louis. They have resurfaced that facility as well. I bet it is going to be good.”

Robert knows that racing and winning is important but a recent trip to the world famous Army Marksmanship Unit at Ft. Benning prior to the Southern Nationals put a lot of things in perspective for the season. Robert was on track to be a world class marksman himself before he decided to commit himself to his career in motor sports.

“We got the chance to visit with soldiers who were about to deploy to Iraq. I talked with one man who was going to be away from his family for fifteen months. He has two small kids and for him to make that sacrifice is pretty impressive,” said the father of Autumn, 14-time champion John Force’s only grand child. “We are away from our families for a lot of weekends when we got to the races but there are still times when we can bring our family. I was very proud to be able to represent our sponsors like Auto Club, Ford, Castrol, BrandSource, and say ‘Thank you.’ to those brave men and women.”

Improved performance from his Mustang and an improved perspective on what is important will be the main focus for Hight and his championship caliber team this weekend.

NOTEABLES - The O’Reilly Midwest Nationals is one of only five tour events in which Robert does not have a winning record. He is 2-3 at Gateway International Raceway and lost in the first round a year ago to Cruz Pedregon.

Gateway International Raceway is one of only two tracks on the circuit on which Robert has not broken the 4.80 second barrier. The other is Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway.

Robert Hight was the fastest driver in the history of the Funny Car class to reach 100 round wins. He achieved this milestone with his season opening win at the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals pushing his round win record to 101-58.

Hight is the only Funny Car driver to have led the points each of the last four seasons.

Robert owns the two quickest quarter mile times in Funny Car drag racing history at 4.646 and 4.636 seconds, the first recorded at Pomona, Calif., and the latter at Phoenix, Ariz., both at the start of the 2007 season.

 

GUEST OF HONOR - Hight will be a guest speaker for the junior class of Webster Grove High School (100 Selma Avenue, St. Louis) on Wednesday, April 30, from 8:15 a.m. until 10 a.m..

Robert will be representing AAA and speaking about their shared core values of community service and driver safety. Robert will also be taking questions from the students in attendance

Additionally, Robert will speak about the hundreds of career opportunities in the automotive and motor sports related industries.

Robert is in the St. Louis area competing in the 12th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway beginning May 1st.

Driving with teammates John Force, Ashley Force and Mike Neff, Robert is currently No. 4 in the POWERade Fun Car point standings and has won one event already this season, the season opening Winternationals in Pomona. Calif., with an additional runner-up finish in Phoenix.

Following the Webster Grove High School event Robert will spend time with a group of approximately 200 Special Olympians who are competing at track meet on the Webster Grove High School football field.