Funny Car “power hitter” Robert Hight said after Friday's class-leading 4.194-second elapsed time and 291.57-mph speed that crew chief Jimmy Prock “is always swinging for the fence.”
 
And that, the Auto Club of Southern California Mustang driver said, is what has him in line to earn his sixth top-qualifying position in 14 events this season during this weekend’s NHRA Northwest Nationals.  
 
“He goes out there and he looks at a racetrack and he figures, 'What is the best I can run under these conditions?' And that's the way he sets the car up. He doesn't try to back it off. It's on 'kill' all the time. We won a lot of races doing that and qualified No. 1 doing that.”

Funny Car “power hitter” Robert Hight said after Friday's class-leading 4.194-second elapsed time and 291.57-mph speed that crew chief Jimmy Prock “is always swinging for the fence.”
 
And that, the Auto Club of Southern California Mustang driver said, is what has him in line to earn his sixth top-qualifying position in 14 events this season during this weekend’s NHRA Northwest Nationals.  
 
“He goes out there and he looks at a racetrack and he figures, 'What is the best I can run under these conditions?' And that's the way he sets the car up. He doesn't try to back it off. It's on 'kill' all the time. We won a lot of races doing that and qualified No. 1 doing that.”
 
He led the Ford contingent, which took the top four spots. Ashley Force Hood, Hight's teammate, is second heading into Saturday's final two qualifying sessions, and just three-thousandths of a second behind her is Bob Tasca III. John Force closed the first day of qualifying fourth in the order.
 
Hight said his success -- anybody's success -- “all goes back to the first run here and getting down the track that first run. That sets the tone for the whole weekend.” While he was third in that opening session, behind Force Hood and fellow Mustang driver Tim Wilkerson, that 4.325-second run, showed he was in strong enough shape to throw some more horsepower at the evening pass.
 
“Had we messed up, then we wouldn't have been able to flex to shoot for what we shot for,” Hight said.
 
“It's supposed to cool off tomorrow, so I don't know that, that 4.19's safe. But Jimmy will go look at that run and say, 'Man, I could've done better here, done better there.' He's never satisfied,” he said. “That's what he'll shoot for, if the conditions are there.”
 
The Alturas, Calif., native said he's buoyed by being back out West.
 
“I'm a West Coast guy. We have lots of fans here on the West Coast. It's just different conditions, different fans, different racing on the West Coast. Just love this three-week swing, he said, adding that he wants to “start it out right here and get a win and keep it rolling into Sonoma.”
 
If Hight can hold onto the No. 1 berth, it will mark the eighth consecutive event that a John Force Racing driver has led the field. Force Hood did so at the previous two races, and Hight was low qualifier at the three before that. Force Hood was tops at Atlanta, and boss John Force was quickest at St. Louis.